Archive for August, 2009

Odin Stone: Plates 24 – 27

Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Tillman Crane - Odin Stone Plate 24: St Nicholas Round Kirk, Orphir, Orkney, 2003

Odin Stone Plate 24: St Nicholas Round Kirk, Orphir, Orkney, 2003

Plate 24: St Nicholas Round Kirk, Orphir, Orkney, 2003

St Nicolas Round Kirk is related to the image in Plate 20 (Bell Pull, St. Magnus Church, Birsay). The story of Earl Magnus the Martyr is told in the Orkneyinga Saga, and relays the story of the murder of Earl Magnus by Earl Hakon so that Hakon could consolidate control of Orkney under his Earldom. Legend has it that Hakon began to feel guilty about the murder of Magnus and went on a crusade in order to do his penitence for the murder. After he returned form his crusade, he built this round kirk on his property.

St. Nicholas Kirk is the only round church in Scotland to survive that era. The development of round kirks throughout northern Europe was a direct response to the Crusades. The Round Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem inspired the returning knights.  St Nicolas Kirk was once twenty feet in diameter with a small apse. Today, only the small apse and sections of the nearby wall continue to stand. St. Nicholas remained intact until the 18th century when much of it was pulled down and the stones used to build a local kirk. This local kirk no longer exists but the surrounding graveyard speaks to its presence. On every trip I’ve made to Orkney I revisited this monument. The round wall reminds me of a catcher’s mitt catching the afternoon sun’s brilliance.

Tillman Crane - Odin Stone Plate 25: Transept, St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, 2005

Odin Stone Plate 25: Transept, St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, 2005

Plate 25: Transept, St. Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney, 2005

Continuing the connection of my images to the St Magnus story, Plate 25 was made in the transept of St. Magnus Cathedral. Magnus the Martyr was canonized on April 16, 1135. Construction of the cathedral was begun in 1137, with the promise of dedicating the building to St. Magnus, interring his bones within, and moving the bishops seat from Birsay to Kirkwall. It is believed that this Cathedral was built by the same masons who completed the Durham Cathedral in England. They used red sandstone quarried near Kirkwall and yellow sandstone quarried on Eday. It has served the citizens of Orkney and Kirkwall for over 850 years.

My inspiration for wanting to photograph in the Cathedral was Fredrick Evans. The images he made in the English cathedrals were the first to teach me that photographs could go beyond the simple recording of facts and his cathedral work continues to inspire me to this day. The opportunity to photograph in this 12th century cathedral was too much for me to pass by. Almost every visit to Orkney I took time to photograph in this space. Cathedrals were built to inspire, to raise ones thoughts. Each visit I see new things, new relationships between shapes and light and dark. Each visit I am trying to make photographs that go beyond record making and raise the bar to inspiration.

Tillman Crane - Odin Stone Plate 26: Ramsquoy Peat Allotment, Stenness, Orkney, 2005

Odin Stone Plate 26: Ramsquoy Peat Allotment, Stenness, Orkney, 2005

Plate 26: Ramsquoy Peat Allotment, Stenness, Orkney, 2005

One afternoon Mona Swannie, the landlady of the Orkney Bed & Breakfast where I stay, handed me an old, almost crumbling, piece of paper that had been folded many times over the years. It was a map of the original peat allotments for the farms in Stenness. Although not used much for heat any more Ramsquoy still has a claim to its peat allotment on the uphill side of its fields. I borrowed Jim’s truck and drove up to the back of Ramsquoy seeking the peat allotment and a beautiful view out over Scapa Flow. My intention that day was to photograph the sunset but instead I found the life cycle of peat there in front of me. Peat starts as heather, dies, turns white, and is then covered by the next growth of heather. Eventually it turns into a rich black, almost mud-like substance. Cut and dried it has been used to heat homes for millennia on Orkney and all across Scotland. In this image you can see the living heather, the dead heather turning white, and the rich black peat that lies beneath.

Tillman Crane - Odin Stone Plate 27: Fence Line, Finstown, Orkney, 2007

Odin Stone Plate 27: Fence Line, Finstown, Orkney, 2007

Plate 27: Fence Line, Finstown, Orkney, 2007

Stonewalls. Orkney is filled with stonewalls etching the landscape, defining farms, providing wind breaks and a place to stack stones out of the fields. This wall divides two small sections of land all the way down to the sea and with the dark shoreline provides an arrow pointing out towards the islands to the north. These small plots of land are on the north side of the A965 between Finstown and Stromness at a small car pull-off. It is a place to pull over make a phone call, eat lunch or let faster cars pass you by. I used it on many occasions and was fascinated by the wall leading to the sea. For me, this image visually explains much of Orkney to me, farms leading down to the sea, farmers with boats and fishermen with farms.

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August 2009: Presence in process

Saturday, August 1st, 2009

Paying Attention

We are so anxious to achieve some particular end that we never pay attention to the psychophysical means whereby that end is to be gained. So far as we are concerned, any old means is good enough. But the nature of the universe is such that ends can never justify the means. On the contrary, the means always determine the end.
- Aldous Huxley

It’s foggy out this early morning, my wake up call of this particular summer.

I love photographing in the fog, but this summer even I may be growing weary of making photographs in the damp mist. However I get up, get dressed and throw my camera bag and tripod into the car.

This particular morning I don’t have a well thought out plan or even a notion of what I want to point the camera at. So I wander, heading south and end up in Thomaston. Several years ago I photographed here at the Maine State Prison between the time the prisoners had been moved out to the new jail in Warren and a crew began removal of the asbestos for the demolition of the prison. I have driven past the site many time over the ensuing years and wondered what Thomaston was going to do with the plot of land where the prison once stood. This morning I find myself headed towards the site to see what I can find to photograph.

All that remains of the prison is a small section of the wall. Two plaques testify to the history of the prison and to its destruction. Looming up out of the fog I think I have found my image for the morning. I make a couple of exposures and then wander around in the wet grass. Further to the south, in an area that would have been outside the prison walls is a small, fenced-in cemetery, where some of the inmates have been buried. There are not many graves in this plot and most are marked only with tiny markers. Standing outside the fence I stand and frame another shot. It is a nice pastoral scene, the iron picket fence, the fog hanging low and obscuring the tree line in the distance.

Now I could quit, go home and have breakfast. I have made a few images, maybe one that will become part of my project on Maine. While walking back to the car I see a symbol painted on the sidewalk of a backpacker and the arrow pointing off in another direction. I figure “what the heck”. I have two sheets of film left so I follow the path. It leads me down the road about a block to a small bridge crossing the railroad tracks.

There I set up the camera again and find my expected image: railroad tracks disappearing between tree-lined banks into the fog. In my laziness I’ve placed the tracks in the center of the image. I make one exposure and as I am putting the film holder back into the camera, the camera shifts. Swearing under my breath, I open the lens and try to recompose the image for the second exposure. Lo and Behold, I am looking at a better image! Leaves are shimmering in the foggy light for much of the frame and off to one side the railroad tracks gently curve off into the brighter light of the rising sun. I didn’t move the camera, just tightened it down, put the film holder back in and captured the image.

Once again I am reminded of three photographic truths: First, if I want to make good images, I have tomake the effort to set the camera up and actually make images. Not simply think about images or talk about making images but actually put film in the camera and expose, process and look at the images I am making. Secondly, I have to pay attention when I am making the photograph. If I just go out for the exercise of photographing, operating on automatic, then I am only repeating what I have done in the past. If I am bored by what I am framing, then most likely everyone who looks at the finished image is going to be bored too. Lastly, by paying attention and being present throughout the process of making the image, I am more likely to discover the serendipitous moments when the Universe creates an opportunity for discovery. Sometimes the signs pointing you to a good image are not written in bright flashes of insight, but are simply a matter of shifting your feet.

May you enjoy the August days of summer!

Tillman

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