Many years ago I visited St Marks in Venice; I was immediately struck by the atmosphere, it felt like the years or some remainder of them , hung in the air. Some kind of ethereal reminder of all the faithful that had passed through the doors. Hold on to this thought, I am going to return to it later.
Now, in my photographic practice I try to capture an atmosphere , a feeling, something which can’t be seen, it’s not easy but its what I do. Anyway for some time I have wanted to do a project about faith, based in a church. Is it possible to photograph faith? I can photograph representations of faith, people observing their faith, but I am looking for something else. Well I have finally got this off the ground and have an appointment in a church on Tuesday. I do not know the place, although I have been there once before, only not with the intention of photographing it, and then only for a few minutes. I am not sure what I will find or whether my idea will work.
A church or any building or place can leave an impression on one who spends time there, spiritually, psychologically, in an unseeable way. People passing through will leave an impression on the place, definitely a physical impression, and maybe something less definite…we’ll see!
The good news is I am finally ready to do some photographic work, after suffering the visual equivalant of writers block since graduating!
