Look Up!

Back to Ireland for a day …

When I visit cathedrals and churches anywhere in Europe I pay attention to the light and what it’s doing. I’m fascinated by the play of reflected stain glass on stone and will stand in one place for several minutes just to watch their interaction.

On this occasion I was visiting Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, wandering around the gothic columns and looking up, hoping for that special colour-conversation that I find so delightful.

And there it was … the tinted honeyed glow of reflected stain glass swarming a small stone carving high up on a gothic archway. Enchanted and with camera poised, I snapped away being careful not to use flash, as I am acutely aware of the sanctity of sacred spaces.

When I look at this photo I am reminded of the delight I felt in that moment seeing the light play in that otherwise sober sanctuary. And I wonder if this is something the church builders of old had in mind when constructing these edifices — that when we look up we never know what we will find that moves us from the depths of the dreary to the delight of the soul.

Copyright Aimwell Enterprises 2012