Category - photography

The Last Monk Standing

2 months ago
Paul S
photography
Add comment

A touring musician friend posted some photos this morning from Whitby Abbey, on the Yorkshire coast of Northern England; that reminded me of my first visit there in the spring of 2013 (jeez, five years ago!). Whitby figures prominently in English ecclesiastical history. It was here in 664AD that the Celtic traditions of the early church in England were discarded in favor of the rituals of the Roman hierarchy – thus setting the stage for Henry VIII’s Reformation and the ruin of great abbeys and monasteries throughout Britain – like this one built on the site of the synod in the 13th-15th centuries.

File this one under “the seeds of destruction are planted in the creation.”

Her name is “Lily”

May 16, 2018
Paul S
Digest, photography
Add comment

 “There will always be those
who say you are too young and delicate
to make anything happen for yourself.
They don’t see the part of you that smolders.
Don’t let their doubting drown out
the sound of your own heartbeat.”

––Clementine von Radics, Mouthful of Forevers

 

I don’t generally photograph children or families, but this was setup as part of a photography workshop I recently participated in, and I like it enough to add to the “People” column of my Instagram feed. A future heartbreaker, for sure. . .

Another highlight from the Nashville Guitar Mash

April 26, 2018
Paul S
Digest, JOYMM, music, photography
Add comment

April 7, 2018

This fellow’s name is Chuck Thompson; Chuck is an accomplished photographer in his own right who’s mission is “making musicians and business look good.” See his work at www.pickchuck.com

Like so many of us here in Music City, Chuck is also a musician. If you’re not familiar with that odd-looking instrument he’s playing, it’s called a “harp guitar” – an instrument from the turn of the 20th century that has found renewed popularity here in the 21st century. It combiners a conventional fretted guitar neck with several unfretted bass strings strung across an extension of the guitar body that play like the strings of a harp. .

But what is remarkable about this photo is that Chuck is not on the stage: he’s in the audience! He was right there in the front row, playing along with luminaries like Jerry Douglas, Keb Mo and John Oates at the Guitar Mash, an event that invites the audience to actively participate in the performance instead of just sitting there and flapping their hands together at the end of each song. For more on the event, read my commentary here.