Hope

After thinking so much about analysing other's photographs, it is a very different task to analyse one’s own. The who, what, where, when and how is already known and needn't be assumed. But in this case as in many others, I feel the context and the 'why' of the photograph gives it more life.

I took this photograph at an old abandoned, boarded up church where I had been a couple of times before. It is an eerily beautiful spot down an old track not known by many. This particular time I was stood with my camera looking around at the church, and at my feet there was this stone. What was it doing there, and who had made it? I searched the area and there were no more like it (although I'd hoped there had been). Some unknown person had taken the time to carve the word into the stone, and to place the glass onto it, so what was it doing on the ground in some shrubs outside an abandoned church? I can only assume that the hope the person had was a religious hope; a hope for the future. I left it exactly as it was; something felt wrong to remove it from what had been its home for so long.

I can never quite decide how this photograph makes me feel. Sometimes I can't help feeling quite sombre. Something about it is very dark and mysterious. The hope somebody once had has been shattered, and has been left in the dirt to rot. But the image also gives me a sense of hope, as against all odds I found the stone in the secluded spot. Despite the bad times, and the shattering of the glass, I still found it and got something from it. The greenery contrasting with the dead leaves also can show that where there is death, there is also life.

I suppose my intent for this photograph was mainly to document, and to make the viewer think about the subject of the image and what it could mean. I didn’t do anything special with the framing and technical aspects of the image, I wanted it to be as plain and simple as possible. It is what it is.

Even without knowing the context I think somebody could interpret the photograph the same as if they knew. It could be a hopeful image, doing something against all odds, or it could be one that questions hope. But nobody could ever view a photograph the same as the person who took it. The photographer has their own memories. They can remember the day it was taken and they have their own connection to the image. This photograph means something to me, but might be brushed off as boring to somebody else.  I just hope that the mystery of the image is seen by others, and they too can wonder who made the stone, and what their story was.