Ely Cathedral- A Grotesque c. 20th century

This photograph of a grotesque at Ely Cathedral was taken by Frederick H. Evans, and it’s got me thinking about process. I imagine Evans, carefully setting up his camera, playing with light and shadow to capture the essence of this stone face. The texture is amazing, isn’t it? You can almost feel the rough surface of the stone, the little nicks and crannies that time has etched into it. It's an image of a sculpture that is also a kind of sculpture in itself. I wonder what Evans was thinking when he framed this shot? Did he see a reflection of human emotions in this grotesque? Was he drawn to its oddness, its imperfection? Maybe he felt like he too was an outcast, a little rough around the edges, and that's why he made it into art. Evans's photographs have been a real inspiration to me, and I feel like artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space. We keep looking at the same old things—the way the light falls, the way a face is formed, the way a story can be told without words. It's all just one big, messy, beautiful conversation.