Crypt of the Cathedral of Saint-Cyr-and-Sainte-Julitte in Nevers, France, 2021

A crypt (from Latin crypta "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi or religious relics. First known in the early Christian period, in particular North Africa and Byzantium, churches were often built over a Mithraic temple, erected in classical antiquity by the worshippers of Mithras. Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those "united by the handshake". They met in an underground temple, the so called Mithraeum. This Mithraeum was either a natural cave or cavern, or a building imitating a cave, that was adopted by the early christian builders to serve as a crypt for the newly build church above.

In antiquity the Mithraeum primarily functioned as an area for initiation, into which the soul descends and exits. The Mithraeum itself was arranged as an "image of the universe". It is noticed by some researchers that this practice, especially in the context of mithraic iconography, seems to stem from the neoplatonic concept that the "running" of the sun from solstice to solstice is a parallel for the movement of the soul through the universe, from pre-existence, into the body, and then beyond the physical body into an afterlife.

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Time lapse photograph of the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, Maincy, France, 2021

Built between 1658 and 1661 for Nicolas Fouquet, Marquis de Belle Île, Viscount of Melun and Vaux, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte was an influential work of architecture in mid-17th-century Europe. At Vaux-le-Vicomte, the architect Louis Le Vau, the landscape architect André Le Nôtre and the painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked together on a large-scale project for the first time. Their collaboration marked the beginning of the Louis XIV style combining architecture, interior design and landscape design. The garden's pronounced visual axis is an example of this style.

When visitng the chateau last weekend it was turned into an enchanting and fairytale-like castle with thousands of sparkly and colorful lights. It is christmas festivities like these that add an excessive garishness or sentimentality to an already lavish but perfectly balanced piece of baroque architecture. This extra layer of extravagance enables one to get some idea of what it must have been like for people back in the day to lay eyes upon the chateau for the very first time during the festivities of its grand opening in 1661.

As so often is the case with my work, this photograph wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for the inspiring music of Jean Michel Jarre, - especially his 45 minute track “Waiting for Cousteau” - and Nils Frahm - in particular his brilliant live performance of “Says”.

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#architecture #buildings #visitfrance

Parking garage Blue Boulevard (Quartier Blue), Hasselt, Belgium, 2023.

On my way to the museum Z33 in Hasselt my eyes were met by the circular lighting on the ceiling of the parking garage Blue Boulevard. A perfect opportunity for a time-lapse photograph.
Time-lapse photography has been one of my most favorite techniques ever since Art Academy. Back then digital camara’s ofcourse didn’t exist. The number of exposures on a roll of film was thirty-six and once it was developed, prints had to be made from the negatives using an enlarger in a darkroom. It meant you had to think ahead to accomplish something satisfying. You had to really focus on what you wanted to achieve. Analogue photography taught me to care about image composition at the moment of taking a picture. Digital photography creates very good quality photos and the process is fast, but sometimes it seems to lack soul because the making process in many instances takes place during post production. This means photographs become an imagined, constructed and at times often artificial reality rather than a realtime registration. Analogue photography taught me to value moments more, to shoot when they are worth it, to wait, to think ahead, to dedicate more effort and knowledge in to achieving what I want. With film photography, you really learn how movement and light work to produce an image, it’s a more hands on personal process.

The passing of time made visible through the physical act of taking a photograph whilst moving the camera has a beauty of its own, a purity. It’s like a lake utterly silent, subdued and stilled.

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