This week’s #FriFotos theme is ‘Holy Places’, and I initially thought about putting together some pictures of the various churches and shrines that I have visited during my travels. But then it occurred to me that my photo collection is rather narrow and I do not have examples of mosques or synagogues so I decided that rather than limit my Holy Places photo essay to one particular type of religion, I would look at holy places that can be appreciated by everybody, regardless of religion or belief.
I turned to one of my favourite books of all time for inspiration. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein may be more commonly known as a horror novel, but what people don’t realise is that it is perhaps one of the best examples of so called ‘Enlightenment’ literature, or Romanticism.
The Romantic writers, which includes the poets Shelley, Byron, Wordsworth and Blake, turned their backs on the world of man, whose insatiable greed brought about grief and oppression, and instead turned to nature to find solace and comfort. In the presence of natural beauty they felt close to the Sublime, so this week my HOLY PLACE photos are all pictures that I believe the Romantics would have been awed by.
“The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence”
“They congregated round me; the unstained snowy mountaintop, the glittering pinnacle, the pine woods, and ragged bare ravine, the eagle, soaring amidst the clouds—they all gathered round me and bade me be at peace.”
“I remembered the effect that the view of the tremendous and ever-moving glacier had produced upon my mind when I first saw it. It had then filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy.”
#FriFotos is open to everybody, all day every Friday. Just follow the #FriFotos hashtag and join in the fun!
