Cave Hill
Last winter I spent time finding inspiration in the conservatories I could visit within a day’s trip from home. Warm, bright and filled with color, patterns and texture they are a perfect place to keep the photographic muscles toned and sharp during a pale season. With the enduring pandemic, while the conservatories may be open, my risk aversion relative to the coming availability of mass distributed immunity has lead me to revisit a different off season project.
I have been shooting and contributing to The Stone Faces project since late winter in 2013. Back then my my gear was my original digital camera, the PEN EP-L1, paired with my first acquisition from the premium prime set of lenses, the 45 mm F1.8. Positioned as a portrait lens, I sought subjects upon which to practice portraiture and the faces of cemetery statuary were a willing, if not seemingly enthusiastic group of subjects. Since then I have shot stone faces in cemeteries from Indianapolis, to Prague; from Cincinnati to Venice. A visit to the biggest cemetery in a new town or area is often a customary stop for me.
One of my favorite cemeteries is Cave Hill in Louisville. It’s not just the large population of statuary on the grounds, it is also the variety. You will find many familiar stones and faces mass produced and common to other similar era cemeteries. But in addition, there is also a large collection of custom stones cut and commissioned exclusively for those whose budget or magnitude of loss sought for a granite or limestone marker worthy of eternal remembrance. In addition to the statuary of the early 20th century, the Cave Hill portfolio is very contemporary with many bronze works commissioned over the past 25 years. These pieces carry personal connections and imagery that make the deceased feel and seem familiar to a passerby such as myself. I have shot many of these faces multiple times, one day I will get all them right but I am not there yet.
I spent a couple hours in Cave Hill a few weeks ago. The slide show below contains some of my favorite images from this and two previous visits. Sun and color marked the previous visits. Moody clouds and shadows likely point to this more recent visit. I am not done with the Stone Faces project, nor have I visited Cave Hill for the last time. I am just reflecting and taking stock of images from a deep pool of possibility.