St. Lawrence's Church, Besselsleigh before 1912

This photograph of St. Lawrence's Church, Besselsleigh was made by Henry W. Taunt. It's really all about the blacks and whites here, shades of grey that feel old-timey, like a memory fading in and out. I find my eye drawn to the dark, spidery lines of the bare tree branches in the foreground. They kind of claw their way into the scene, obscuring and framing the church. The church itself is solid, a blocky presence, but softened by the way Taunt captures the light on its stone walls. You can almost feel the texture of the stone, that rough, aged surface. It reminds me a little bit of some of the landscapes by Gustave Courbet. Not in style, but in the way it captures a specific place and time with a kind of quiet reverence. Art is such a beautiful conversation across time, isn't it? Always echoing, always transforming.