A few weeks ago we wrapped up the Instructor-Led version of the A Sense of Place eCourse. To encourage the participants to follow through and complete a final project, I offered up guest post slots on my blog. The content was wide open, whatever they were inspired by from the eCourse. I’m excited to share the posts from class participants this week, and today is the first. Please leave lots of comment love for the guest authors!
A Sense of Place: Sorø Abbey Church
Kat Sloma has generously suggested her participants in the wonderful class A Sense of Place to make their final project into a blog post on her blog. The idea inspired me to go deeper with a bunch of photos from a certain place and try to put together the knowledge and inspiration, I’ve got from the class.
Recently I visited Sorø Abbey Church and was impressed by it’s beauty and age. Sorø Abbey Church is one of the largest medieval churches in Denmark. It was built by the Cistercians in the last part of the 1100s. The church remains an excellent example of early brick Gothic architecture.
Walking around on my own with my camera, I was drawn into the atmosphere and the presence of history. Three Danish kings are buried here. For centuries it has been a center for the influential noble White-family, including the famous Bishop Absalon. He was engaged in the building of the church, but died in 1201, the same year the church was finished. Of course he is also buried here.
My attention was especially drawn to the choir seats. They put a smile to my face, because they are full of engraved names and images dating hundreds of years back. I can imagine bored pupils and monks making the graffiti of that time. Guys like Jacob and Sveno Mathhiae from 1694 suddenly felt very present.
Experiencing a place like this through the lens always make me look for small details, a fact the class clarified for me. And this huge church is a haven of details. For instance I noticed angels in several places. Below are some from the altar and another one on a very old carved wood door, quite similar in style.
The fact that this church has been here for more than 800 years is awe-inspiring. It has experienced the transition from a Catholic abbey church to a Lutheran parish church. There is a timeless feel to many of the objects, which I tried to pass on in the images.
I actually visited this church some years ago, but had no memory of the place. Bringing a camera this time made a huge difference. I had a deeper connection with the place and explored the place in a much more focused way, allowing myself to be drawn to all kind of images, I’m sure will stay with me.
My name is Ghita Katz Olsen. Since 2011 I’m head over heels in love with photography. I live in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, Europe. You can view more of my work on my Flickr photostream.
Would you like to share an A Sense of Place guest post? You can too! The only requirement is that you’ve taken the eCourse, either the Instructor Led version or the new On Demand version that is now available. Contact Kat for the rest of the details.
