The afternoon sun through the windows gave a nice sideways light to the mural on the wall, which is why I made the photo. (Of course.)

I am often realizing things about my photographic style seem new to me. That’s sort of silly, right? I mean, I take a LOT of photos. I try to be purposeful with them. I think I carefully compose and understand what I’m seeing in the viewfinder before I press the shutter. So it seems like my style would be established by now, and further, that I would know why I do things the way I do.

These series of images from the meetinghouse has reminded me anew how much I depend on the darkness in the images – the darkness that is complete black. The darkness that is, technically speaking, “too” dark. But in my mind, what good is the light unless it’s balanced with the dark? How much less value does the known and clearly visible parts of an image have if it’s not offset by parts you can’t see?

Which leads me to wonder how much more joyous the bright parts of life are when they are balanced against life’s darknesses. It’s the balance that makes it work. In photography. In life.

South Solon Meetinghouse
Solon, Maine
photographed 3.19.2026