The Edge Before Rain
The first hush is not silence, but a listening. It hovers between the lion’s stillness and the palm’s slow bend toward rain. Neither claims the moment. Neither speaks it. I stepped into their quiet as one might step beneath a lintel carved for gods—uninvited, but not unwelcome.
There was no command here. Only presence. Only regard.
I lowered the camera like a votive. The frame filled not with subjects, but with witness.
Back in the darkroom, memory returned in silver. Not image, but echo.
stone and root align
in the breath before thunder
watching without end
Also in Library
Where a Name Could Not Follow
A boy in the sandstone quarries beneath Phnom Kulen learns the first law of sacred building: not strength, not speed, but attention. Where a Name Could Not Follow imagines the life of an unnamed Angkorean stone-master whose hands helped move mountain into temple — and whose name vanished where the stone endured.
The Apsara Against the Assembly Line
In the darkroom, the print rises slowly from the tray: silver darkening into shadow, stone gathering itself from blankness. At Angkor, the apsaras offer the same lesson. Though repeated in their thousands, each waits to be seen. Against the assembly line of speed and sameness, slowness restores the soul’s signature.
The Wall That Still Holds Them
Two presences endure within a wall that no longer closes seamlessly around them. One withdraws into shadow; the other comes further into the light of legibility. Around them, fracture, erosion, and carved stone become a single field of custody, where grace survives within damage, not beyond it.
$895
Angkor Wat, Cambodia — 2020
Limited Edition Archival Pigment Print
Edition
Strictly limited to 7 prints + 2 Artist’s Proofs
Edition Number
This listing is for the first numbered print from the Large Collector Edition: 1/7
Medium
Hand-toned black-and-white archival pigment print on Hahnemühle Bamboo — a museum-grade fine art paper chosen for its quiet tactility and reverent depth, echoing the spirit of the temples.
Signature & Numbering
Each print is individually signed and numbered by the artist on the border (recto)
Certificate of Authenticity
Accompanies every print
Image Size
28 x 28 inches (71.1 x 71.1 cm)
A stone lion steadies itself at the parapet; a lone palm ascends into iron-grey cloud. Between them stretches the charged quiet that precedes rain—the temple holding its breath, the jungle relearning stillness.
Stormlight draws every edge toward revelation. The air smells of wet bark, carved sandstone, distant thunder withheld. Presence settles like fine dust upon the lens.
I stood there, head bowed behind the dark-cloth, feeling not observer but acolyte. Their vigilance entered the glass; my pulse slowed to meet it.
Captured on large-format black-and-white film in a single long exposure, the negative was later shaped through chiaroscuro and meticulous hand-toning until shadow carried the heft of cloud and highlight held the pulse of stone.
Printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper, The Watchers is limited to twenty-five prints, plus two artist’s proofs.
A threshold of stillness—ready to be welcomed into your space.
To listen alongside the guardians, click here to explore the Artist’s Journal.
Previously titled ‘Guardian, Angkor Wat Temple, Cambodia. 2020,’ this photograph has been renamed to better reflect its place in the series and its spiritual tone. The edition, provenance, and authenticity remain unchanged.