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
June 2026 in The Varro Library | Strangers, Stones, Wings, and the Work of Welcome
June 2026 moved through strangers, storms, sacred stones, wings, houses, and the difficult mercy of receiving what has not yet explained itself. This monthly Varro Library digest gathers The Lantern Chronicles, House of Cadmus, The Mytharium, The Alexander Series, The Hospitable Dark, and Medium into one guided archive.
The Stone Is Not the World
A contemplative Angkor essay on how surviving stone has shaped the way Angkor is seen — and why the vanished world of wood, water, labour, smoke, roads, bodies, weather, and devotion must be allowed to return around the temples in What the Stone Hides.
The Consolation of Not Being Separate
There are moments when the world refuses to become personal. The rain falls on the day you needed sun. The illness does not pause because someone is loved. The sea does not soften because a child is afraid. And when the thing prayed against happens anyway, it can feel as if the world has abandoned us. But perhaps what has failed is not the world’s care. Perhaps what has failed is our idea of care.
$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.