The Watcher in the Ruin

Storm-heavy dawn cloaks the western gate of Banteay Kdei, where a fractured guardian face rises from a broken tower—its gaze turned not outward, but inward.  Light moves across the ruin like breath through a reed, quiet and shaping.  Moss clings to cracked lips.  Vines trace their own soft sutras.

The silence is not absence—it is memory.  A stillness that bears witness to centuries of devotion and decay.  In this hush, the ruin becomes a kind of offering, neither whole nor lost, but entirely present.

I stood before it with the lens steady and my breath slower than the wind.  The shutter opened long enough for storm and mist to thread their weight into the emulsion.  Later, in the studio, I shaped the image with chiaroscuro, deepening shadows to reveal light’s edge.  Each print is hand-toned—its warmth born not of color, but of reverence.

This limited edition of twenty-five archival pigment prints (with two Artist’s Proofs) is printed on museum-grade Hahnemühle Bamboo paper.  The tactile quiet of the paper holds the image like an echo holds sound.  Each print is signed and numbered on the border recto, accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

Let this sentinel find its stillness within your own sacred threshold.

To explore the spirit behind this image, click here to enter the Artist’s Journal—where stone and silence remember together.

Previously titled ‘Face-Tower Ruin, Banteay Kdei Temple, Angkor, 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.