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Clerestory
September 20, 2005
Rob and I had the purest pleasure of shooting from the clerestory walk of The Washington Cathedral last month. We wanted to round out our collection of cathedral images for a card line that is !! NOW ON SALE AT THE CATHEDRAL STORE!! and were granted permission to go where few archbishops have gone before ~ the clerestory.
{Yes, I'm jazzed that my photos are on sale at the cathedral ~ I photographed it for my senior project in college, and have been shooting it off and on in the 20 years since. In a way, I feel like it's my cathedral. Actually, it's your cathedral too ~ it's The Washington Cathedral, a National House of Prayer for All People.}
But I'm rambling... back to the clerestory ~ it was a TOTAL THRILL. I didn't even realize the clerestory area was walkable ~ from the ground level of the cathedral, you can barely make out that there's a metal railing up there. We asked the public affairs woman (who is so so so so nice) to have special access to the structure in order to obtain good shots of the windows, and she asked, "So, you want to walk on the clerestory level?"
I replied, "What's a clerestory?"
She said, "It's the upper line of stained glass windows near the ceiling. There's a walkway up there."
I said, "All RIGHT! Yeah! Let's go UP THERE!"
I wish we had taken pictures of ourselves while we were shooting, but we had limited time, and were scared OUT OF OUR PANTS once we were up there. It felt like we were 8 stories up, and the walkway is only 2 feet wide with only a metal rod separating you from safety and plummeting to a dramatic and blessed death. As our guide opened the curved doorway that enters onto the north clerestory I gulped at what I saw ~ enormous stained glass windows lining both walls! It looked like a kaleidescope world with the late morning light simply pouring through the southern side. I felt like Alice in Wonderland walking through the arched door, but after taking the first step ~ and looking DOWN ~ I realized this wouldn't be an easy exercise.
Every choice has it's price, and the price of this choice was already costing me in heart palpatations and sweaty palms. I'm pretty sure my feet were sweating too. The public affairs lady chimed, "I'll wait for you here, there's no way I can go any further, I'm petrified of heights!"
I slowly inched my way out onto the walkway, my heart literally pounding through my chest. Looking down I could see throngs of tourists huddled into pews listening to the purple-robed guide explain the gothic architecture. We were so far away, I couldn't hear anything they said, and we were so small I doubt they even saw us. I knew Rob was behind me because I could hear his heavy breathing. Small squeaky whines were starting to emmanate from his throat, and I said, "Don't look down, whatever you do, don't look down."
Now, a funny thing happens when someone tells you not to look down... they LOOK DOWN! I should have said, "Hey! Look up! What an awesome ceiling!"
Rob said, "Oh my GOD!" his voice cracking at a higher pitch with the word, "god".
I said in an even higher voice, "I know! I know! *holy shit*! I can't believe we're UP HERE!" My voice trailing off in an almost inaudible soprano whisper that only a dog could hear. "I think I'm going to pee in my pants!"
"Me too!" Rob squeaked.
Our kaleidescope world. Shot by Rob.
We panted and squeaked and trembled for another 45-60 seconds as our bodies made altitudinal adjustments. I noticed the handrails were slippery but then realized my palms were sweating so heavily that they would be useless if I happened to lose my balance.
The public affairs lady craned her neck from the doorway and tried to assess whether we needed to be talked down off the cathedral cliff she'd sent us out onto, and I decided I needed to start acting professional ~ I tugged at my tripod and began setting it up as I hunched down near the 2 foot wide floor. DID I MENTION IT WAS ONLY TWO FEET WIDE? Of course, 2 feet of space isn't near enough room to fully extend a tripod's legs, so I ended up nervously fumbling around with the knobs and the sliding adjustments. I wondered how I'd ever get the courage to fully stand up again. I wondered what would happen if the tripod tipped over and fell, crushing an unsuspecting tourist below, and whether I'd go to jail for it or not. I wondered if, just for fun, God made appearances up here and walked around after hours or not. This shouldn't be called a clerestory walk, it should be called the FOOLS walk... WE FOOLS rush onto clerestory walks where angels fear to tread!!
I am no fool, though. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I wasn't about to let it be cut short by a fear of heights. I simply decided right then and there that if I fell off the edge, it would be a grand way to die, with a spectacular view on the way down. Whatever. Just start taking pictures!
And... take pictures is exactly what we did! Two gigabytes worth of pictures! We even became completely acclimated to the tightrope walk... so much so, that at the very end, I actually was LEANING OVER THE METAL RAILING to get a good picture of the rossette window. I'm pretty sure Rob's last 20 brown hairs turned gray the second time I leaned over... he grabbed my belt loop and exclaimed, "WOULD YOU STOP DOING THAT??!!! YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!!"
The rossette window I risked my limbs for.
In retrospect, it was completely nuts... I was possessed by an enormously beautiful window that has captivated my attention for over 20 years now. What a photo shoot! What a DAY! I'll post some more images later in the week. If you'd like to purchase our cards, they are exclusively available through the Cathedral Store!
Posted by susan at September 20, 2005 8:18 PM
Comments
Wow!
Posted by: dan at September 20, 2005 10:35 PM
oh MY.... looks so Holy
I just have to ask - did you really say "Holy Shit" out loud while 8 stories up in there??
Brave woman.
Posted by: aola at September 20, 2005 10:56 PM
Aola,
Yes, I really said it out loud ~ but in a high pitched very humble squeaky voice only god or a dog could possibly hear. The cathedral is indeed a holy place, but no more or less holy than the most sacred place of all ~ our hearts.
Posted by: Susan at September 20, 2005 11:01 PM
Thank you so much for the absolutely gorgeous photos of probably my very favorite sacred space! Seeing your pictures is almost as good as being there.
Thank you again.
Posted by: mumcat at September 21, 2005 12:06 AM
Just spectacular Susan! Makes one almost gasp at the beauty of it all. What a wonderful bee in your bonnet to have cards at the cathedral!
Posted by: samtzmom at September 21, 2005 7:04 AM
Wow!! These photos are awesome. I love those out of the way places that you never even think people can get to.
If you ever have the chance, go to Vitoria in northern Spain and take an archeological tour round the old cathedral. They're completely restoring it because they didn't put big enough buttresses on it to support the Gothic windows when they were converted aeons ago, and it was cracking... but you can go round sort of walkways round the backs of the walls (inside the walls?) and down underneath where they've excavated...
see http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Reportajes/0/Catedral%20de%20Vitoria.htm?SubSys=Monume&language=EN
Posted by: Liz at September 21, 2005 9:31 AM
"It felt like we were 8 stories up, and the walkway is only 2 feet wide with only a metal rod separating you from safety and plummeting to a dramatic and blessed death."
This made me laugh out loud. What a way to die.
Posted by: amy at September 21, 2005 9:58 AM
Joy~
We had no clue that we'd end up in the nose bleed section.
hee hee. Turns out the cheap seats are the ones down in front. In this place, the best view is in the rafters!
Posted by: Susan at September 21, 2005 11:14 AM
As usual Susan, your pictures and stories are AMAZING. The rossette window is my favorite. And I am glad you risked your life for it too. Though even more glad you are still with us to entertain and delight with your talent ;-)
Posted by: Kirsten at September 22, 2005 7:44 PM
Oh, that rosette was so worth it! How beautiful!!!
Posted by: Jema at September 22, 2005 11:17 PM
What astounding photos! My fave is Rob's photo showing the colors splattered against the wall in front of the windows.
Posted by: Wandering Willow at September 24, 2005 3:02 PM
