After the light
Darkness fell suddenly as though an evil wizard had waved a magic wand and made the world stand still. The confinement began and we all were under house arrest unable to go further than a kilometer from our front doorstep.
With nowhere to go I began to wander the empty, ancient streets of my village, Tourbes, camera in hand searching for images. Walking through the village is a journey through time. In only a few steps one goes from a turn- of-the-century winemaker’s “cave” to an ancient Roman aqueduct. Nearly three millennia ago the Greeks settled here and made wine. The Romans followed them and also made wine that they sent all over their empire. In 990 A.D. church records first mention the village and even my own house was built in the 15th century on a 12th century street.
This timelessness was an antidote to isolation and fear. A reminder that we are not the first to enter darkness nor last to emerge from it. Wanting my photos to reflect I used a pinhole lens on a digital camera to soften the images. The photos are on display in the village through November and have been well received.
Steve Meltzer
