Lavander abbey
- 📍 Location: Abbaye de Senanque, Gordes, Provence, France
- 📅 Date: 2022
The abbey of Senanque with its lavender field in full flower, the rows running away from the camera and converging on the buildings, and the wooded slope of the valley closing the background. The composition is as simple as it can be: leading lines, a subject at the end of them, and a wall of green above to stop the eye from leaving.
The only real choice was the height. Low down, the rows become a solid purple mass and the abbey floats on it. From slightly above, the rows separate and the earth between them shows, which gives the field its rhythm and tells you that this is cultivation rather than decoration. I took the second option, because the monks who plant it would recognise it.
The light is high and even, without the strong shadows that would break the rows into stripes of black. Lavender is difficult in hard sun: the purple turns blue and flat. Under a slight veil it holds that dusty, greyish violet which is the actual colour of the plant and not the colour of the postcards.
Senanque has been Cistercian since 1148, and the community still lives there and still works the field. The building is austere on purpose, with almost no ornament anywhere, which is exactly why it sits so well in front of a crop.
I wanted a photograph about order: a monastic rule, a planting plan, and a valley that has been arranged for eight hundred years.
Limited-edition fine-art print from the Skywaven Studios collection, available in several sizes, papers and framing options.
