Stonehenge, England 1986. 12×20 inch Palladium Print

In the 70’s and 80’s, in May after I turned in my grades, I would usually head for London. After that, my first stop was Stonehenge. In those days, entry before and after visiting hours was by appointment, obtained by permit from the authorities. Considering the length of daylight this time of year, in the upper latitudes, you could have three to four hours in the morning and evening before they opened and closed the gates. You and your companion were allowed in alone with a guard and it was permissible to step over the wire fences enclosing the monument.

Occasionally, I would delay my visit to June, during the summer solstice. The daylight hours were even longer. Since Stonehenge is considered to be one of the “Vortices” there were, sometimes strange occurrences during the times of my visits. One was a lady, who brought in an iron, ironing board and laundry to work off the “current” generated by the stones.

It was during the 1986 solstice that I made this photograph. I usually exposed both sides of my 12×20 inch holder at each photo. This time, it was quite late, around 10:00 PM. When the second sheet of film was in the camera, the sun gave its last gasp, as light on the massive stones began to fade. I released the shutter. It was dark by the time I removed the film from the camera.