Notre Dame Cathedral Ceiling

Description

In 2017, I stood beneath one of the most awe-inspiring ceilings in the world: the ribbed vaults of Notre-Dame de Paris.

This was my first visit to the cathedral. Like millions before me, I walked in expecting grandeur. But nothing quite prepares you for the stillness, the cool stone air, or the way light filters through centuries-old stained glass and dances across the ceiling as if the architecture itself were alive.

As a photographer traveling from Australia, I had seen hundreds of churches, cathedrals, and basilicas. Notre-Dame felt entirely different. The space carried more than just history. The structure felt sacred, majestic, and filled with quiet intensity. I looked up, and the ceiling quite literally took my breath away. Soaring arches, perfect symmetry, and a deep sense of time watching over Paris for more than 850 years called to be captured.

With tripods not permitted, I leaned against a column, braced my camera, and waited for the moment when the crowds thinned and the ambient light softened. Several frames were taken, but one image stood apart. The ceiling glowed faintly gold, ribs arching like hands in prayer, with smoke-like shadows stretching toward heaven.

At the time, I had no idea what that photo would come to represent.

Two years later, in April 2019, the world watched in disbelief as flames tore through the cathedral. The spire collapsed. The roof was lost. Smoke rolled through Paris. The ceiling I had photographed, a structure that had endured revolutions and wars, became scarred by fire.

That image from 2017 transformed into more than a photograph. The moment became a preserved memory of something no longer visible, a ceiling that stood unbroken for centuries and now survives only in fragments and frames.

Photographing Notre-Dame did not feel like just another stop on my journey. That experience marked a moment of reverence I only fully understood after the loss.

Now, when I look at the photograph, I no longer see only stone and symmetry. Reflections of history, resilience, and a quiet reminder remain—why we take the photograph before the world changes.