Burden, Shirley C. Presence: Photographs by Shirley C. Burden.

Aperture, 1981. Preface by Thomas Keating.  [Black and white moody photos by Burden, who was better known as an "angel" supporting fine art photographers than as a photographer. Photographs of cemeteries, Lourdes supplicants, a Trappist monastery, statues of the Madonna, Ellis Island, and Ireland.]  Very good in hardcover with protected dust jacket with some fading on spine as typical with this dust jacket. Summary:

Presence: Photographs with Observations is a contemplative photobook by American photographer, writer, and patron Shirley C. Burden. Combining quiet black-and-white images with brief personal reflections, the book functions as a visual meditation on spiritual resonance, memory, and the enduring human spirit.

Key Themes & Content Overview

• Sacred and Historical Spaces: Burden documents locations heavy with emotional and spiritual history, including the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky, the Catholic pilgrimage site at Lourdes, France, abandoned structures on Ellis Island, and old Irish cemeteries.

• Interplay of Text and Image: Short, understated observations accompany the photographs, offering personal context rather than formal captions and guiding the reader toward a slower, more reflective reading.

• Concept of "Presence": The core thematic thread explores how physical spaces, objects, and people retain a spiritual residue or "presence" long after events have passed or individuals have departed.

• Ethereal Visual Style: Characterized by soft natural light, subtle tonal transitions, and simple compositions, Burden's photographs elevate ordinary details—like empty chairs, weathered statues, or quiet hallways—into symbols of faith, stillness, and memory.

Presence serves as a quiet, deeply personal photo-essay that blends words and monochromatic imagery to capture the invisible sense of spirit, faith, and history embedded within sacred sites, historical ruins, and everyday environments.

Shirley Carter Burden (December 9, 1908 – June 3, 1989) was an American photographer, author of picture essays on racism, Catholicism, and history of place. He served on advisory committees of museums, including the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California, and was the Photography Committee chairman at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and of Aperture, which named the Burden Gallery (New York) in his honor. (Wikipedia)