Jim Grover at St James’ Church Clapham

Having lived around the corner for 17 years, it wasn’t until he started his photography project, Of Things Not Seen, that Jim Grover set foot in St James’ Church.

Jim’s work, which documents the year in the life of a Clapham priest, meant that the pair would have to meet on a weekly basis. After pointing to a portrait of Reverend Kit Gunasekera, ‘meeting with him was lovely, we quickly became friends. I obviously know him very well now.”

Jim remembers when he first went to ask Kit about the project, “he was getting ready for the evening and I walked over and said ‘could I shadow you with my camera for 12 months to tell a story?’”

During their weekly meetings, Jim recalls how he would ask Kit questions he hadn’t been asked in a long time. “I would keep asking ‘How do you know you were called?’” He would always politely refuse but over the year I would keep on asking, “tell me how did you know? Was it some sort of bolt of lightening through a window?”

When it actually came to the photographing of the project, it was quite awkward at first and he describes how “I felt very self conscious and thought that it might take some time to build up trust with the congregation. But it turned out to be remarkably easy.”

This was because the congregation trusted Kit, “so if Kit was saying ‘It’s okay, I’m happy with it’, then everyone else thought ‘I’m happy with it too.’” The trust and deep relationships that Jim was able to build during the project allowed him to capture some very personal moments.

Kit Gunasekera, vicar of St James’s Church, Clapham, on his way to work in a photo from Jim Grover’s exhibition Of Things Not Seen

One particular moment that he remembers well was meeting with Joice. “She’s 90 and has lived here all of her life, you know you hear these incredible stories about Clapham, her childhood and she even shows you her family pictures. Its fantastic!” Moments like these would have been impossible if Jim hadn’t built his close relationship with the church and its people.

But on one occasion, there was a moment he chose not to capture, when “a member of the congregation broke down into tears and would have made a very powerful image.” He chose to let this moment go as to not exploit the people he was attached to for a “good” image.

“On one level you miss some things because you feel emotionally attached to an individual, but on the other hand you are able to get some amazing experiences.” Jim goes on to say that he wasn’t a regular churchgoer before starting this project, but now “I’ve been inspired, ministry is a wonderful thing! I really had no idea before how powerful it can be.”

The other thing he noticed throughout the project was how important the church is for the community. A particularly strong memory is the Young At Heart group and how “it’s amazing to see them come together for what is the highlight of their week, to meet, pray and laugh.”

Kit Gunasekera, vicar of St James’s Church, Clapham, attended the Young at Heart group meeting in a photo from Jim Grover’s exhibition Of Things Not Seen

When Jim started out on this journey he was on a “self–centred” agenda, looking for a way to build a brand and get a reputation for his photography. “But I quickly found that what actually gave me pleasure was just seeing how people have connected with my work.”

Jim joked that he never knew this project hadn’t been done before. “No one had photographed a priest before, so I was doing this rather unknowingly for the first time.” The news of this quickly got attention from the BBC, The Guardian and a few major photography magazines.

When asked why he used black and white for the project, Jim said “an image with no colour can hold a sort of timeless quality, so I thought it would be a perfect fit for the project. I also like the fact it creates a very still, calm and traditional looking photograph.” Jim shot the project on a Leica M246 monochrome camera. This camera only shoots in black and white, so there was no option for coloured images.

“The first thing I always looked for was the light, which either excited me, or filled me with gloom.” Jim joked about how photographing in such varied environments and only using natural light lead him to becoming more inventive with light, in order to get the correct exposure for his images.

Having already hosted multiple exhibitions after completing Of Things Not Seen, Jim is now looking for his next project, which he hopes stays local to Clapham. “I’m currently trying to photograph Clapham high street and see if I can bring it to life through images, but so far it has been very hard to bring together this short piece of street and make it interesting as a photo essay.”

Of Things Not Seen has now finished its exhibition at St James’ Church in Clapham but will next be shown at Temple Church, London in February.

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