200 - Religious - April 16-22, 2017
Jerry-
Well, I veered from the purely religious direction and steered towards a pop icon that has been the object of religious fervor for many.
This photo was taken with the Sony a6300, 16-50 lens zoomed to 44mm, f8 @ 1/15, ISO 400. I found this Elvis wall hanging for sale at the PRISM thrift shop for only $ .50 so I had to buy it. It is now in the hands of Byron who will treasure it forever. For a runner up photo, I also added a snap of a dashboard Jesus mini-statue that has so far ensured safe travels in my vehicle (he now travels in the glove box).
I had thought of going to one of the big Catholic churches in town, the huge one in St. Paul has tours. I had been there in years past and the feeling I got from its darkish interior was of being in Oz, with the wicked witch and her flying monkeys.
Well, I veered from the purely religious direction and steered towards a pop icon that has been the object of religious fervor for many.
This photo was taken with the Sony a6300, 16-50 lens zoomed to 44mm, f8 @ 1/15, ISO 400. I found this Elvis wall hanging for sale at the PRISM thrift shop for only $ .50 so I had to buy it. It is now in the hands of Byron who will treasure it forever. For a runner up photo, I also added a snap of a dashboard Jesus mini-statue that has so far ensured safe travels in my vehicle (he now travels in the glove box).
I had thought of going to one of the big Catholic churches in town, the huge one in St. Paul has tours. I had been there in years past and the feeling I got from its darkish interior was of being in Oz, with the wicked witch and her flying monkeys.
Don-
Exposure was at f9; 1/320 sec; ISO100. Equipment: D810 and
a 24-70 mm lens set at 70 mm.
Just down the street in a Baptist church with a USA flag along the side. I was
on my way to Bloomfield to get a picture of a statue of the 10 commandments
that is in front of the City Hall. Currently that situation is before the Supreme
Court in New Mexico I believe. I liked this combination instead as I feel that both
are looked at varying degrees of religious fervor, both together and apart.
I took the picture into 'camera raw' for editing as I always do. Hit the auto button, tweaked the exposure, then
added a bit of Clarity and also Vibrance. Adjusted the image for the camera then cropped in Photoshop.
This is pretty much my workflow with all photos.
Exposure was at f9; 1/320 sec; ISO100. Equipment: D810 and
a 24-70 mm lens set at 70 mm.
Just down the street in a Baptist church with a USA flag along the side. I was
on my way to Bloomfield to get a picture of a statue of the 10 commandments
that is in front of the City Hall. Currently that situation is before the Supreme
Court in New Mexico I believe. I liked this combination instead as I feel that both
are looked at varying degrees of religious fervor, both together and apart.
I took the picture into 'camera raw' for editing as I always do. Hit the auto button, tweaked the exposure, then
added a bit of Clarity and also Vibrance. Adjusted the image for the camera then cropped in Photoshop.
This is pretty much my workflow with all photos.
Byron-
I was raised in a Protestant family. The Catholics were viewed with some suspicion because of their religious beliefs. At an early age I noticed our church had very plan artwork. A cross was depicted as a vertical line and a shorter horizontal one. Sometimes the artwork would be more abstract. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, had amazingly detailed statuary and paintings. They mostly showed agony. Rarely do they show people laughing. Oh well. I decided to capture an image of an example of that type of art. On the edge of town is the St. Vincent (no relation to Jerry) Cemetery. I decided to capture the cross scene depicted at the front entrance. Since Easter had just passed a few days earlier, it seemed appropriate. I choose to use the camera I'm borrowing from Dan Barnes. It can do things my Nikon can only dream about. I decided to exploit a couple of the features before I return the camera.
About the photo- It was a dark, dreary afternoon. I went to the cemetery with the camera and an old Vivitar 285 with an optical trigger attached. I shot the photo with the camera in my right hand and the flash in my left hand. The camera was set to the Commander mode so it would trigger the flash. I was hoping to illuminate the statue with a spot light looking style. Because the skies were gray, the trees haven't leafed out and are in silhouette and the statue is white, it looks like a Black & White photo. It's not. That's just the way it looked that day.
ISO 3200, 1/4000sec, f11, Vivitar 285 at full power.
I was raised in a Protestant family. The Catholics were viewed with some suspicion because of their religious beliefs. At an early age I noticed our church had very plan artwork. A cross was depicted as a vertical line and a shorter horizontal one. Sometimes the artwork would be more abstract. The Catholic Church, on the other hand, had amazingly detailed statuary and paintings. They mostly showed agony. Rarely do they show people laughing. Oh well. I decided to capture an image of an example of that type of art. On the edge of town is the St. Vincent (no relation to Jerry) Cemetery. I decided to capture the cross scene depicted at the front entrance. Since Easter had just passed a few days earlier, it seemed appropriate. I choose to use the camera I'm borrowing from Dan Barnes. It can do things my Nikon can only dream about. I decided to exploit a couple of the features before I return the camera.
About the photo- It was a dark, dreary afternoon. I went to the cemetery with the camera and an old Vivitar 285 with an optical trigger attached. I shot the photo with the camera in my right hand and the flash in my left hand. The camera was set to the Commander mode so it would trigger the flash. I was hoping to illuminate the statue with a spot light looking style. Because the skies were gray, the trees haven't leafed out and are in silhouette and the statue is white, it looks like a Black & White photo. It's not. That's just the way it looked that day.
ISO 3200, 1/4000sec, f11, Vivitar 285 at full power.
Kevin-
What the heck to do with the Religious theme? That was a question that vexed me for a while, as I am about as non-religious as one can get. I briefly thought about photographing the Church of the Holy Rocket Ship in Eden Prarie Minnesota, or whatever it’s name officially is, but that didn’t really grab me. Then the answer came to me, and I knew that it would be be my first opportunity since my return to Minnesota late on Wednesday to haul gear, including a stack of science fiction books, to the studio for a pretty easy shoot.
Robert A. Heinlein's novel Time Enough For Love was written in 1973, and I am certain that my first reading of this book happened just a few years later (this is not my original copy). Time Enough For Love is the story of the life of Lazarus Long, aka Woodrow Wilson Smith. At the start of the story Lazarus is the oldest living human, more than 2,000 years old. Lazarus is an early outcome of the Howard Families, who were dedicated to breeding long living people with other long living people. And after 2000 years Lazarus is ready to call it quits and stop living. Ira Weatherall, a member of the Howard Families, talks him into staying alive long enough to tell his stories.
In 605 pages many amazing stories are indeed told. But to me the most delightful part of the story to me was always the notebooks of Lazarus Long. In these two or three sections of the book are snippets, short sentences and longer paragraphs covering a whole variety of topics. They range from the very simple like…
Always store beer in a dark place.
or…
Small change can often be found under seat cushions.
To longer passages like…
History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand top the the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it, and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.
And...
The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up was that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery, Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest and least productive industry in all history.
So did Robert A.Heinlein and Time Enough For Love form my religious thoughts? No. But the author and the book certainly communicated to me, at an early age, that I wasn’t the only one who had doubts about commonly accepted norms.
Nikon D4s, on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens, one studio flash in a gridded strip-light softbox, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync).
What the heck to do with the Religious theme? That was a question that vexed me for a while, as I am about as non-religious as one can get. I briefly thought about photographing the Church of the Holy Rocket Ship in Eden Prarie Minnesota, or whatever it’s name officially is, but that didn’t really grab me. Then the answer came to me, and I knew that it would be be my first opportunity since my return to Minnesota late on Wednesday to haul gear, including a stack of science fiction books, to the studio for a pretty easy shoot.
Robert A. Heinlein's novel Time Enough For Love was written in 1973, and I am certain that my first reading of this book happened just a few years later (this is not my original copy). Time Enough For Love is the story of the life of Lazarus Long, aka Woodrow Wilson Smith. At the start of the story Lazarus is the oldest living human, more than 2,000 years old. Lazarus is an early outcome of the Howard Families, who were dedicated to breeding long living people with other long living people. And after 2000 years Lazarus is ready to call it quits and stop living. Ira Weatherall, a member of the Howard Families, talks him into staying alive long enough to tell his stories.
In 605 pages many amazing stories are indeed told. But to me the most delightful part of the story to me was always the notebooks of Lazarus Long. In these two or three sections of the book are snippets, short sentences and longer paragraphs covering a whole variety of topics. They range from the very simple like…
Always store beer in a dark place.
or…
Small change can often be found under seat cushions.
To longer passages like…
History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand top the the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it, and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it.
And...
The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up was that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, can be swayed by their prayers, and becomes petulant if He does not receive this flattery, Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest and least productive industry in all history.
So did Robert A.Heinlein and Time Enough For Love form my religious thoughts? No. But the author and the book certainly communicated to me, at an early age, that I wasn’t the only one who had doubts about commonly accepted norms.
Nikon D4s, on a Manfrotto 055CXPRO4 tripod with a Acratech GP ballhead, 105mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens, one studio flash in a gridded strip-light softbox, ISO 100, f/11 at 1/250th of a second (flash sync).
Paul-
As you may have already guessed, and if you haven’t here it is: I am a staunch believer in a wall (with some degree of civic “give” and social permeability build into the firmly laid mortar and brick) dividing church and state. That such a wall is, by necessity, a moving artifact, and affected by time and cultural change, is obvious. It’s also kind of dicey structure in terms of non-architectural integrity in a hundred little (and not so little) ways. But this is a lengthy conversation for some other time...in your beautiful place of worship or my lovely little park paid with taxes.
The building on the left (and roughly 200 feet behind the one on the right) is part of the tower of the majestic Nebraska State Capital. The building in the foreground, and appropriately across a wide street, is the resplendent St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
I can’t speak for some of the people who spent a lot of time in one place or the other, but the two edifices seem to get along with each other quite well. I’m glad.
I sincerely believe this is true: (7:55AM, natural light, facing southeast) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 55-200mm lens focused at 55mm; ISO 1000; 1/400 sec. at f/10; matrix metered; +2/3EV; WB Auto. The camera was hand-held.
As you may have already guessed, and if you haven’t here it is: I am a staunch believer in a wall (with some degree of civic “give” and social permeability build into the firmly laid mortar and brick) dividing church and state. That such a wall is, by necessity, a moving artifact, and affected by time and cultural change, is obvious. It’s also kind of dicey structure in terms of non-architectural integrity in a hundred little (and not so little) ways. But this is a lengthy conversation for some other time...in your beautiful place of worship or my lovely little park paid with taxes.
The building on the left (and roughly 200 feet behind the one on the right) is part of the tower of the majestic Nebraska State Capital. The building in the foreground, and appropriately across a wide street, is the resplendent St. Mary’s Catholic Church.
I can’t speak for some of the people who spent a lot of time in one place or the other, but the two edifices seem to get along with each other quite well. I’m glad.
I sincerely believe this is true: (7:55AM, natural light, facing southeast) Nikon D5200; aperture priority; 55-200mm lens focused at 55mm; ISO 1000; 1/400 sec. at f/10; matrix metered; +2/3EV; WB Auto. The camera was hand-held.