There is nothing like a walk through an old graveyard on Halloween. Here's some ghostly inspiration.
Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France
Pere Lachaise in Paris again
Church Yard in Old Charleston, SC
New England Grave Yard
The Old Yard, 1725 - New England
Happy Halloween. Beware of ghosts!
© 2009 Tim Marks all rights reserved
On a recent day trip to photograph in Toledo, OH (Visit Midwest Guest to get her take on Toledo’s Victorian past) we drove past the Roman Catholic Our Lady Queen of the most Holy Rosary Cathedral. This was a must stop.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 55mm, ISO 200, 1/60 @ f/22
The Spanish Plateresque design church opened in 1940 and is meant to hearken back to Toledo’s namesake in Spain. It is the only church of its design in North America.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 18mm, ISO 200, 1/90 @ f/8
The church incorporates wonderful statuary and fittings that is a cornucopia of photographic subjects.
Nikon D300, Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 52mm, ISO 200, 1/60 @ f/8
The Church serves the Old West End
neighborhood as a community parish as well as serving the Diocese of Toledo as
a magnificent cathedral. The church was
closed the day we were there but we intend to go back to see if we can
photograph the interior which is supposed to be beautiful.
Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for
organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.
© Tim Marks all rights reserved
Charleston, South Carolina is a destination steeped in the history of our land. Church yards in the old section of town hold the remains of signers of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Scores of antebellum homes line the streets and horse drawn carriages tote tourists around the town making for a quaint atmosphere. Photo opportunities abound!
The view from the town square shows a
church steeple framed by trees including the native Palmetto tree. The day we were there (Thanksgiving week)
there was a minor festival going on in the park.
We were able to get a room in a
wonderful inn that is housed in a former indigo factory. The location of the Indigo Inn was perfect,
within walking distance of everything and just down the street from one of the
great soul food joints in the world, Jestine’s Kitchen.
This is a view of the inn’s open
courtyard, our morning breakfast spot.
The breakfasts were very good and except for Thanksgiving morning (light
snow and 35 degrees) the weather was perfect for eating in the courtyard. As cold weather Yankees, we braved the
weather and ate out in the light snow which about paralyzed the city for a few
hours.
Bright colors dominated the buildings in
several parts of town. In this shot I
was struck by the symmetry of the two windows on the yellow wall.
Pink, yellow, green and blues seemed to
be dominant colors all over the city.
This is the entrance to an Interior Design firm’s offices. From the looks of the building I guess I’d
trust them to design my rooms.
Charleston is definitely worth a visit
especially for anyone interested in the history of colonial America, the early
republic and the civil war. Spend some
time wandering the streets of the city and take in the beauty of the
waterfront.
It is going to take a few blog posts to adequately
cover Charleston. On Wednesday I’ll explore
Charleston’s Fort Sumter, the flash point that began the civil war.
© Tim Marks all rights reserved
Wednesday I wrote about photographing churches in and around my home town. As an outflow of that I have a tendency to seek out interesting houses of worship to photograph when I travel. One of those was St. Ignatius Mission in St. Ignatius, Montana. Here is a view of the inside of the beautiful church.
The mission church was built by the Jesuits and the local Native Americans in 1891. The mission was a residential school, a hospital and a place of worship. The murals on the ceiling of the church are original works of art and were painted by Brother Joseph Carignano S.J. the mission cook and an obviously talented artist.
Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.
© Tim Marks 2009
A neat project to assign your self is to spend some time photographically documenting local churches. Churches often represent grand or interesting architecture and they often have an interesting story in their history. We have a number of very interesting local churches, synagogues and mosques and I have begun to selectively photograph them (this is turning into a major project). Today I will present some examples from a couple of them.
Located in the upscale Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills you will find the magnificent Presbyterian church Kirk in the Hills. While the congregation was founded in 1947 the current church was begun in 1951, the first services were held in the newly finished Kirk in 1958. The building is modeled on the 13th century Melrose Abby in Scotland.
Kirk in the Hills is probably the most majestic church in the Detroit area. Well worth a visit.
The Shrine
of the Little Flower parish (affectionately known as “The Shrine”) in Royal
Oak, MI was founded by the controversial “Radio Priest” Fr. Charles E Coughlin under the auspices of the Catholic Diocese of Detroit. Built using donations from the audience of
Fr. Coughlin’s national radio show, the church, designed by architect Henry J
McGill, was completed in 1936.
The Shrine is unique in that the altar is at the
center of the round church. Therefore
during Mass and other services the sanctuary is surrounded by the congregation. As you can see in the above picture the
church is beautifully decorated for holidays, in this case Christmas. The parish, no longer controversial, and its parishioners
are active assets in the community.
The Shrine is open 5:30am – 5:00pm Monday thru
Friday and 7:30am until after 6:30pm Mass on Saturday & Sunday.
© Tim Marks 2009
