Ziggy, at least I think it's me!'s photostream  

Golden late afternoon light on the carpet and pews of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Palestine,Texas.

I'd just finished photographing Sacred Heart Catholic Church
as a part of the project I'm doing for the diocese.
I was looking back towards the chior loft and mentaly
making sure I'd photographed the shots I'd planned.
While looking and thinking the sun broke from some clouds.
The sanctuary was bathed in a beautiful, warm light.
The red carpet became striated with alternating patterns of dark and light.
This was the scene that I'd been placed here, at this moment in time, to photograph.
I really didn't have much time to plan a series of exposures,
I just rapidly bracked three shots at one stop on each side of normal,
and the light was gone.
Even had I not been lucky enough to capture the scene
it was stored in my memory.

Hope you enjoy.
It's simple, but it has meaning to me!

Ziggy

Sanctified Oils in Our Lady of Sorrows catholic Church; Jacksonville, Texas.

This is a nine exposure HDRI that was tonemapped using Photoshop CS3 and finished as an LDR using NIK Color Effex Pro: Pro Contrast and Tonal Contrast.

An Icon of Christ after reserection, ascending, displayed in St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Marshall, Texas. Photographed using natural light.

One from the project that I'm currently working on.

A hand held, high ISO photograph of the Altar within St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Longview, Texas.

Light from the windows illuminating a missal which is laying open on the Altar of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Longview, Texas

As I was finishing making the exposures for my panorama of the Sanctuary
I was attracted to something gleaming on the altar.
I walked down to see exactly what it was.
A Missal was laying open and the guilding on the outer edges of the pages were gleaming in the light.
I decided that I would see if the light could be captured from behind the back pew's.
Rather than fill the frame with the missal alone I tried to incorporate it into its environment.

When I photograph I don't do so with any meaning.
Although I realize that there is a symbolism to many scenes,
I do not conceptualize while working.
I simply concentrate on doing all I can to present the "thing" rather than interpret.
This isn't to say that a photograph can't or doesn't take on meaning after the fact,
We know that happens. Sometimes it gives us greater status than we deserve.

That is the case with this image. I simply composed to present a pleasing image unaware of any meaning.
Now I can see some symbolism that I wasn't aware of at the time.
Those symbols are purely personal, so I'll not bore you.
Who knows, If you take the time to look deeply enough you may discover something of your own.

Ziggy

(Note: This is a 4 exposure HDRI that was merged using CS3. The brightest exposure was
actually the recommended metering for the overall scene. The three remaining exposures were all at one stop under in sequence).