Sanctuary Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

It's good to be out and shooting again. We've had massive layoffs at work, so those of us who are left (for now at least) have had to put in extra hours to make up for those who have left. So I haven't had a ton of time for TE recently. But in this economy, I'm grateful to have a job.

This past week I have been at the office rather than at a client site, and the weather has been beautiful every day. So I decided this morning that I'd take my camera and walk around Dallas near sunset to shoot what there was to shoot. Dallas has some of the coolest buildings of any city I've ever seen--an eclectic mix of old, new, and experimental.

This is the Catholic Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe, in my opinion the most beautiful building in downtown Dallas, and one of the oldest. It's right across the street from my office, and fortunately for photographic purposes it's on the edge of downtown, so it's not too difficult to get a shot of the cathedral without skyscrapers in it.

According to their website, the cathedral serves as a parish church for over 17,000 families, and was completed in 1902. (I know that's recent memory for Europeans, but for Dallas that's ancient history). However, the bell tower was not part of the original structure; it was completed only a couple of years ago. It's a wonderful experience hearing the bells toll at various times throughout the day.

The only post-processing I did on this was a little bit of sharpening. I'm not only trying to practice for the cathedrals of England and France, but I'm trying to branch out from mountains/lakes/waterfalls and try something different.

mikolaj_kawa, baba_flies, fulvio52 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

dvlazar (6472) 2009-04-04 1:41

A nice new shot - vivid colors on the church and in the sky, and that cloud patterns are really adding to the composition of this.
Great work!!
Dave

baba_flies (7951) 2009-04-04 1:49

Hello Clark! I have the same, I try out new things lately, and this is tons and tons of FUN, and gives me new ways to explore other sides. Interesting church, wonderful sky, somehow it looks a little toy-like but I like it, it is different from our churches which especially in Zuerich have almost nothing inside but are rather kept to the aboslut minimum. Great sky too, always an important side to make a picture double special. Yes let's hope that we all can keep our jobs, it looks pretty dark, and we are getting prepared for a lot of unemployed people, they guess about 5 % by the end of the year which is a lot for us but I know this seems not a lot compared to other countries. We will see. Don't work too hard despite the pressure ... Barbara.

mikolaj_kawa (29755) 2009-04-04 1:50

Hello Clark! Amazing sanctuary, wonderful towers. Excellent colours. Good capture and frame. Well done!

Aliskt (0) 2009-04-04 1:58

fantastic Shot..
Amazing Colour,dreamy and splendid
thanks for sharing your useful notes about this View,excellent capture of a good photographer,dreamy reflection
regards and compliments
Ali

rgarrigus (0) 2009-04-04 2:09

Hi Clark,

Big time kudos for stretching your vision. Apart from increasing your skills it certainly serves to re-kindle the creative fires. This is a really nice image having brought your sensibilities for good light to the exposure. The warmth of the building really work perfectly with that blue sky. Interestingly, architecture is actually one area where sometimes a clear blue sky can work well too depending on the situation and how much the buildings fill the frame. For this one though I think you needed the clouds to fill that space on the left. We just need Dallas/Fort Worth to redirect flights to keep their rude contrails out of your skies!

I bet you're getting excited for your trip to the UK. The good news for you is that the exchange rate here is much improved over this time last year so you won't spend nearly the money you might have. This time last year it was over $2 to the pound.

Cheers!

Bob G.

Adrian_S (586) 2009-04-04 5:02

Hello Clark!
The spring sky is the best actor! With some good equipmend and skilled photographer, you can really get the best out of it... like you have done here. I know that the church is the main element here, yet I am quite impressed with the sky. You manipulated the evening lights very well.

All the best
Adrian

fulvio52 (8314) 2009-04-05 0:53

Good morning, Clark.
I really like the kind of dreamy, painting-like feel that seems to permeate this one. Simple and effective and featuring great colors, which is all you need here. Good one! Have a good sunday, I'll be seeing you.
Fulvio.

rlrad (1187) 2009-04-06 16:28

Hi Clark,

Nice light on that church, made for a wonderful exposure. I'm missing the very bottom of the building, though, and it makes me wonder what was down there - if it was near downtown there were probably plenty of vehicles parked around there - at least that's what happens to me!

Have good one,
Reed Radcliffe
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Photo Information

Copyright: Clark Monson (cdmonson) (2751)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2009-04-03
Categories: Architecture
Camera: Canon EOS 400D, Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Digital ISO 100, Cokin 77mm Circular Polarizer
Exposure: f/8, 1/30 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2009-04-04 1:37