Assumption of my Faith

Ever since I got my first taste of photographing a church with a meetup group in 2013, I was smitten. Then I came across Klaus Hermann’s HDR Vertorama book and my mind was set on pursuing this kind of photography. I have been dreaming of visiting various churches and cathedrals around the country for last 2 years and then eventually to go to Europe and visit as many cathedrals as I can. I am fortunate enough to be able to spend so much time to develop my processing skills and I finally began to feel confident in showing my work to others without flinching.

This series of photos are from the Cathedral of the Assumption, the cathedral mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. Built in 1841, this cathedral is known for it’s Gothic Revival architecture. This place is absolutely magnificent and when we walked in, there was not a soul to be seen. My heart did little jumps at this rare opportunity of the solitary experience without any disturbances. There was a little pedestal at the entrance with a bowl filled with holy water and you could see reflections of the ceiling and the alter in the water. There was no way to use the tripod so it had to be hand held shooting if I want to include the reflections in the image. Fortunately Canon 6d is very good with high ISO performance so I took the challenge of hand holding the camera, resting it on the edges of the bowl and I think I have some unique shots. Of course I had some inspiration from an image on 500px so it is not too unique after all. 

At first I have taken the straight on shots, and then the series of shots to make a vertorama, then I switched the lenses to take some fisheye shots. I was ready to try out the reflections at this point. My friend was so helpful in turning on the lights and that was really special as the whole cathedral came to light in that instant and for that I am so happy. Now comes the fun part. I learned one thing over the course of 2 years of visiting the churches.. always ask to go to the 2nd or 3rd floor if they have it and allow people to go there. The perspective is so different from up there and here are some examples. Always take your time to experiment but first take the cursory shots as you might not have as much time as needed to experiment.

Here are some more with different perspective...

Splash Photography

I am looking into various forms of photography and luckily came across a meetup group in Philly holding workshops on various kinds of trick photography.. I have attended a few sessions and now I am hooked entirely.. The only problem is I can not come home and create this setup by myself.. that requires a lot more skills than what I have.. Carpentry, Flash usage, tinkering with electronics.. I would rather drive to Philly and shoot the photos in a studio set up by somebody else..Call me lazy.

One rose.. Few hrs..

Because of this cold weather, I am hesitating to go outside with my camera. So my alternative is to buy some flowers and shoot them at home. My florist is happy to see me every other day..I bought this rose and it looked perfect just the way it is. I tried to shoot it with white, black, natural backgrounds to see what works. I also shoot it in macro mode as macro is some thing I would like to pursue in future. I loved the background as it is much more dramatic but it looks staged.. Next fav of mine is macro shot. But a lot of people told me is that white background is bringing out the delicate essence of the flower.

Grounds For Sculpture

I live 15 minutes away from this place for past 7 years but only after I started photography that I started to visit GFS regularly.. Every time I go there, I come away with beautiful images. For people living close by, I would suggest to visit GFS at least once every season.

Notre Dame Basilica

I had the good fortune to visit Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. I was not sure what to expect as I am not familiar with Gothic architecture. I was so pleasantly surprised once I stepped inside. It was spectacular and the blue light bathing the alter was so mesmerizing.. I have attended the light and sound show and it was more like a history lesson. They allowed the tripods inside but only gave us 15 min to take the photos and of course, with so many people around, long exposures were almost impossible. I managed to take a few and I went back the next morning to see if I can get more. I wish I had a couple of days just looking at the details inside the Basilica.. 

It all started very innocently..

I was hiking regularly in 2011 and whenever I was using my P&S camera or my iPhone to take photos, they were not as good as what I see.. I was really disappointed for not being able to translate what I see into frames.. As luck would have it, I lost my camera on one of the hikes and I got myself a Canon T3i in Dec 2011. Since I am addicted to learning new things, I read the manual a few times and started to read books, attending photo workshops to learn how to get off automatic mode.. Within a few weeks, I knew enough to operate the camera without referencing the manual.. Since I am in IT, technical stuff is fairly easy for me to understand.. But learning to see creatively is a very long process and I am working at it.. I am reading books written by Bryan Peterson, Harold Davis, Scott Kelby, David duChemin etc. Michael S. Miller is (local photographer/teacher) is helping me with becoming a better photographer..

Photography came to me in desperate times and it has become my meditation, my zen, my stress buster.. I can lose myself for hrs at a time when I am walking with my camera.