St. John's Lutheran Church

One of the early decisions I made about the Church Project was to shoot it in black and white. Depicting these fine old buildings in black and white tones is the appropriate choice. I think it took me 30 seconds to figure that one out.


But. Color has always been an undeniably important part of church architecture. Many people couldn't read in the Middle Ages, but they could follow the stories illustrated in stained glass windows. For me, personally, stained glass windows always make churches special places.


For those and other reasons, it's likely that there will be a small number of color photographs in the final selection. In any group of photos, the photographer wants to establish a rhythm and flow. My current thinking is I'll use a handful of color photos to help create that in the Church Project.


St. John's Lutheran Church is in the background of this photo. It's just outside St. Donatus, Iowa, which is southeast of Dubuque. The lighting on this evening was dramatic and fast.  It was a matter of slam the brakes, get the camera on the tripod, compose, focus, and shoot. The rainbow faded away soon after I made this photo.

Ghost Town Church

I can be a fickle when it comes to my photographs. I can really like a particular photo for two or three weeks and then I start to like it less and less. Not so with this photo of an abandoned church. It's in a ghost town called Halfa in northern Iowa. It has remained on my list of favorites since I first worked on it. It has good tonality, good composition, and an interesting subject.

This church is obviously abandoned and it poses an important question when I think of it as part of the Church Project. I wanted to show these churches as important parts of their community. In this church's case, the community is no longer there. Should churches no longer in use be included?

No doubt I'll continue to ponder that question. For now Ghost Town Church remains a part of the project. Despite not being cared for, it retains a dignified air that I admire. The people who worshiped here made this church a sacred place. That did not change when they left.

Union Chapel

Union Chapel is one of the first churches I stumbled across at the start of the project. And I mean that literally. I was driving around looking for landscape possibilities when I saw the sign for it.

I've made multiple visits to this church. Being just west of Baxter, it's not that far from Altoona and if the sky is interesting I can usual get there in time to see if I can make a photograph. But the other reason I come back here is because I can't escape the feeling that there's a better photograph to be made. Until then, this shot in the early morning fog will have to do.

Chapel Light

It's been quite a hiatus for the Church Project blog. I finally have my current group of favorites registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. For the rest of 2012 I'll be adding a new image two or three times a month.

Shooting for the project, however, has continued. By the end of 2011 I had logged more than 7,000 miles, visited close to 300 churches, and made over 2,600 exposures.

This blog has two purposes. First, comments from readers will help improve the photos I take in the future. Second, I'm very much hoping that readers will suggest their favorite churches and share stories and memories. I'd like to use these as part of the exhibition I'm working on and -- if I'm lucky -- for the book I'd like to do on this subject.

So please feel free to add your thoughts and comments, positive or negative. Both are valuable.

This window is in the Pieta Chapel behind the St. Donatus Catholic Church in Northeast Iowa. I was drawn by how the light highlighted the different planes of the wall.

St. Paul's Lutheran

The different qualities of light and its impact on a photograph continue to amaze me. I photographed this church -- St. Paul's Lutheran in Boone County -- one afternoon and returned the next morning.

While I like the clouds in the afternoon picture (top), the quality of morning light (bottom) creates a much different image of the church itself. The lack of interest in the sky also centers attention on the church and the direction of the light gives the church some dimension.

A plain, blank sky like the morning shot disturbs me a little, but I may eventually decide that I like the way church stands out against it. I suspect that there will be more early morning visits to this church in the course of the project.

From the start, this project was not meant to be a simple photographic catalog of churches. I'm trying to capture and convey the spirituality that I sense when I visit these buildings. In trying to think of ways to capture such a subjective theme, I thought light would be a critical component. To me, St. Paul's in the morning drives the point home.

More Churches

In the past month, I've gotten a good start on the Church Project; unfortunately without funding from the Iowa Arts Council. Perhaps there are other funding sources out there that I can explore.

Although nothing is set in stone, I feel these three images have a good chance at making the final presentation -- whatever form that might be. Please feel free to post comments or suggest churches that you think may be suitable for the project.



In their original forms, the small churches I've visited so far are amazingly simple, yet very powerful. Many of these have had either entry ways or classrooms added on to the original structure and while these don't really detract from the appearance they do spoil completely -- no matter how well done -- the eloquent simplicity of these churches.

Church Project

I suspect I'm not alone in finding myself drawn to the small rural churches that dot the landscape in Iowa and the Midwest. I find their simple design appealing and maybe more appropriate for a place of worship than more formal designs of churches found in large cities.

Many of these churches have been in use for generations. I can't help but feel that after decades of witnessing countless hours of prayer, the joy at weddings and baptisms, and the sorrow of funerals these buildings have absorbed a sense of spirit that truly makes them sacred places.

This is the Palmyra Methodist Church (Palmyra is near Carlisle, IA). I'm posting it because I've submitted a grant to the Iowa Arts Council to fund a project to take similar pictures of churches throughout the state. Preparing the grant proved to be an intense experience. By forcing me to look at the project from different perspectives, it's been worth the time I've spent on it even if funding isn't approved. It was also good practice for applying for other grants in the future.

I tend to work too fast when photographing. I keep trying to tell myself to slow down but apparently I'm not a very good listener. It helps, a little, to shoot in large format because nothing happens quickly in large format. I still find myself moving more and thinking less. This is rarely a good combination.

I'm happy with this picture because I actually did slow down and it paid off with a much better photo. I had composed a shot concentrating on just the three outside window shapes. I was about to take the photo when I told myself to step back and look again. This time I listened. That's when I noticed the sunlight shining through to the interior wall. I had to move the camera a foot or so to get the fourth window shape framed properly.

Chalk one up for patience.