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.

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.