Another tough week, one day of actual photography, and even that was “forced”. Yesterday, another blogger whom I follow, Bob Zeller, posted a blog along the lines of an award for “Versatile Bloggers”. While I don’t see myself that way I was very honoured to be included in the company of he other bloggers in Bob’s List, if you get a chance check that out, quite impressive. I will follow this up in my next post; hopefully, I can be as magnanimous as Bob was 🙂
This week’s Deck photo was originally to be of my Alma Mater, Saint Stanislaus College (a High School actually), but I was more taken by my images of the church that I attend. They are both on the same street, Brickdam, and Nikhil and I walked it looking for things to photograph.
This is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, seat of the Bishop of Georgetown, His Lordship Francis Alleyne OSB, and is commonly referred to as Brickdam Cathedral. It is the central church of the Roman Catholic Diocese in Guyana and my parish for all of my life, although I now live outside the geographical area of the parish, we still attend mass there. It is bordered by Brickdam, Hadfield Street, Camp Street and Pollard Place, the current concrete structure replaced the original wooden structure that was destroyed by fire decades ago. Although it is not photographed as often as the St George’s Cathedral, it has its own appeal and beauty.
Some people may notice, while others may not, this image, while not a true HDR image (I only used one exposure) was processed in Nik’s HDR Efex to get the most out of both the clouds and the building, I tried to be as subtle as I could without losing the detail that I wanted.
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Great shot Mike. Thank goodness I didn’t try something similar, I’m sure it would have paled by comparison.
Thanks Nik, I think we’d have gotten similar images, especially as we both had on the wide lenses 🙂
Very beautiful picture Mike.
Thanks Scheme, I hope I did the building Justice 🙂
A great picture, Mike. The only thing I would have done different, I think I would have went for a horizontal image. Or cropped to a square one. But that’s just me. But for exposure, etc., you were spot on. 🙂
Thanks Bob, this place has lots of possibilities, I think you may well see a landscape version in the future 🙂
Or try cropping the one you have. I think you would surprise yourself. It is a great photo.
Thanks Bob, getting different views is one of the things I love about the blog!
Majestic! Mike this is beautiful. I have seen many pictures of the Cathedral but this is tops. Love the reflection of the blue green roof on the building. The red on the fence section is eye catching. Did a good job on the skies, almost looks as if dark clouds are rising from above the Cathedral. Only thing I would have taken away is the “gutter filled with water”. Now all it needed was some flowers on the trees.
Thanks A. Rose, I got suggestions from Nik and Bob, and they’re right, it could be better, a bit of tweaking, or a revisit 🙂
Very nice. I like the various angles you have framed -they draw the eye from front to back right up into the sky. I like the water reflection, adds depth.
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Thanks Sheila, Using lines and curves in composition has never been my strong point, but I’m trying to see these things more now 🙂
I changed my mind, Michael. Because of the interesting angles that you have, I don’t think a horizontal would work. However, I still would like to see a bit of the sky cropped off. I think it would put more emphasis on the building itself. But that’s just me.
Thanks Bob, I think you’ve found part of the dilemma 🙂 I flipped back and forth between two images of this scene before deciding on this one. I will post the other at a later date, but it is more of a “street” photograph than this one. I think you may be right about the cropped version, but my fascination with skies takes over at points like this 🙂 Always glad for your input, this may well factor into the processing of the next version of this scene 🙂
It’s gorgeous. Great details and color, nice composition. Would you recomment that Niks HDR?
Thanks Sandra, I would recommend Nik’s HDR Efex Pro, it is by far the best I’ve come across, I also used Mediachance’s Dynmaic HDR and am beta testing Oloneo’s photoengine, you should try it out now in its beta phase (free to use)
Hi Michael, a great HDR, jumps of the screen! I must get me a copy of Nik HDR, real nice effects for sure with a single exposure.
Have a great weekend mate!
Thanks David, I find that they took the excellent layout and interface and concepts from their Silver Efex and worked it nicely into an HDR software that works powerfully!!!
I think it’s a wonderful photo, Michael. The sky seems almost to be rising from the church and I like the way it curves around the foreground in hints of reflection as if enveloping it.
Thanks Cindy, this one had both positive and negative feedback, glad to have your input!!
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