Saturday, October 07, 2006

More amatuer photgraphy

I took the following pictures when I went to Mass at Holy Family parish on the west side of town. There happened to be some amazing weather and light at time, so I struck gold with a few shots.

Ignore my toes, since I'm going to crop them out when I print this.


This is a better memorial photo. I tried to get several shots with cars/parts of cars in them, and this was my favorite. Really tells the poignant story.

See what I mean by striking gold? I don't even know what to call the amazing light show in this photo. As far as editting, I plan to remove the telephone pole wires, and crop out a portion of the right and the bottom. But, dang, just look at that. I was blessed to have been on church property when this happened, so that Christ could get the credit for this miracle.

Here's a photograph of the same statue, this time from an imposing point of view. The sun is still behind the clouds, so the light on the statue is soft. I had to contort my body a little bit to get this shot--I was aiming for framing his head with the clouds. The diagonal angle is sort of an accident, but it works. But wait till you see the next one...

Same idea, but what an effect! The sun peeked out from behind the clouds and lit up the whole church yeard. The Christ in this picture looks a great deal kinder and more merciful than in the other photo, and the clouds frame his head much more precisely. This Christ looks much more alive, yet less frightening than the previous one.

Our Lady of the Boring Overcast Sky.


The Woman Clothed with the Sun.

4 comments:

Matt of CG said...

--The Wreath--
My mind went "motion picture" when I saw this one with your description. Just imagine the little larkspur sprigs fluttering in the wind occasionly pressed by the wake of passing cars. All that one would hear is the ambient sounds of the day. In this relative silence, ones own heart would hearken to an agonizing poignancy.

Matt of CG said...

--The Radiant Clouds--
This reminds me of a visual effect used on an episode of Touched By an Angel. In it, Jesus is disguised as a short-haired, guitar toting, traveling handyman with a blessedly laconic demeanor who is put in jail for being implicated in a fatal boiler room accident that killed a dozen people including children. The ever opportunistic Satan disguises himself as an attorney and while in the court setting persecutes the handyman with intense fervor trying to persuade the townspeople to condemn the handyman to death.

Long story short, Jesus is mysteriously released from jail, Satan loses his momentum and with the help of Roma Downey and Della Reese is cast out by the townspeople.

The sun is setting, Roma sits at a lonely roadside bench waiting for the bus. Della tells her to go speak with someone. She gets up and walks behind the bushes out there in the wilderness to find the handyman standing with his back to a mountainous horizon veiled in clouds. She figured he was just another angel she hadn't met yet, but to her surprise the entire skyline shimmered with rays of light from behind the clouds matching the countenance now glowing on his own person. (What bothered me about that episode, if I remember correctly, is that she referred to Him as Teacher instead of Lord, Master or King. And, she didn't kneel when He revealed Himself to her. What kind of angel is she! I guess that's what happens when Catholics don't run the movie business.)

Matt of CG said...

--The Celestial Crown--
The angle at which the clouds converged over the head of the statue is reminiscent of a crucifix I recieved from Fr. Steve Stencil while he was in the Vatican. The crucifix depicts the Father offering/ receiving the Son on the cross. God the Father has a triangular halo with the point at the top. ( I think Keenan Ivory Wayans in "Don't Be a Menace to South Central while Drinking your Juice in the Hood" said it best...
"Message!"

Matt of CG said...

--Our lady of the Boring Overcast Sky--
The title cracked me up! I don't think Our Mother will mind.