Those who have followed this blog for the last couple of years will know that Pauline and I share a love of old churches and have visited many in Northland. We didn't visit many this time but we did stop at Saint Joseph's Maori Anglican Church in Awanui which proved to be fascinating for a number of reasons. One was the old bibles which Pauline blogged about here. Another was a letter from a young Christian traveller which was on display.
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Spectacular images....You have joined the HDR brigade..They are good are these.
ReplyDeleteAdrian I've used Photomatix Light for a while but not very often I have to admit. It can make a big difference though. I'm always chuffed when you think something's good.
DeleteWhat a cute little church....reminds me of "Little House on the Prairie".
ReplyDeleteI agree with the christian traveler that it's good the church can be left open during the night even in these times.
I've never seen "Little House on the Prairie" Virginia but I can imagine that there is a similarity given the simplicity of design and construction of wooden churches.
DeleteThat church looks like plastic all over, you know, like those model buildings for model railways, it is too white and bright and shiny and clean to be "true" :-) But that is of course just me - being used to old weathered stone buildings for churches. And plastic flowers remind me too much of my first mother-in-law.
ReplyDeleteThe letter is very touching, and it is certainly rare to find a church with its doors open all night.
Tone mapping can cause this effect but I suspect this is due to superb light. Dark clouds behind the church and sunlight lighting it.
DeletePhotographs are just a snapshot of time and not as I see a scene. My eyes wander left, right and up and down and my brain computes an HDR image.
he is just starting out.
Meike most of the old (and by that I meant anything built in the late 1800s) wooden rural churches (they are all wooden) are painted white. Some, like this one, have been well maintained and painted and some show many years or decades of neglect and disuse. As Adrian says the sun on the church and the dark sky emphasis the whiteness.
DeleteAdrian my use of HDR is very simplistic and I often use it to get windows to show up or skies the 'right' colour for my tastes. What we see in a photo and what we see in life can be, as you of all people know, very different.
So are the flowers still plastic or had they taken the pilgrim's advice? I think the whole church looks like a mix of different styles somehow. In Sweden we do have a number of wooden churches (it varies a bit between different parts of the country) and it is/was even more common for countryside "chapels" (free churches).
ReplyDeleteMonica the flowers are still plastic which is ironic given the abundance of wild and cultivated flowers available in New Zealand almost all year round. I may be wrong but given the way graves are decorated Maori may have something in common with the people of Lewis. They lived outside with nature in the landscape and fields and saw no need to cut them and decorate their houses with them. Plastic flowers obviate the need to remove fresh plants from their natural environment. But that is pure speculation.
DeleteWell, artificial flowers do have the advantage of not withering. Dead flowers do not really bring a sense of life to a place either... ;)
DeleteWow, absolutely gorgeous photos!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda and thanks for the visit. I, too, enjoy crosswords.
DeleteWhat a sweet letter, I am happy for them that they found it.
ReplyDeleteYes. A true refuge, Cat, in the way that churches were in days gone by.
DeleteI think you captured the church perfectly. The dark clouds highlighted how well looked after it was. I will remember it also for the grave of the Maori soldier who had been awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre. I still can't believe that I've never noticed it in the past.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pauline. I was in two minds as to whether to post the memorial to the Maori soldier. I may do a separate post.
DeleteOh, I love this post. I love this little church and I am grateful that you have the letter that the church posted.
ReplyDelete(Much of my childhood was spent in small churches just like this one.)
Blessings and Heartwarm greetings...I love that.
(I hope the church took his advice to heart and uses real flowers now.)
That stained glass window makes my heart sing.