Sunday, April 13, 2008

St. Francis in the Redwoods


This Episcopalian church was consecrated last year, and they are still working on the landscaping. It sits beside a firestation, at the intersection of Commercial Street and Highway 101, so it has high visibility as well as a noisy environment. The design solution was to use straw bale construction for the walls. Dozens of community members responded to the call for helpers in the bale portion of the work, and were educated in the process. Information on line about the church indicates it is only the third straw bale one in the country.

I wanted to stand further back to get this shot, but that would have meant getting hurt by traffic. I was in the gutter as it was. The moon always seems so much bigger when seen with just the eyes.

10 comments:

Dina said...

St. Francis would be happy to know a church was built with simple straw bales.

Benjamin Madison said...

I think what you do if you want a bigger moon is to go much further back (maybe on the other side of the highway) and use the telephoto to bring the church up close. You then end up with the church looking pretty much the same but the moon will look bigger.

USelaine said...

I never thought of a telephoto doing that, but what you say makes sense. I've found any number of situations where I could use one. I'll need to invest in one of those SLR-type digital cameras before long. I suppose it would help if I actually cracked open the "advanced" manual on this Canon PowerShot A550. But Ineed some coffee first...

Chuck Pefley said...

I really like the distinct shadow pattern in this photo. And by the way, I would not have any problem with you posting your sushi photo the same day I did. Hard not to have some similarities once in awhile with some many individual blogs around the whole world.

Benjamin Madison said...

Your A550 has a 4X optical zoom - which is not much but more than most less expensive cameras - mine only has 3.5X. Your zoom control is wrapped around your shutter release on the top right hand side of the camera - you may already have been using it.... 4X zoom won't make for a much much bigger moon but it will enlarge it some.

USelaine said...

Thanks for that Chuck. I had already decided on this church before seeing your sushi supplemental image. I just thought a lunchplate of sushi narrowed down the chances a bit for same day coincidences. But my lighting wasn't so good, and I dislike the look of flash with point-and-click type photography.

USelaine said...

And Benjamin, here you are being all nice to me too. Kind of puts the pressure on when a blog pal takes the time to investigate my camera's specs when I haven't bothered to. I was trying to intuit the situation and just pushed the flower symbol when I wanted to get close to someting. I've been leaving the ISO wheel on AUTO, which is why, I'm guessing, my sunlit whites blow-out so consistently. Photoshop can't repair those. (see apple blossom below).

I owe it to you guys to try to pay more attention. Thanks so much for keeping an eye out.

Troop 1309 said...

That is great that they used straw. I think its neat when alternative building supplies are used and it turns out well.

Jilly said...

Love the shadows in this photograph. they really make the shot. Lovely. You obviously have really blue skies as I do, which create these deep shadows. Yours have worked beautifully. Well done. Lovely church, simple, interesting.

USelaine said...

Thank you so much for visiting, Jilly. Your photos of the Riviera are always so sharp, clean and lovely.