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St. Philips Church is a historical Episcopal church located in the french quarter neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina.

The Story

I was visiting Charleston in early April. It is beginning to become Spring here and I wanted to visit the St. Philip’s cemetery across from the main church. When I finished taking photos in the cemetery, I wandered over to the church to see if it was open. It was and I went into to see this spectacular structure.

Established in 1681, St. Philip’s is the oldest religious congregation in South Carolina. The first St. Philips Church, a wooden building, was built between 1680 and 1681 at the corner of Broad and Meeting streets on the present day site of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. It was damaged in a hurricane in 1710 and a new St. Phillips Church was begun a few blocks away on Church Street. After being delayed it was finished in 1723 but burned to the ground in 1835. Work on the present church was begun that same year and completed the next. The steeple was added between 1848 and 1850.

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One of the especially interesting features is the way the pews are set up. Called “Box Pews”, a family would seat themselves and then close the door at the end of the pew. On colder days, this enabled them to heat the pew by bringing a hot brick or stone to church with them. The heat would radiate throughout the pew box and keep them warm.

Processing

These images were created using 5 bracketed images merged in HDR Efex Pro. Once blended, I applied minor finishing adjustments to the images to maintain the balance and realism of the scene.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: St. Philip’s Church, Charleston, SC

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There’s something about cemeteries that draws me in every time I pass one in my travels. Such was the case with Beaufort National Cemetery in Beaufort, South Carolina.

The Story

In my travels last week, I spent a brief period of time in Beaufort. There was little time for photography but I did get to take a few shots in the national cemetery there. It was a cool evening with a gentle breeze blowing. It was incredibly peaceful standing in the cemetery watching the breeze blow the Spanish Moss in the huge Live Oaks throughout the cemetery. I find myself pondering the lives of the people interred in cemeteries often wondering about who they were and what they did in life.

Processing

Imported into Lightroom and refined in Color Efex Pro 4.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: Beaufort National Cemetery

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I spent the second half of last week shooting in and around the Low Country of South Carolina. One of the must see stops in the area is the Angel Oak on Johns Island near Charleston

The Story

The Angel Oak is a Live Oak that is native throughout the Low Country or Coastal South Carolina. It is estimated to be between 300 and 400 years old. There a number of sites on the Internet that suggest an age of upwards of 1500 years. The lifespan of a Live Oak is only 1000 years so those age estimates grossly exaggerate. The tree is 65 feet tall with a circumference of 25.5 feet. The spread of its limbs is so broad that its shade area covers 17,000 square feet. The largest limb has a circumference of 11.5 feet and the longest limb is 89 feet in length. Live Oaks are not particularly tall trees. Instead they tend to develop wide spreading canopies of branches with some limbs resting on the ground like what can be found on the Angel Oak.

Processing

This image was imported into Lightroom where I refined the exposure and added contrast to give the image some pop. If you’re ever in the Low Country of South Carolina, I encourage you to check out this natural wonder.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: Tree of Life, Angel Oak

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This week traveling I’m traveling the Southeast with my son looking at universities and reviewing his educational options when he graduates in 18 months. One of our stops this week was in Athens, Georgia to visit the University of Georgia. During the evening, just as twilight was beginning, I was able to take some time to photograph the historical Athens-Clarke County city hall.

The Story

Built in 1845, the Athens-Clarke County city hall is constructed of Lexington granite, brick and oolitic limestone trimmings. The clock tower is constructed of wood topped by a copper cupola, or dome. Perched atop the four-faced clock and the dome is an eagle with an eight-foot wing span. The eagle was originally intended to act as a weather vane, but it moves slowly because of its weight. Of particular interest are the clock and bell connected to it that rings on the hour. This bell was once connected to the Fire Department’s alarm system, but it rang so loud and clear that all of Clarke County would come to a fire, hindering the work of the firemen. It was disconnected from the signal alarm, and the clangor was dulled. The clock was handmade and operated with counterweights like an old grandfather clock until it was electrified in 1943. Before this change, the janitor had to climb five flights of steps once a week to wind the clock.

Processing

This image was created from 5 brackets blended in HDR Efex Pro 2 using the “Deep” preset and refined in Lightroom.

© 2013: The F/Stop Guy: City Hall, Athens, Georgia

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When you picture a southern plantation house, one usually envisions a long driveway with live oaks covered in Spanish Moss overhanging it and leading up to a large antebellum house with huge columns. While the Smith Plantation house in Roswell, Georgia is large, it’s not the type of plantation house one might first picture.

The Story

The Smith Plantation house is part of the Roswell, Georgia city parks system. Roswell maintains this site as well as two additional historic houses nearby, Bulloch Hall and Barrington Hall. All of these houses have the founding of Roswell Georgia in their history. On this day, a group of us were documenting the house and the out buildings as part of the Roswell Heritage Days celebration. I elected to take a low point of view to portray some scale in the image. The house is deep instead of wide like most plantation houses.

Processing

This image was created from 5 bracketed images blended in HDR Efex Pro 2. A vintage look was added in Perfect Effects to give the image a more historical look.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: The Big House, Smith Plantation

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Back in the “old days” having a TV in the house was a big deal. Imagine that the RCA Victor television pictured above was the “big screen” of that era. How things have changed!

The Story

Each year the City of Roswell in Georgia celebrates its heritage in a number of ways with festivals, shows, etc. One of those shows is photography related. To support that show, our local photography club, the Roswell Photographic Society, arranges for a group of us to photograph historic sites around Roswell. In this case, The Smith Plantation was opened for photographers to document some of the history found within the house. This RCA Victor television was in the Study of the main house just off the Foyer.

Processing

This is a single image processed initially in Lightroom then refined in Color Efex Pro before adding a vintage look to it in Perfect Effects.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: RCA Victor

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When I first moved to Georgia, almost 10 years ago, it seemed like there was development on every street corner. Trees, old buildings, farm houses, the barn, etc. were getting plowed under to make way for a new sub-division or shopping center. Then the recession hit and new development slowed to a crawl.

The Story

I have passed by this barn for years and always noted in my head that I needed to stop and take some photos before something happened to it. As luck would have it, as I was passing by a couple of weeks ago, a new “For Sale” sign was being put up advertising the land and an adjoining farm house for sale for commercial development. I committed then to get the barn in the camera. When I went back, there was a thunderstorm moving in from the distance and the sun was setting at the same time making for a pretty cool image.

Processing

This is 5 bracketed shots blended in HDR Efex Pro 2 and fine tuned in Color Efex Pro 4 and Lightroom.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: Rustic Barn

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Every year, my photo club, the Roswell Photographic Society, holds a juried show for Roswell’s Heritage Days Festival. This image entitled “Sunday Morning” is one of the entries chosen for the show.

The Story

I’ve always appreciated the grandness of Bulloch Hall in Roswell, Georgia and have traveled to it several times to take photos. I managed to get there early enough this time to avoid a significant amount of direct sunlight on the front of the house rendering any and all detail washed out. As I approached the front porch from the side, I was struck by the simple rocking chair facing out towards the front lawn of Bulloch Hall. It seemed very serene and peaceful; much like sipping coffee on my deck on a Sunday morning before church.

Processing

This image was created by blending 3 images in HDR Efex Pro. The resulting final image was refined in Color Efex Pro.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: Sunday Morning at Bulloch Hall

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One of the cool things about looking at the architecture in Atlanta is observing the different attempts architects have made over the years to create something unique. These design elements allow me to see and create various architectural abstraction images.

The Story

This is another image from one of my photo walks in downtown Atlanta. This one is a long set of stairs off the side of the AmericasMart. At AmericasMart all kinds of furnishings are traded amongst the buyers who traverse the expansive showrooms. As I walked around this building, I’m sure I looked like the typical tourist with the camera pointed skyward. I took several shots of this building and it’s various elements. It was this one that I settled on as my favorite. As I looked at it I couldn’t help but envision some kind of a launch tower for a space rocket. A little farfetched perhaps but fun to think about nonetheless.

Processing

After importing the image into Lightroom and taking the it through my normal workflow, I converted it to black and white using Silver Efex Pro 2 where I also added some vignetting. Beyond that I used the motion blur filter on the clouds in CS6 to give it that long exposure look.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: Launch Tower, Architectural Abstraction

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If you look hard enough, it’s amazing what you can “see” when your focus is architectural abstraction.

The Story

I set aside some time to go back to downtown Atlanta to visit the High Museum of Art. The High Museum, and the accompanying Woodruff Arts Center, is a must see when you’re in Atlanta. The High Museum frequently has various exhibits and is interesting as well as inspirational no matter how many times you visit. On this day, my focus was to attempt to document the various shapes and lines of the High Museum building.

Processing

When I photograph any subject, like most photographers, I take my time and evaluate all the angles possible. When I post process, I do the same. The original image was a vertical shot up through a space between two sections of the High Museum building. Upon import to Lightroom, I performed my normal post processing workflow and then began to flip the image around until I was happier with the composition. I cropped tighter on the left. Then I softened the texture in the image by reducing the Clarity. FInally, conversion to black and white was handled in Silver Efex Pro 2 where I added a slight sepia tone to the image.

© 2013, The F/Stop Guy: Into The Light, Architectural Abstraction

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