Hi Dan - This church was built in 1927. At that time the parish was about 50 years old. As you can guess, that part of town was pretty heavily populated at the time. In fact South Omaha was a separate city from Omaha at that time. There were so many Catholics in that part of town that there were many crowded parishes, each with their own church, and many with their own schools.
Times have changed. In the 60's the Interstate Highway was built through that part of town. That displaced a large part of the population to other parts of the city. The economic mixture of the city has also changed and the people in that area are fewer and less affluent. This leaves the church with several facilities that they can't afford to keep. Over the next couple of years, it looks like about five of the churches will be closed. (Keep in mind, these churches are only a few blocks apart.) The disposition of the buildings isn't known at this time. St. Bridget's is slated to survive because of it's size and location. I think that's a good thing because it's one of the most beautiful. On a personal note, it was where I went to grade school. My aunt still lives in the neighborhood and is on the team of women that clean and decorate the church. She mentioned that there had been some minor damage to the windows after a hail storm. That started my train of thought about getting a few photos of the place. When I called the pastor I was surprised to find that he's the older brother of an old buddy from grade school and had grown up a few houses down the street from me. We got to talking. So, getting photos of this particular church has turned into a bigger project. I've been there three times so far and have enough photos to get started on the layout of a book. I'm glad I started doing that early in the project, because I can take the photos with the book layout in mind. That will reduce the amount of stuff that needs to be re-shot. I'm also trying to get started on getting some basic photos of all the churches that may be closed. It would be a shame if they were closed without having some visual record. After managing large projects for the last 30 years I shouldn't have been surprised by how much time this takes. The days of churches being left unlocked all day are long gone due to theft and vandalism. I need to schedule each visit so someone is there to let me in. Post-processing and book layout. Like I said, I think it's going to take a few months. It's a good thing I'm semi-retired. See you later, gs George Sinos -------------------- [email protected] www.georgesphotos.net plus.georgesinos.com On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 12:54 PM, Daniel J. Matyola <[email protected]> wrote: > George: > > That is a fine start you have made on documenting St Brigid's Church. > How old is it? It is certainly a lovely facility. > > I am interested in following this project. My church in New Jersey is > preparing for its 300th anniversary in 2014, although the current > church building was constructed "only" in 1750. I am considering > trying to make a small photo booklet of the church building for the > anniversary. Fortunately, since it is a Lutheran church, it is much > plainer inside and out than St Brigid's; for example, there are only > two stained glass windows and a few etched windows. Still, I will be > watching what you do and stealing some ideas if you don't mind. <G> > > Dan > Dan Matyola > http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola > > > On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 12:35 PM, Bob Sullivan <[email protected]> wrote: >> George, >> That's a great subject and a beautiful old church (for the New World). >> Have you thought of making vertical pano's of the stained glass windows? >> I wonder if getting the whole thing onto a single page would be important. >> Are you doing this for a church brochure or what. >> The symmetry and order in the images is captivating. >> Regards, Bob S. >> >> On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 9:46 AM, George Sinos <[email protected]> wrote: >>> This is the wrap up of the “Print-a-Day for 30 Days” Project. >>> >>> <http://georges.posterous.com/top-5-lessons-learned-from-the-print-a-day-fo> >>> >>> Thanks for all of the feedback and thanks for being patient with me >>> filling up the list the last few weeks. Even though the project was >>> interesting and I learned a lot, I may not have had the discipline to >>> keep up the daily regimen if I hadn't added the public posting >>> component. >>> >>> I've also been working on a photo project documenting St. Bridget's >>> Church. This is one of several beautiful churches in town. I suspect >>> this project is going to keep me busy for the next several months. I >>> started laying out the book yesterday. That helped solidify the >>> remaining work so I could build a work schedule. >>> >>> There are a few experimental and candidate shots with descriptive text >>> from an existing brochure in the link below. This gallery just >>> scratches the surface. There are 14 major stained glass windows, each >>> with a different liturgical symbolism. There are about 70 items on >>> the shot list. Given that I can only shoot a few on each visit, this >>> is going to take a while. >>> >>> <http://www.georgesphotos.net/Other/St-Bridget-candidates/23736841_V2KGQt> >>> >>> Thanks again for all of the feedback on the printing project. >>> >>> See you later, gs >>> >>> George Sinos >>> -------------------- >>> [email protected] >>> www.georgesphotos.net >>> plus.georgesinos.com >>> >>> -- >>> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >>> [email protected] >>> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >>> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >>> follow the directions. >> >> -- >> PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >> [email protected] >> http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >> to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >> follow the directions. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
