First Congregational Church, Rockport, MA

First Congregational Church, Rockport, MA

As soon as we parked in Rockport, less than a 1/2 block away, we spotted this typical New England Church on School St and churches are one of my favorite subjects to photograph.

When I used to work for the Manchester Herald, one of my jobs was to photograph the churches in their coverage area for the Sunday Newspaper. Since then, I've always been interested in photographing churches. I love the old churches with steeples and the old Gothic churches the best. I guess it's because I am from New England and that's what I'm used to seeing.

This one was organized in 1755 by Rev. Ebenezer Cleaveland and ten members. The cornerstone of the present building was laid in 1803. The church was dedicated in 1804, and Rev. David Jewett was its first pastor.

St Mary's Episcopal Church

St Mary's Episcopal Church

St Mary's Episcopal Church in Rockport, Massachusetts has been open and running since 1872

"The first services were held in the Odd Fellow's Hall building in 1872, with the Rev. D. Reid, the Rector of St John Church in Gloucester officiating. In 1885,  19 members organized as St. Mary's Mission. Bishop Phillip Brooks inaugurated services in the present building in 1892." (Rockportusa.com)

St Mary's Episcopal Church Window Detail.

After some extensive searching, I was unable to find out any other information on this beautiful church, unfortunately.

Church Steeple, Springfield, MA

I'm still trying to get caught up on my editing. This was taken in Springfield, MA while on my vacation to CT and NY in January.

I like the post-card feel to this image and how the church steeple is obscured by the bare tree. New England is known for it's amazing old churches. They have been seen on calendars, book covers and probably been photographed more in New England than in most of the United States.

Even though I'm primarily a nature photographer, I also love to photograph old architecture. There isn't much of it in Florida, since it was settled around the turn of the century (1900's). The really old, beautiful architecture can be found throughout New England--especially in Massachusettes and CT. This old church is no exception.

I would have liked to photograph the entire steeple, but I photographed it from a moving car and I was too close for the lens I had on my camera. I plan to go back there again and try to better this capture.

Ukranian Catholic Church

I don't know how come I never saw this church before. Way back in the '80s when I was still living in CT, I worked for the Manchester Evening Herald. It no long exists unfortunately. It was a nice local paper featuring local news.

My beat at the paper was women's news and the Sunday church news. Every week I had to feature one of the area churches. I really enjoyed this part of my job, because it allowed me to be more creative.

As you can see, I still love to photograph beautiful churches. This one is no exception. I really like the spires on the top with the crosses atop them.

Excellent architecture and the stained glass is amazing. Gorgeous scenes were depicted on each side of the church.

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First Baptist Church

While out after the class on Tuesday we spotted this church and couldn't remember ever seeing it lit up like this before. The lights kept changing colors and it looked so beautiful, we just had to stop and capture the beautiful color with these lights.

We were all standing across the street trying to get the best vantage point to show it off, when these 2 guys with masks on came over and asked what we were doing. It turned out that this is a project they're doing just for fun. They call themselves the "Light Bandits" and identify themselves only as Light Bandit #1 and Light Bandit #2. It seems they will be picking an unknown place around town to light up once a week. They are featured on You Tube and have a My Space site as well. You can find them on My Space here.

I gave them my card and asked them for a link to their site and let them know we'll send on the photos that we took to them for their project.

The red and white streaks on the street in front of the church are the results of cars traveling by the church captured with a slow shutter speed.

If you like my work, please comment. If you'd like to see more, please visit my website here.