Weekend Photoblogging --- Belmont Abbey

It's been way too cold these past couple of months for so dainty a soul as me to drag my camera hither and yon in search of photographic gold. It's not much warmer, but I've signed up for an online digital photography course and the first assignment called for photographing a building's architecture. Since I couldn't get my pictures of a series of blueprints to come out properly, I had no choice but to head into the cold. And since WordGirl mistakenly allowed that whole "for better and for worse" clause to make it into our vows, I dragged her along with me.

We trekked to Belmont Abbey, a Benedictine abbey which has taken college education as its primary focus and so has built up an entire campus around it. Surely if interesting architecture were to be found for this assignment, it was here.

I'd never been to the Abbey before but thought it looked like a pretty promising subject:



All of those angles pointing heavenward amp up a building's dramatic loom potential:



As you may have noted from our previous church photoblogging, I like to get pictures of the various crosses adorning steeples:





There was a running fountain just outside the monastery. I love moving water shots. In this case, the best one involved a fairly quick shutter speed to freeze the action:



The Abbey being the home of a Benedictine order, St Benedict is featured prominently on the front steps:



There is also a large clock tower. The telephoto zoom brought it up close and personal:



Through the magic of the telephoto lens and an awkward body position on freezing concrete, I composed an entry for my class assignment:



From some angles, St Benedict looked colder than we felt:



Time to head inside then.

The great thing about photographing churches is that there is usually lots of stained glass art to snap:













Of course, it wouldn't be a church without an organ:





Here's a depiction of the risen Christ which immediately invokes Catholic Spain:



I think even non-Catholics would agree that this sculpture of Mary and Jesus is beautiful:



A small votive candle off of the altar was too tempting a target for my camera:



All right---I admit it. I was holding back the best two stained glass shots. Check out the detail on these beautiful windows:





Finally, we can't leave Belmont Abbey without a detail shot of the ancient doors through which many a brother and sister have passed:



More information on Belmont Abbey can be found here.