Silent Church Bells on the Prairie

An abandoned church from decades past remains on the prairie in eastern

Montana. I will also post 45-degree views. Comments and suggestions

are appreciated. Thanks.

Stephen,  I love this shot - the placement of the church in the lower part of the frame and the beautiful, expansive sky with a perfect shade of blue, the late day? light.  But perhaps more than the technical excellence, is the feeling the image evokes.  It speaks worlds.

Sam

Sam, thanks for visiting.  Actually, this is fairly early in the morning (it faces east).  My biggest challenge over the years has been getting to this spot early for the best light; its location is so remote.

This one was well worth scanning, Steve. I love the rich tones of the sky and grass, and that old building is excellent.

Quite a find also and well done.  Regards rek

Thanks for the comments.  Attached is the 3/4 view taken on the same day.  It's a little earlier, a little further back, with slightly different clouds, but it's a more "traditional" shot of a building in a landscape.  I don't think I'll post this separately, but if anyone has comments on a comparison of the two, I'd appreciate hearing your thoughts.

I like them both, but the first is the clear winner for me. Getting up close to the old building works very well.

I think both images are great!  Each of them has its own personality and offers different visual experience. The first one draws viewers' attentions to the church while the second photo shows more depth.

I think I prefer the second version as far as composition.  The sky seems a bit too intense a blue. I realize it was a different time of the day and the color warms a bit.  I find in my own work the darker blues seem too much also.  They are both worthy of your talented efforts and indeed Montana must be quite a treasury of images for you.  Take good care, rek.

The blues do bring out the wonderful clouds though and the richness of the grasses.  Again great work, rek.

A place where the fullness dominates, the colors have good value.

I like the original version, but, the second version is an entirely different picture. Both of them are very nice images, its depend on your personal preference. I like the second composition a little bit more, because it tells more stories,  has more environment  where it's standing. The original posted version has  a strong architectural rendering, more geometrical composition and symmetrical, but still very nice. IMHO. The yellow and red color of the ground and the chapel  stands out strongly with the blue sky. Both images are  very nice.

Thanks again for the comments.  I agree with Bela that even though the photos are of the same building, they are very different photographs.  One is primarily focused on the building, while the other brings the context into greater play.  BTW, I've since learned that this is an old school building and not a church.  I guess the "bells" part of the title is still applicable.  While looking at my own photo, I thought the blue sky might be too intense, which is the same comment Richard made a while back.  I usually don't saturate my photos, although other actions can have a side effect of increased saturation.  However, I see that this was taken with Velvia, and I'll bet that's the source of the deep blues, especially if it's underexposed in the slightest.