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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Forty One: Ruins and wrecks: photographing the rusted, busted past > Church of the Holy Hay, Preston, Idaho
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30-SEP-2006

Church of the Holy Hay, Preston, Idaho

This building was once a church. Today it is used as barn. It is full of hay instead of hymns. One of its windows had lost all of its glass, clearly revealing the bales of hay within. I isolated that hay filled window on a field of boards. In spite of its utilitarian function, this window still has a spiritual presence. That’s why we called this place the Church of the Holy Hay.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50
1/125s f/4.0 at 13.7mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time30-Sep-2006 17:00:32
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-FZ50
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length13.7 mm
Exposure Time1/125 sec
Aperturef/4
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.33
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis24-Nov-2006 18:23
A far cry from the great cathedrals of Europe, Mo. A simple American church becomes an even simpler American barn. Opposites, indeed.
monique jansen24-Nov-2006 14:24
Great image - love the color tones and the opposite elements in this shot.
Phil Douglis06-Nov-2006 17:31
Thanks, Ai Li -- but the title of this image was not my doing. It is what this church is now known as -- at least to our tour leaders. They kept telling us that we headed to the church of the holy hay, and when we got there, this is what we saw. You are right -- it remains useful, and in a very incongruous way. It was certainly worthy of a photograph.
AL06-Nov-2006 08:04
I really like your title and the spirit of continuity. It's good to see a new life being given to the building. Be it hymns or hay, it remains to be filled, used, seen and not forgotten.
Phil Douglis31-Oct-2006 18:10
Thanks, Jenene, for coming to this image -- one of my favorites. Your words echo my purpose and reinforce the message. I particularly like the way you see the break in the hay as a passage for the spirit of this place.
JSWaters31-Oct-2006 16:54
A geometric gem, Phil. We see ruin and decay alongside the very useful transformation of function - the church morphs into a barn. The spirit of the place lingers, passing in and out through the open window and break in the stacked hay.
Jenene
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