Some Square Format Views

I think my favorite photographic format is the square view given to me by my Hasselblad and Ciroflex cameras. Filling a square makes me think harder about composition -- lines, shapes, colors, and where they are positioned within the frame. It's a good format for architectural photography.

Here are a couple of photographs that came from film that was just recently developed! Both were taken over the summer (July 2010) while I was still living up north.

Thill's Fish House, Marquette


St. Anne's Church, Calumet

This year, I hope to do more medium format photography. Sometimes, I forget just how much fun it is! I almost always end up with better-composed, higher-quality photographs. Only having twelve exposures per roll makes me get it right the first time, in comparison to the hundreds of exposures that can be held on a memory card.

St. Peter's Cathedral

Marquette is home to the beautiful and historic St. Peter's Cathedral. This church, with its twin domed steeples, sits upon one of the highest points in downtown Marquette and can be seen from afar. The building is lovely both inside and out, and is built from area sandstone.



The inside of the cathedral, looking toward the altar.



Looking toward the choir loft and the organ. The floor is made from beautiful tiles.



The steeples are adorned with colorful terra cotta tiling and stylized angels.



The cornerstone was laid in 1881 following a blaze that destroyed the first cathedral on the spot. A second blaze gutted the cathedral in 1935, but restoration started the following year. The domes were added to the top of the steeples at this time, hence the reason why the figures are depicted in an Art Deco style.

To read a full history of St. Peter's Cathedral, visit this site.

Church Revivals

Generally speaking, all of the historic churches in the United States have an appearance and plan derived from the cathedrals and chapels in Europe. However, these churches were "Americanized" -- they were built from the local materials, or featured certain detailing popular to the region. In America's Southwest, for example, the mission churches set up by the Spaniards were constructed in the Baroque style, but borrowed an aesthetic -- adobe -- from the local inhabitants.

The Gothic and Romanesque Revivals brought forth a wave of churches to small and large towns across the country, many of them sharing similar, Americanized characteristics.

Gothic Revival (~1830 to ~1860)

The Gothic style is most easily identified by its pointed arch, found on windows and doors. Other characteristics of the Gothic Revival style are trifoils and quatrefoils, tracery windows, rose windows, and steeply-pitched roofs. In Europe, the Gothic Revival heralded grand cathedrals and mansions, while in America, the buildings were usually downsized to a more humble scale. The style was used not only for churches, but for houses, cottages, university buildings, and the occasional American castle. Instead of having two steeples like their larger European counterparts, the smaller churches in the United States often had only one. Construction materials ranged from brick to stone to whitewashed clapboard, but the overall Gothic aesthetic was always recognizable. (There are, of course, many exceptions: larger cities became home to Gothic Revival cathedrals of grand scale; St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City and the cathedrals that line the streets of Detroit are some examples.)



A Gothic Revival Catholic church in Hillsdale.



A tiny church in Harbor Springs -- though it is much simpler and built from whitewashed clapboard, it still exhibits the Gothic arch.

Romanesque Revival (~1840 - ~1900)

At the same time that the Gothic Revival came to be popular, the Romanesque Revival did, as well. The Romanesque style is identified by its rounded arches -- semicircular arches above windows and doors. Buildings often had two towers of differing heights, covered with different roofing styles. The Romanesque Revival was used most commonly for churches and public buildings.



The First Congregational Church in Jackson. Note the rounded arches and unique towers.



Saline's Presbyterian Church was built in 1898.

Architecture of Marquette: Sandstone

This past Friday, I had the opportunity to finally break free from the NMU campus and wander around downtown Marquette. In a respite from the cloudy weather we'd been having all week, it was a gorgeous day -- the windows were shining, the granite was sparkling, and the architecture looked as beautiful as ever.

The bulk of the structures in downtown Marquette were built between the late 1870s and the early 1900s. Because of its local availability, sandstone (especially of the red variety) is one of the primary building materials. Sandstone doesn't weather very well -- especially not in Michigan's environment -- but its softness allows for intricate detailing and ornamentation.



The Marquette County Courthouse, built in 1903, is a handsome building constructed from sandstone blocks.




The old City Hall is one of the most colorful buildings in downtown Marquette.




Sandstone is used for the intricate detailing on the entryway arch and around the windows.






The Savings Bank, one of the most prominent buildings in downtown Marquette, is constructed from brick but also features sandstone detailing.




St. Paul's Episcopal Church, like many of the churches in town, is built from sandstone and exhibits some ornate details.




Some of the decorative elements on the church are intact.




Other sandstone details are eroding away with time and weather.

In time, I will discuss the architecture (both sandstone and otherwise) of Marquette further.