UK Large Format Journal and Texas Church Project

[scootermm]

This is somewhat of a dual post.
Myself, along with 4 other Texas APUGers (David Brown, PhotoMC Mike Castles, Jeremy Moore, and Lee Carmichael), started a project on Texas Churches. Dead Link Removed
We started the project about 6months back and have been slowly chipping away at the long list of rural texas churches around the state.

the second part of this post is to somewhat announce my first attempt as a writer for a publication. The online UK Large Format Journal Editor (Dead Link Removed) asked me to write an article about the project so I thought Id dive right in.
The publication is well done and always jam packed with good work and articles, I feel honored to have been asked to write an article for it.

The publication is quarterly and nicely priced so may be of interest to some.

We in the Texas church project always appreciate feedback from people, so let us know what you think and I hope you enjoy the article.

 

[sanking]

This is somewhat of a dual post.
Myself, along with 4 other Texas APUGers (David Brown, PhotoMC Mike Castles, Jeremy Moore, and Lee Carmichael), started a project on Texas Churches. Dead Link Removed
We started the project about 6months back and have been slowly chipping away at the long list of rural texas churches around the state.

the second part of this post is to somewhat announce my first attempt as a writer for a publication. The online UK Large Format Journal Editor (Dead Link Removed) asked me to write an article about the project so I thought Id dive right in.
The publication is well done and always jam packed with good work and articles, I feel honored to have been asked to write an article for it.

The publication is quarterly and nicely priced so may be of interest to some.

We in the Texas church project always appreciate feedback from people, so let us know what you think and I hope you enjoy the article.

Congratulations on this project. Very interesting and I wish you and the rest of the team good success. I acttually own a very beautiful print by Lee C. on this subject and can appreciate the potential.

And good luck with your writings.

Sandy

 

[roteague]

Great news!!! I've been following your project ever since it was announced, and keeping my open for new images on the site. Great project, and great work.

 

[MenacingTourist]

Congratulations!
That whole project has such a great romantic ideal. The work is pretty good too

 

[Nathan Smith]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for this update on the Texas Church Project, I'd missed any earlier mention. It's just beautiful, I'm forwarding the link on to friends and family who appreciate these old churches.

... and congratulations on the Large Format Journal piece, I have not yet seen your article as I just downloaded the Summer '06 issue, but I have enjoyed every issue thus far - for the price it is really an outstanding publication.

Nathan

 

[naturephoto1]

Hi Matt,

Congratulations on the project and the Journal article.

Rich

 

[Jim Chinn]

Ditto on the congratulations Matt. It's great that you are sharing your passion for the medium with others and glad to see the continued effort of everyone in regards to the church project.

 

[jimgalli]

Cangratulations! Bravo!

Something else; I want to express how much I envy the association and talent represented in this project. I would kill to be involved in kind here in Nevada but the distances are too great and the population too small. What a great group. Brilliant!

 

[Dave Wooten]

Cangratulations! Bravo!

Something else; I want to express how much I envy the association and talent represented in this project. I would kill to be involved in kind here in Nevada but the distances are too great and the population too small. What a great group. Brilliant!

What do you mean here Jim? We are already up to 2 members! We also comprise the largest in state Wisner 14 x17 congregation in the world!

 

[Alex Hawley]

What a wonderful project! Very nice website to go with it. I wish you guys all the best.

 

[Monophoto]

I've been very impressed by your web site and your project.

Conceptually, the Texas Church Project should be possible anywhere. In fact, the work that Paul Wainright (http://www.paulwainwrightphotography.com/) is doing with the old meeting houses in New England is quite similar.

The major obstacle to projects of this sort is getting access, and the key to access is legitimacy. Having a formal group, with a nice website, probably helps a lot with the access issue.

Keep up the great work.

 

[photomc]

First off, Thanks to everyone for your comments. Also, would like to add a personal note of Thanks to Matt, Lee, David and Jeremy for inclusion in the project. As some of you know these are not only very talented photographers, but they are also some of the finest people it has been my pleasure to work with. These guys make me much better than I am, and they help push me to work on my skills as well as to explore new ways of looking at things.

Thanks Guys!!

 

[Bruce Osgood]

This is a wonderful project and as evidenced, done by a wonderful group of photographers. Good luck and I hope to see a coffee table version some day.

 

[David Brown]

... Matt, Lee, David and Jeremy ... are also some of the finest people it has been my pleasure to work with.

Thanks Guys!!

I'm blushing ...

Actually, this has been a bit of fun so far, but now that we are getting serious, there's starting to be a bit of work!



Many thanks to Matt for the website and the article cited.

One comment about "access" (as one poster mentioned). Access is, indeed, an issue in many places. However, we have found that in rural Texas, a lot of churches are still open, at least during the day. We've found many that aren't, and have either passed them by, or only done exterior work. But, there are still many open. I suppose it is a mixed blessing that there are so many of these buildings out there. We have been to a few dozen so far, have a potential list of over 100, and know that there are dozens, if not hundreds, more out there that we don't know about yet. It is an irony that the things we are trying to preserve are abundant to some extent. Still, they are also dissappearing fast, so our motivation is justified. (There are - depending on who's counting - 200-300 "ghost" towns in Texas. Some of these had populations as recently as the 1990s.)

Thanks for all the kind comments. We hope to add to the website from time to time, so check back. A coffee table book? All we need is a publisher and a financial backer.

Cheers,