Jonathan Pirillo's photoblog : Michael Kenna

Altar and Prie-Dieu, Hautvillers, Champagne-Ardenne, France. 2001

Church architecture has always been one of my favorites. As a young man, I enjoy seeking out beautiful churches, going inside them and then forgetting to pray because I'm too busy marveling at the beauty of their interiors. When I see a beautiful church from the outside, I can't help but marvel at it's figure, the hight of it's bell towers, the symmetry of it's masonry, the density of it's color, and the structure of it's design. It is fitting that the places set aside for the worship and veneration of an all perfect, all beautiful God, work so hard to imitate that essence of the divine. You know a beautiful church when simply entering into it's interior is enough to calm your heart of the biggest and baddest storms that are raging within. But this blog isn't about churches or Catholicism, rather it's about photography. So, I found some Michael Kenna photo's that particularly capture--in a very simple black and white way--the interesting beauty of churches around the world.

With that said, I can look at the works of Michael Kenna and see a beauty in capturing architecture in strictly black and white. It adds a duality as well as a refined, crisp, cool, peaceful, and eerie attitude towards the shots. As I grow in my enjoyment of taking shots of church architecture, I look forward to using more black and white.