DOORS OPEN MILWAUKEE 2014: TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH

The Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church is located near the former Pabst Brewery campus, and I have wanted to view, and hopefully photograph, the interior a number of times.  But, unlike many Catholic churches, this church is generally not open for casual visitors.  Except it was one of the venues open for the 2014 Doors Open Milwaukee event, and I determined to pay it a visit.

The building is a true landmark, with the tallest of its steeples rising 200 feet above street level.  It was erected in 1878 and, as the above plaque states, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places 101 years later.  The church has always been part of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church.

After having wanted to see the interior for a long time, I won't say that I was disappointed.  It was, if nothing else, very light and airy as far as religious venues go.  I think that is attributable to the pastel colors that dominate the building's interior.  Here are a couple of views toward the front of the church, one a less expansive symmetrical shot and the other a wider shot from the back left corner of the nave that includes the ornate wood pulpit to the right of the apse.  As I stated, pastel blues, pinks, and creams dominate.

Below is the shot limited to the apse that, again, reflects the light colors that help to brighten the interior.

And here is a shot of the top portion of the apse.

Finally, here is a shot of the church's pipe organ, which also extends back to 1879.  The material I was handed when I entered the church devotes some attention to the organ's history, so I am guessing that the congregation takes pride in it.  And, as a matter of fact, organ music was playing for the entire time of my visit.  I did like the sweeping curve of the balcony railing around the organ.

The reader might notice that the white balance in this post is not entirely consistent from shot to shot.  That is my fault.  Establishing the right white balance for interiors is often quite difficult--that and I am a bit lazy.  For most exterior daylight shots I find myself using the "Cloudy" setting and feeling comfortable with it.  Not so for interiors.  So, rather than using techniques that help with creating a consistent and accurate white balance (gray card, Expodisc), I often just set the white balance to Auto and hope for the best.  But the Auto setting tries to neutralize the white balance independently for each particular shot.  That approach doesn't work when the light source changes from one shot to the next.  For example, one scene could be illuminated by incandescent lights, the next by sunlight streaming in through a stained glass window.  If things don't look right, I try to correct them in post processing.  But that's a question of memory (mine, which isn't that reliable).

John