ST. STANISLAUS ROMAN CATHOLIC ORATORY

St. Stanislaus Catholic Church is located just to the west of the north-south freeway on Milwaukee's south side.  It is notable for its twin clock towers.  Unlike some churches, St. Stanislaus is not generally open to the public except during services.  I last visited the church two years ago and visited it again during this year's Doors Open Milwaukee event.  The church appears larger from the exterior than it does from the interior.  But the interior is stunning and appears to be in impeccable condition.

Here first are a couple of shots of the exterior.

These were taken in the later afternoon on a sunny day.  Unfortunately, the church faces east, so the light was not good and the exterior does not show as well as it would when the sun is in the east.  In any event, the most impressive aspects of this church are on the inside.

Speaking of which, here first is a shot from the rear of the nave.

I took this shot with my wide angle lens, which wound up including the overhang from the balcony.

Here's another shot taken as I approached the sanctuary.

The ceiling is very ornate.  I tried to get a shot of the ceiling from directly underneath, using my wide-angle lens and with the camera resting on the floor pointed up.

I was a little disappointed because, despite the lens being nearly wide open at only 16 mm, the shot didn't include that much of the ceiling, I think because the ceiling just isn't that high.

A focal point of the sanctuary is the crucifix structure and the apse ceiling behind it.  Here are some shots of those features.

This last is of a lovely mural at the base of the apse ceiling.

Here is a shot of the complex altar piece in the sanctuary.

The pieces on either side of the sanctuary are nice as well.  Here is the one on the right side.

One of the techniques I would up using was HDR, high dynamic range.  I hadn't planned to do this, but I wound up taking three very similar photos looking across the nave at some of the stained glass.  The three shots differed in their exposure, and I decided to combine them in post processing.  Even though the shots were not exactly identical in terms of the position of the camera, the software did a good job of merging the three files, and this is what I got.

Kind of a nothing shot, but it has gotten me thinking of using the technique more going forward.

Here is a shot looking back toward the rear of the nave.

The traditional rose window at the rear of the balcony was very nice.  In a second shot I was able to expose for the glass and black out the surrounding walls.

Some of the church's stained glass windows are different from the ones I saw two years ago, and they are quite an improvement,  They are long and narrow and I decided that it would be better to focus on individual components.

Although St. Stanislaus isn't as well known as, say, the St. Josaphat's or Holy Hill basilicas, it is a gem not to be missed.

John