This project is a short collection of images from The Christ Church Cathedral located in the Historic District of downtown Houston, TX. This was the first religious congregation in Houston and the only one still operating at its original location. The church was originally founded on March 16, 1839.

One of the things I love within a photo is the "scene". Telling a story is as important to me, as much as capturing a snapshot in time. Seeing something that has a history to it already, has withstood the test of time for nearly two hundred years, and gleams with a withered yet full-of-life charm was captivating. It's dramatic. I chose to put emphasis on that drama and depth. Stylistically, I chose a cinematic approach; something that you'd believe was in a film and that shared its age almost naturally. The color tones are natural with deep blacks, a cool white balance for a punch of empathy, slightly underexposed for the drama, and a bit more contrast for a dash of grit. The result I believe is dynamic.

I used a Sony a6300 with the Sony APS-C G Masters 18mm - 105mm f/4.0 lens to capture the images, manually adjusted for a low ISO, and then used Lightroom for post-editing. I followed the rules of composition and tried to give it the "as if you were there" feel while I was capturing the shots. In post, I fine-tuned the image color, adjusted the contrast curve and exposure, put in a bit more vibrancy and saturation, punched out the highlights, and removed any artifacts or distortion that took away from the image.

So far the response has been great towards the images. The feedback was most welcomed. I took away a great deal of history from this church, such as its creation the following years of its origin. As always there was more editing and more angles that I wanted to capture (laughing) but there comes a point when you have to stop.

If you'd like to see more of my work or upcoming projects, feel free to follow me on instagram @roughhandsimaging. You can also find me on behance.net as well! Thank you so much for the support and I hope you enjoyed the content!

Justin Barlock

I'm a freelance assignment and stock photographer/videographer, entrepreneur, and digital media student. You can find my works available for license on Adobe Stock and Shutter Stock. Currently, my focus is in urban exploration, landscape, and street photography/videography and CineVLOGs.

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