The Church of the Holy Cross
The Church of the Holy Cross in Troy, NY was built in two stages in the 1840s. The nave was built in 1844 from a design by Alexander Jackson Davis. It is a very beautiful building which sadly is no longer a church. When the congregation dropped below twenty, the writing was on the proverbial wall. It was decommissioned (if that is the correct word) about a year ago. RPI is in the process of purchasing the building, which I suppose is good. I have such mixed feelings about buildings being used for something other than their original purpose. I am sure RPI will treat it with respect, and I hear that there are covenants in the sale agreement to protect the integrity of the building (it is on the National Register of Historic Places). / After Craig Williams and the Museum crew left, Fred Cawley was kind enough to give me a bit of a tour. Craig had encouraged me to go up the bell tower, and after shooting the nave and chancel, Fred and I went through a very narrow door and made the climb.
Lots of dead pigeons on the way up, and there seemed to be lots of live ones up by the bells.
And those ones flew around like crazy when I pulled on the yellow ropes. I really had no idea that they were connected anymore, and it was quite a surprise to hear the sound of bells above me. / I am not sure what the purpose of this box is, but it might be part of the clock mechanism. Quite a magical morning.
Memento mori.
I was in Farmington, CT yesterday driving down Main Street when these two words caught my eye. I knew that the phrase had something to do with death, and after doing a little reading, I learned a bit more. The literal translation is “remember you must die” or “remember you will die”. In classical times, it was said to victorious soldiers by their slaves to remind them that their good fortune could change at any moment. In other words, we are all mortal and sooner or later…..pfffft. It still seems like a good idea to think about this from time to time. For me, the only consolation in losing people close to me has been to let the loss reinforce the idea that being alive is amazing and I should feel very grateful for my wonderful life and all of my lovely friends and family.
Big Pete in NYC
Peter Carroll and I have been working together on and off for a very long time. He is always willing to stand around while I take goofy photographs. We are in New York for a couple of days and just after this we found an amazing falafel stand for lunch. What a sport!
Books
When stopped in traffic in Dhaka, people selling all sorts of items come up to your car. I was amazed at the variety of books on offer here. Look closely.
T Rex
It was a national holiday in Bangladesh on the 17th (not St Patrick’s Day) We went to a big park near the Indian border, and this guy was here. Wild.
Train station
I have always liked being around trains and wanted to see the Mymensingh railway depot. Jahangir thought it might be a good idea to get a shot of me in action.
Light
Ever since I shifted to digital and stopped shooting with my Leicas, I have been looking for a small camera with sharp lenses to use in place of them. A few weeks ago I bought a Panasonic GF1 with the 20mm 1.7 and I am having a blast with it.
Old Airlines
I’m working on an amazing project documenting some World Trade Center artifacts. My friend Peggy pointed out this old Pan Am logo on a wall in an abandoned part of the hangar.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
3 comments