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Babeville

Once in a while I stumble on to something interesting. This time it was “Babeville”. I set out to photograph historic churches during a recent visit to Buffalo, NY. Having memorized directions, I sat out to visit Trinity Episcopal Church. I spotted a magnificent spire and I assumed it was the church. I entered the facility and chatted with a lady who said I could photograph the sanctuary. She opened the door to the sanctuary which I noticed was setup for a wedding reception. Things did not seem quite right and the lady asked if I knew “the history”. Eager to hear the late 19th century version I said “of course”. She then proceeded to explain that this was no longer a church but a venue for weddings and concerts. I quickly realized I was in the wrong place. I decided to stay and photograph what I could. The photo below is of the ceiling of the sanctuary.

She explained that the facility was once Delaware Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic church that was constructed in 1876. It is a great example of High Victorian Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. In 2006, the structure became home to Righteous Babe Records, and known as “The Church” or “Babeville“. The church was scheduled to be demolished by the City of Buffalo when in 1999, Ani DiFranco (founder of Righteous Babe Records) offered to buy the building from the city. The building was purchased for $1 with the understanding that it would remodel to meet city code. Restoration began in 1999 and by 2006 it was fully converted to an entertainment venue.

Babeville
Babeville

This image was taken with my Sony Alpha A7R II using my Sony 16-35mm f/4 Lens set on 17 mm. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/9, shutter speed at 1/6th of a second and the ISO set at 100. I took a series of five bracketed images (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) and brought them together in Lightroom using the HDR merge feature. I then completed the processing in Photoshop using Nik Color Efex Pro.

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T. Kahler Photography
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography

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