Something missing
A couple of days ago registered Google photographer Marcus Hamilton paid a visit to the church where I work. The aim of his visit was to produce a 360 degree tour of the church premises which will eventually link into Google maps. The process is a meticulous one. Photographs were taken at 16 ‘nodes’ around the building, never more than 10 paces apart. At each node, photographs are shot facing to each of the four major compass points, and each of those is bracketed over four different exposures. The images will be carefully selected, blended and then sent onward to Google for approval and quality control. Below you can see a beautiful fisheye shot of the church’s worship area, which will eventually sit in a Google Plus gallery alongside the 360 tour:
Photo by Marcus Hamilton. CLICK to see more of his work
The timing of Marcus’ visit was carefully chosen so that the building would be as empty as possible. Any faces caught on camera in a Google tour have to be blanked out, and I had to ‘dance’ around camera and tripod as Marcus moved through the building in order to avoid being one of them.
The thing is, of course, the church is nothing without the people. Weak, strong, driven by faith plagued by doubt, triumphing, falling, rising and serving they are what makes it live. As a former Bishop of Bradford once said at his enthronement, they are ‘that marvelous and extraordinary ragbag of saints and fatheads who make up the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.’ [Geoffrey Paul]
All the same, I can’t wait to see the finished product of Marcus’ labours…
