February 04th, 2014

Yesterday we drove down to Chicago to attend a memorial service for a wonderful man. He was my cousin's husband and a gentle, intelligent and compassionate human. One of those good people who just go through life making a huge impact with little fanfare. May you rest in peace, Norm.

---

He belonged to a Swedish Mens Choir, and these 16 men sang at the Service. It was beautiful. These tenor and bass voices of mature men resounded through the Chapel and sounded like an entire choir. They sang "You will never walk alone, and "Amazing Grace among others. One of them also played the trumpet during parts of the songs, and it was hauntingly beautiful as well.

The service itself was in the modern chapel annex of the Church, but the original church was open The church is the Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue. It is everything a church should be. Gothic and tall with an immediate sense of both reverence and awe. I have included two relatively untouched pictures on my daily photo page for today. But I also wanted to play with adding atmosphere of all kinds to the architectural photos I took, so here are a few more for your viewing pleasure!

The courtyard of the church is in such contrast with the surrounding office buildings. I think about how the early churches were such spots of opulence compared to the surrounding village, but now that is diminished by the over towering sky scrapers.

Here I wanted to change the feeling from an architectural photo, to the light and comfort people find there - even during the midst of a work day.

The courtyard was actually lovely, but I wanted to illustrate it with the Gothic atmosphere it could have at a more dark and dreary day or time.

The window, loft and lights were so beautiful and the only color, so I have decreased the surrounding color and focus to enhance them.

When one enters such a space as this Cathedral, there is an almost immediate feeling of unbalance and other worldliness that I feel. I wanted this one to reflect that sort of tipsy dreamlike state.