Built by believers, lit by a photoshopping agnostic

This is a new venture for me- I’ve been intrigued by churches, mosques and temples for many years and photographing them for about a decade. As a non believer myself, I am fascinated by the power of these buildings and the magic they present.

I can’t believe in it, but can feel it.

To me, these buildings are using the very practical skills of their human creators to speak of something beyond the practical and the mundane. I have tried in the pictures that will follow to do the same using photography and more controversially Photoshop.

My rationale with the latter is that these buildings tend to be a nightmare to photograph with dark lighting and often restricted views. I do what I can with the computer and its trickery to restore the sense of the mystical.

Some will call this cheating, but I see it as carrying on the work of the builders using the tools I have.

In the weeks that follow I intend to add fairly regularly to the samples here, both from a backlog of images and new pictures. I’d love to have more temples and mosques, but I live in the South East of England, so churches will predominate.