Yay! I have, just today, finished my photo project on Storefront Houses Of Worship in Brooklyn. Like I have told a few friends, for all intents and purposes, this is the first creative thing I have done for/by myself in probably a decade. I can't explain why I enjoyed doing this so much, but I really really did.

big thanks to ryan for the camera and this webspace. thanks to alison, mike k, monique, jared, nicole, sam & winnie, scott h, kevin, gwen, and everyone else that has had to listen to me blather on and on about this.

if you want nerdy background on it, read on.

Background on the photos:

- they were shot between 3.17.03 & 4.16.03.

- I am a very amateur photographer, and this is my first project. I used this subject matter, in part, to learn a bit about my digital camera. I have always thought brooklyn storefront houses of worship should be made into a coffee table book. Because I don't make coffee table books, I did this instead. More than a few of these pictures are not examples of good photography.

- I could easily have posted another 100 shots I really liked. As is, I have close to 200 photos I didn't use (many of which are slight variations on a few of the themes covered in my posting.) There are literally hundreds and hundreds of these places around Brooklyn, if not thousands. I didn't even trek into half of Brooklyn, and in the neighborhoods I did go, I likely missed half of the storefronts. I simply stopped photographing when I got 100 storefronts I really liked. I can't think of a reason to keep going at this point, though you might. Go for it.
For the most part, I focused parts of Flatbush, Bed-Stuy, Brownsville, Sunset Park, Coney Island, and South Bushwick. I also did a little looking in East Flatbush, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bensonhurst, Boro Park, East New York & Fort Greene/Clinton Hill. I didn't do anything in Red Hook, Bay Ridge, Canarsie, Midwood, Flatlands, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cypress Hills, Park Slope, Dumbo, or Brooklyn Heights. If you like this sort of thing, there is tons left to be seen. I focused on Brooklyn because it seems to have the most of them, though every borough of NYC has them (and many other cities do too.) If you want some help or tips; or want to see the 150 pictures I didn't post but like very much, email me at rudayday@yahoo.com.

- The pictures skew heavily Christian for a few reasons. For one, I believe that the overwhelming majority of storefront places of worship are Christian. Secondly, I am a Christian, and as such, found certain things interesting that others may not. I debated whether or not to do only Christian "churches" or not, and decided not to. I decided to post those places I saw that interested me. I never intended to go beyond my first 100. That it skews Christian is not intended as a slight to other religions. Read on...

- As for the question of why I decided to do this, there isn't one, clean answer. I lived behind a storefront church, and used to hear their sunday services when my windows were open. I was fascinated by how charasmatic and long and musical the services were. I also loved that on church days my old neighborhood would be filled with people in their sunday best...truly dressed beautifully for service. I was fascinated by how this contrasts with how the church services I attended were becoming casual and informal. There are some troubling elements of these churches (they revolve around the personalities of the founders, and some seem to exert a lot of control over the lives of the congregation), but I found the devotion of these followers to be close to what I had always idealized believing to be about. This ideal has been reinforced many times over as I took these pictures...hearing the joy of the services inside, or simply seeing places of God holding their own within neighborhoods and environments that are economically depressed. Seeing these congregations thriving as they are made me feel very good.

- I do have favorites, though they tend to change over time. Relatively consistently though, #47 is my favorite so far. The camera doesn't do its size or beauty justice. I also particularly love 1, 18, 37, 54, 65, 82, 86, 96, 100. As I said, my favorites tend to change, so this list will be different in a month. Many that didn't make the cut are awesome as well, but generally I like the messages and names more than the relative photographic value of the storefronts.