Indy shoot, Part I: St. Mary's church

Today's post is the first in a series of five posts related to a recent, single-day outing, one of the most prolific picture-taking days -- in sheer volume of photographs taken -- that I've ever experienced (outside of my sports shoots, that is, when the volume of pictures taken is off-the-charts high because of the frequent use of the camera's burst shutter mechanism).

As such, this begins one of those "catch-up" posts you've seen me do periodically, when so many things happen in succession or simultaneously that a backlog ensues.

On Oct. 13, I was among three members of the Indy Meetup Photo Club that made stops at three downtown-area Indianapolis Catholic churches plus the Indiana Governor's Residence and former Governor's Mansion, now a private residence at 4343 N. Meridian St. The two other members in our group got on board for the outing, organized a bit on the run, because they were still needing pictures to consider using in the club's then-upcoming "Windows, Gates, Doors: Portals to Historic Indy" photo exhibit Nov. 2 for the First Friday Art Walk at the Indiana Landmarks Center.

I had my photos for the show pretty much set to go at the time, but I wanted to go along because I found the prospect of photographing these five Indianapolis landmarks so intriguing. And to be able to able to do it in one fell swoop? Yeah, I was in.

It turned out to be a very long day for two of us (one person in the party had to leave for another commitment after the second stop). We started early -- 9 a.m., as I recall -- at St. Mary's Catholic Church at New Jersey and Vermont streets, and by the time we stopped at St. John the Evangelist, 126 W. George St.; the two mansions; and SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral at 13th and Meridian streets -- it was pushing 5 p.m. I didn't get nearly all the shots I would have wanted to explore at any of the places (surprise!), but I did get a lot. We had access indoors and outdoors at the churches; only outdoors at the mansions. And as I have been doing for all my landscape and landmark photography of late, I bracketed all my shots for possible high-dynamic range (HDR) treatment in post-processing.

And as it turned out, I did include quite a few of the photos I took that day in the Nov. 2 show. Two ended up in frames hung on the IL's 1201 Gallery wall; the others used were matted, mounted on black foam boards and displayed on easels sprinkled throughout the gallery floor, offering a slightly different access to our club's work to the more than 200 people who turned up for that day's Art Walk.

So I present this series of posts in chronological order of our visits that today, which means today's focuses on St. Mary's.

The next post will be St. John's, followed by the Governor's Residence, the former Governor's Residence and, finally, SS. Peter and Paul. Many Indianapolis residents might not even have been aware there is a former Governor's Residence in Indianapolis. I wasn't ... until Oct. 13. The properties are about three blocks apart and on opposite sides of Meridian Street: the current site at 46th Street on the west side of Meridian, the former three blocks south on the east side.

The first image below was among those I included among framed hangings at the Art Walk on Nov. 2. Those hangings and the rest of the club's "Windows, Gates, Doors" exhibit, by the way, are still viewable to the general public, but not for much longer. On or about Dec. 4, the IMUPC will take down the exhibit so Indiana Landmarks can prepare for the Dec. 7 First Friday Art Walk. Until Dec. 4, you can stop by Indiana Landmarks during regular business hours, which are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Just ask the receptionist to guide you to the 1201 Gallery to view the club's exhibit.

Next stop on the shoot: St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.