Gravel Hill Church

Gravel Hill Church
Somewhere in Virginia

When I travel south, I spend as little time on the four (or six) lanes as possible. And then on a whim, I will go off the secondary routes onto their secondary routes. It gets out there sometimes. On a gray day, travelling through a small village in one of the Virginias (my guess is West), I saw this church from the other side of that rise and veered off onto Gravel Hill Road to investigate the appropriately titled church of the same name. As with most subjects, you try to see and shoot from as many angles, close and away, as you can. This one spoke to me after following the road down the other side. Looking back at the bleak scene, the simple structure stood bright and somehow inviting, perhaps fittingly so. When days weigh heavily, sanctuary is where we find it, even when we aren't necessarily looking.
This image was the first in a series; I was challenged by another photographer to a "B+W Challenge", to produce five black & white images in five days and name another person each day to do the same. I processed this globally in Silver Efex Pro 2 and finished with local enhancements using luminosity masks.
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