The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies

I had the good fortune earlier this week to tour the recently completed Catholic church in Canmore, The Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Rockies. I participated in a two hour session, organized by our Canmore Camera Club to photograph the church’s interior.

My first photograph is a vertical panorama, composed of three photographs. It captures a floor to ceiling view of the front of the church, taken from the back. What struck me is the bright, airy atmosphere, quite different from older, more traditional churches. The main chamber of the church is free of columns, creating a sense of openness. Only one of its windows is stained glass. The many, remaining windows are clear glass, admitting much more natural light, augmented by several, modern light fixtures.

This photograph offers a closer view of the sanctuary, featuring the white and gold altar in the forefront.

This photo pictures the east end of the church’s transept, a transverse part of any building which lies across the main body of the edifice. In churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building. An alcove at the transept’s east end is home to a statue of the Queenship of Mary with the Christ Child

This photograph is a composite of two exposures, a lighter exposure for the foreground and a darker one for the sky seen through the window. This technique is used when it is not possible to capture the full range of light in the scene in a single photograph. In this case, the sky in the foreground picture was too bright to show the texture and range of tone in the clouds.

The church is home to a collection of several, marble statues, situated at various locations throughout the church and other areas of the building.

This statue of the Death of St. Joseph is situated in an alcove on the west side of the church.

The Rosary Chapel on the west side of the church contains this statue of St. Catherine of Siena, holding a rosary in her outstretch hands. The chapel walls are adorned with four marble reliefs.

This is the church’s baptismal font, located in the narthex, acquired from Our Lady of Peace Church in Buffalo, NY.

My final picture is a monochrome version of the first picture included in today’s blog.