One of the most charming sights we came across in the Palouse was the Cordelia Lutheran Church. This tiny wood-frame building, constructed in 1883 and still in use today, is perched atop a knoll surrounded by vast, rolling farmlands. We couldn’t go in but a peek through the windows revealed several rows of wooden pews filling the small interior with a tiny pulpit and small pump organ at one end. It is a simple structure, no stained glass or steeple, but the little house of worship needs nothing more than its simple and serene setting to stir one’s spirit.
As we marched slowly up the knoll toward the church, I took the first two photographs with the 14-24mm wide angle lens, the first at 19mm, the second at 14mm. When I was almost at the top, I decided I wanted to use the fisheye for a different effect, so I ran back to the vehicle and switched to the 10.5mm DX fisheye on the D850. Both lenses distort the subject to some degree, but in slightly different ways. Upon review of the photos, I am partial to the first one, taken with the 14-24mm lens. It shows the austere, isolated church beckoning passersby to its tranquil, idyllic setting. And, although the skies were bald or hazy for most of our time in the Palouse, a few wispy clouds punctuated the azure sky to better feature the little church on the knoll.
