The Right Place at the Right Time – 8 – St. Sebaldus Church

Last week, I was in the magnificent Newseum in Washington, D.C. and returned to a favorite exhibit there – the collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs.

Clearly, many of these shots epitomize being in the right place at the right time. So many of the images capture a moment of significant physical and emotional intensity.

One example, from World War II in the Pacific, is the iconic confirmation of our victory atop Mount Suribachi at the end of the battle for Iwo Jima.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal (1945)

Another dramatizes the fury of a man who is about to use the American flag as a lance to strike an African-American civil rights lawyer during a demonstration in Boston.

‘Soiling Old Glory’ by Stanley Foreman (1976)

While many of the winning images freeze the moment at the height of conflict or tragedy, some preserve more uplifting scenes like this reunion of a Viet Nam prisoner of war and his family.

Burst of Joy by Slava Veder (1974)

Of course, each of the heralded photos was taken by professional shooters who knew their craft, positioned themselves well and probably took many shots around the event…yielding one special picture that worked on all levels. Rosenthal’s picture had the perfect angle of the flag pole, the men’s bodies positioned so vividly and enough of the flag showing to be instantly recognizable. In the Boston fracas, you see the faces of the principal figures and feel the energy of the thrust about to happen. The last shot has the faces of every one of the officer’s family visible as they bound toward him. A fraction of a second later, when the daughter obscured most of her brother behind her, the shot would have been confusing and far less impactful.

I am not a people photographer. I don’t shoot events and demonstrations or wars. As this blog regularly shows, I photograph things and places more than people. Photography is the practice of capturing light and I have been fortunate to be in certain places when the lighting conditions were just right.

In 2007, we took a river cruise through central Europe. There will be more from this adventure one day since that form of travel took us to many fascinating places and produced memorable images. On this day, we were in Nuremberg, Germany. The Bavarian city is known as the place where the Nazis held massive rallies before the war and where the allies tried the German leaders after the war.

We had only a couple of hours of free time to wander around the main square in the center of the city. Of course, the area included a couple of old, Gothic churches and St. Sebaldus was one.

St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg, Germany (5 August 2007)

Construction of the church began in 1225. It was started in the Romanesque style but was completed as a Gothic design and restored that way after significant damage during the World War. The modest interior décor confirms it has been a Protestant church since the Reformation.

We probably spent less than a half hour inside the place but it happened to be a time of day when the sunlight came through one side of the building and shone in a special way on the other side.

St. Sebaldus Church, Nuremberg, Germany (5 August 2007)

This immense, interior space had no artificial light. No lamp fixtures, chandeliers or even candles to illuminate the vast area under the vaulted ceiling. Yet, at that moment, from that angle, the sun was shining through the windows illuminating only the columns and statues…just like an art gallery would shine spotlights on an exhibit.

I suppose a talented post-production person can produce the same effect…as Ansel Adams did in his darkroom…burning and dodging certain parts of the negative to brighten or darken key elements of the scene. I do not possess such talents yet, but I knew at that moment I was in the right place at the right time.