My friend and artist Christine Lando was commissioned by the Society of Mount Carmel to create a stained glass window for the dining room at the Church of St. Teresa of Avila in San Francisco, CA.

During her initial meeting with the committee, one of the pastors started to sing as they discussed the project. The singing was so beautiful and touching, Christine invited the pastor to sing at her studio, which gave her inspiration while sketching the stained glass window design.

I had the opportunity to capture the process of this beautiful creation that took 8 months to complete. It was amazing to watch the love given to every little detail. In the world of instant gratification, this is exactly the opposite – since she was using techniques from centuries ago.

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Prepping window for soldering.

Soldering detail is part of the art.

Cementing the window.

The joy of creating.

Cleaning the window.

Flipping window to repeat process for other side.

Christine with her creation “In Celebration of Pure Event” at the Church of St. Teresa of Avila in San Francisco, CA.

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Photography Info:

Available light was used for all the shots in Christine’s studio. This meant overhead green fluorescent lighting, which was later white balanced during processing in Capture One Pro. Camera ISO was pushed to the max, so I could hand hold and capture shots from various angles.

The dining hall was very dark, so additional lighting was needed. A beauty dish + grid + diffusion was used for the face, and a strip light was used over the shoulder to create separation from the background. A diffused umbrella was then added for a front fill light. We shot later in the afternoon, so we could burn-in the western daylight for the stained glass window.

Camera: Canon 5D Mark 2

Lighting: Profoto AcuteB2 + Beauty Dish. Comet CX-244 + Strip Light + Umbrella