Spirit Hole

[Dennis Bishop]

I was fascinated by the spirit string reference in Cheryl's mini world posting a week ago and subsequently learned more about it and some other Navajo traditions. Yesterday, part of our digital photography group met at a county park for a field trip centered on a wonderful old barn. The best guess based on the information the county has collected is that it was built before 1830. On each gable end of the barn was a spirit hole! Despite a lifelong love affair with old barns, I don't remember seeing a spirit hole before. A little bit of research revealed that spirit holes weren't there for the same reason as the spirit strings in Navajo woven work. Instead, it was a European tradition brought to North America by immigrants whose predecessors made them to allow the escape of the spirits of people who had lived and died in a single building that often served as both a house and a barn. With wood being more widely available in the regions that were first settled, immigrants had a separate barn but retained the tradition. Not surprisingly, people from different lands cut spirit holes of different designs.

nine-exposure HDR with 1 EV increments
Nikon D3s, ISO 200, f/22, zoom lens at 58mm

post-processing

• Photomatix -- tone mapping for a good histogram
• Adobe Camera Raw -- Clarity and some tweaking of Saturation and Luminance
• substantial cropping from left, right, and bottom
• opened up the spirit hole, which had been covered -- probably long ago -- by a long, wide board inside the barn
• Topaz Simplify -- Watercolor II preset, Darken blend mode to reveal the knots
• duplicate layer, Normal blend mode at reduced opacity to tone down the knots
• Flypaper Textures -- gray texture, Hue blend mode, reduced opacity, applied only to sky
• Flypaper Textures -- brown texture, Color Burn blend mode, reduced opacity
• Fractalius -- b&w preset based on Sketch, Multiply blend mode
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- b&w preset based on Stylize Line Art, Multiply blend mode
• gradient vignette, border color, limited to roof shadow and windows
• Red Giant Knoll Light Factory, partially masked (light rays from spirit hole)
• Corel Painter -- F-X Fairy Dust brush, one layer only on sky, a second layer on barn and sky

[Jay Sheinfield]

Very cool effects. Good texture on the barn, and I like the roof against the dark sky. I might clone out the squiggly things in the clouds. Nice abstract, Dennis.

[denise ippolito]

Dennis, This is a wonderful effect. The top portion has a nice ethereal look to it. I agree about the squiggly lines since the whole top area is soft they kind of compete with the feel IMHO.

[Dave Woeller]

Some great thoughts above Dennis. Thanks for sharing the info on the building and its history and traditions. I enjoyed, and learned from it. Love the simplified texture in the wood.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, what a great story! I think your creation does justice to the tradition and to the barn Great use of filters to convey your intent - I love the image.

[Paul Lagasi]

Nice effects and composition, love the light streaming from the hole...agree about squiggley's...well done

[Dennis Bishop]

Thanks to everyone for all your comments and for seeing the downside of the black squiggles in the sky. I almost always use Divide blend mode instead of Multiply in skies to make the squiggles white, there. Here it is that way.

[denise ippolito]

Dennis, I do like it better.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Me too............

[Bob Miller]

Dennis...very cool image! Thanks for sharing processing details!