Turning Back the Clock to 1737

Welcome to the second episode of a series that I have been trying to work on. I'm not sure where this would lead to or if there are some of you out there that love vintage themes. Last time I shared with you nostalgia in the province Even if My Hair Turns White. This time let's turn back the clock on the very first church that I visited for a shoot. Come with me and let's turn back the clock on St. Mary Magdalene Church.

Nostalgic Dreams

A series to try and replicate old photos from the past. A reimagining of some of my previous and future works, artificially turning back the clock and relive days gone by.

To make the timeline more convincing the theme should not include modern-day items or structures.

I shot these photos 5 years ago when I just bought my camera. This church is one of my favorite churches that I visited. St. Mary Magdalene Church sparked my passion for Church architecture, from the walls, painted glass, pews, the retablo, massive antique doors all of which I fell in love with.

Some of the original photos can be found here from my old watersnake101 account which I lost access to. Here you would find the colored photos.
St. Mary Magdalene Church

The church was first started in 1737 during the Spanish era. There were a lot of Spanish churches in our area but a lot were destroyed during the past wars.

Imagine how the locals came to church in the 17th century. These walls have been a silent witness throughout the centuries as a large part of the brick walls are still original.

During World War II the church was bombarded but was reconstructed. The last major reconstruction was in 1990.

This is also where the first president of the Philippines was baptized and the birth certificate is on display here.

I'm not sure if there are still existing photos of the church from the 1800s that survived. I would love to see the original church but I was told that the architecture and design were not changed. To replicate old photos, I have added stains, scratches and dust on the photos.

I'm still working to try and make my aged photos more convincing. Right now I just adjust the channel mixer on each photo manually. I just choose the setting that looks best for me. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions regarding my aged photos.

Here I tried to brighten up the painted glass a little bit more to highlight the outlines.

In most of the photos, I gave a sepia tone as I like the warm glow of sepia. I haven't done a lot of black and white, maybe next episode I will do an all vintage black and white aging. Right now all the tones I used are a bit different from each other.

That ends our episode for today and I hope you enjoyed our trip to memory lane in 1737.
Please let me know if you love the nostalgic theme that I have done. Let's talk about vintage, maybe some of you have a great story to tell as I would love to hear them.

Hope you join me again on our next episode of the series. Stay safe.

All photos are original and taken with

Lumix GX85 and Olympus 12-32mm