Crack of Doom Welcome to the very first GM Hanvy Photography blog post! We are excited to make this blog happen. The plan right now is to highlight a particular photograph and give a little bit of detail into the history and thought process behind its creation. Things may change as we move forward but for now this is the plan.

First, let me get started by telling you a little bit about GM Hanvy Photography. Our company has been in existence since 2007 and is a melding of the talents of husband and wife, Gary and Marian Hanvy. We are located in Richmond, Texas which is not far outside of Houston. Combining our first name initials gave us the GM in the company name. I am a retired semiconductor process engineer and spend my time working on our photography. Not so for poor Marian. She still has a real job which limits her time to spend on photography. We both take photographs but due to the time constraints, I do most of the post processing. 

The photograph titled "Crack of Doom" shown here was taken by Marian in 2013 on one of our road trips on the "Backroads of Texas." Over time we have started calling these excursions "Photo Safaris." On the way to La Grange, Texas we passed through the little village of Hostyn and this wonderful Grotto at the Holy Rosary Church caught our eye and we had to stop and spend some time. The Grotto was built in 1925 and, as it turned out, is quite famous in the area around La Grange and is an exact replica of the even more famous and world renowned Shrine of Miracles in Lourdes, France. A few years after it was built, the Dallas Morning News carried the following article on March 24, 1929:

"Built from part of an old church wall and stones gathered from the banks of the Colorado, the Hostyn chapel to our Lady of Lourdes is often the scene of weddings and provides a haven of rest to passers-by.

Desiring to create something beautiful out of the unattractive old rock wall which surrounding the Holy Rosary Church, the Rev. Paul D. [Kasper] of Plum had the wall torn down and with it laid the foundation of the now famous Grotto located at Hostyn, Texas five miles south of La Grange.

Standing high on Hostyn hill where it can easily be seen for miles, the Grotto is an exact reproduction of the world-renowned shrine of miracles in Lourdes, France. Around this beautiful grotto in Lourdes centers the story of the shepherdess girl, the latest canonized virgin of the Roman Catholic Church. It is said that the Virgin Mary appeared to the little shepherdess in 1858 and told her to erect a shrine.  On the spot where she stood was found a spring of water and there the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was erected. Today it is a place of pilgrimages and remarkable cures are performed through its waters. Stacks of crutches remain beside the shrine, left by those who came as cripples and went away healed.

Having drawn up his own plans [Rev. Kasper], with the aid of masons from San Antonio, built this Grotto from the old rock wall and from pieces of petrified wood and rocks secured from the banks of the Colorado River near by. The various and peculiar shapes and sizes of the stone add to its architectural design.

In keeping with the Lourdes custom, pilgrimages are made to this county by people from the surrounding country and there prayers are offered up for the less fortunate ones. Occasionally a wedding is performed at the Grotto but only once a year do they say mass in the chapel and that is on the feast of the Holy Rosary, the first Sunday in the month of October.

Thousands of people from all over Texas and from other states also, have viewed the shrine and it has aroused the admiration of all who see it. Over 400 loads of stone, seventy-nine loads of sand and 258 sacks of cement were used in its construction. The cost of building and equipment was $4000.00. It measures forty-three feet in length, twenty feet high and twenty-six feet wide.

Seventeen Priests and 7,000 people were present at the dedication services, held in the fall of 1925. The Most Rev. Arthur J. Drossaerts, D.D., Archbishop of San Antonio, was in charge of the ceremonies."

Not having the benefit of the knowledge contained in the Dallas Morning News article described above, the Grotto seemed a little intimidating and ominous to us and Marian photographed it in a manner to highlight those feelings and I did the post processing with the same emphasis. Elements in the photograph, such as the sky, was darkened and the natural glow around the Grotto was emphasized in keeping with our artistic license to photograph how something feels as opposed to just how it looks. 

I also titled the photograph "Crack of Doom" based mainly on the angel blowing the trumpet at the top of the Grotto but some childhood memories crept in. First a definition, according to Wikipedia, the Crack of Doom is an old term used for the Christian Day of Judgement, referring in particular to the blast of trumpets signaling the end of the world.

As a child there was a favorite aunt that used to come to our house for extended visits.  She used to marvel at my ability to lose myself in concentration, especially if a book was involved.  While reading, I had an annoying habit (at least to my parents) of being able to totally immerse myself to the point of oblivion.   In fact, sound would very rarely catch my attention.  It would take someone touching me or maybe shaking me to rouse me from my book.  My aunt used to say that if a book was involved there was a good chance I would miss the “Crack of Doom”.   Even as young as I was, I fully understood the biblical reference of “Crack of Doom” however, it didn’t sound particularly inviting.  So, as I worked on this photograph, these memories led me down the path that created this fairly dark and ominous vision of the Grotto at Hostyn, Texas.

If you want to take a closer look at this photograph, just click on the photo here in the blog and you will be taken to a larger vision. I hope you enjoyed a little bit of history behind this wonderful Grotto and a brief look into our thinking as this image was created. 

Gary