Darlings!
I’m readying for a busy weekend with a destination wedding in beautiful New Hampshire (yay!)and lots of churchy business to attend to before summer vacation, but I do have some posts planned on
Sweating A Lot And How To Handle It
Why Pregnant Pastors Are Totally Allowed To Have Bare Arms in the Blazing Hot Summer Sanctuary Even Though That Is Generally Totally a PeaceBang Don’t
How To Pleasantly And With a Touch Of Humor Let the Gentlemen At a Funeral In An Un-Airconditioned, Stifling Church Sanctuary Know That It’s Okay To Take Off Their Ties and Sports Jackets
and
Maybe I Don’t Even Need To Write Those Columns Because You Probably Already Get the Idea, And I Think We Covered Excessive Sweating In Past Posts, So Just Do A Keyword Search
That said, I need your help. Years ago, I took some photos that I thought would be a terrific banner for this blog, and this was the idea:
Or, like this:
My dear friend and colleague and blogmaster, Scott Wells, actually helped me arrange that scene, and we loved it. But it’s not going to work for this little long, skinny banner. Also, the colors are too vivid and they knock out the text with that great tagline, “Because you’re in the public eye, and God knows you need to look good.”
So after fiddling around with various images in April I settled — and I do mean “settled,” I’m not happy with it — on this image of my cowgirl hat on a pew in a church in Santa Fe. It is definitely just a placeholder until I can get an image I really love. That’s where you come in. You can see the dimensions on the screen with your own eye. You see what color scheme we’ve now settled on. You’ve been reading this blog and you know it’s saucy and serious, about clergy image and about ministry. You know that the readers here are mostly Christian clergy but represent a variety of faith traditions and definitions of ministry.
I don’t like contests and competitions, but I do love collaboration. Collaborate with me! Send me your images to peacebang at msn.com. Love ya, and thanks.
Never noticed the cowgirl hat.
I read your blog in a RSS so I never see the header. When you mentioned “cowgirl hat on a pew” I had a beautiful image in mind. But the image itself is lacking… the bulletin distracts & there’s too many confusing lines in diagonal directions.
I SAY – re-pose and re-shoot the cowgirl hat pic. Maybe put the hat over the side of the pew instead of sitting it down on the seat, and take a shot where you can see more of the church. A better photographer than me would know how to get the right amount of background blur, so you can see it’s a church, but so that the hat is the real focus. MORE HAT!
I adore designing headers for blogs (you can see mine at the website linked). It’s one of those mindless activities one can do while watching The History Channel. Okay, Friends.
I think working with such a narrow header, it would be fantastic to get a high resolution picture of you in your robe/stole wearing some fabulous heels (red perhaps?). Just the bottom foot or so of your robe & stole and shoes (off to the right side of the frame) could be used for the header. It would capture your appreciation for the office of a minister with whimsy and style. Plus, the empty space in the picture to the left of you would be an ideal spot for your blog title. If there’s a pic you would like me to play around with, just email me.
I see a collage of the toes of Pastors’s shoes aligned across the banner. This is one of the last few things many of us see just before receiving the Eucharist at the altar rail. I find that it is a reminder of community — who will be doing what later on that day – standing at presentations, marshalling the Youth Group off to summer mission, contimue to recover from knee surgery, etc. While our soles keep our souls grounded, it can be done with style and panache in response to creative design and aesthetic appreciation that are gifts from God.
I didn’t notice that hat and had to go and look again. It doesn’t really stand out to me…and the banner doesn’t say what this site is all about very clearly.
Maybe something with shoes and bags and a Bible?
I know, I know! I know it’s bad, now I want you to submit images!
I see I’m not the only one who hadn’t seen the hat.
How do we submit images? I didn’t see a way to attach to the email….
Read the post! It’s in the last paragraph!
I like the idea of the gown, stole and pearls, but understand that you need a horizontal picture for the web design. What about reshooting the proposed pictures with the gown, stole, and accessories laid out on the bed as if you were getting dressed in the am. You get the symbols of the website in a horizontal design.