old convict built chapel - B&W or Colour?

[robonrome]

Hi All, this old chapel is made from stones shaped by convict labour in the mid 19th century - tool marks are still evident.

I had a hard time finding a decent angle on this without too many distractions.

Here I've tried cropping the original to remove clutter and converting to black and white to - hopefully - make it less distracting.

What's your thoughts, colour crop or B&W convert.

C&C welcome.

[canonloader]

Nice shot Rob. I like the color version. I usually do. :)

[mi_reefy]

I like the bw version.. sorta makes it look very eery.. which i like in this image because of its history that u have mentioned. (though a chapel prolly isn't supposed to seem eery)

good conversion. i also love the way the corner pillar splits the image into two parts... the left side is a tad bit too bright for my liking but overall, good image, good conversion. ( i do think you could have improved on the composition of the shot )

just my opinion

[ThomGascoigne]

B&W for sure! That brown stuff dripping down is nice :) I'd crop either side 1cm as-well

[Jim G]

I like the black and white much more.

[d100763]

I like the BW, but the pole or pillar towards the left side somewhat ruins the comp. Great textured feel in both color and BW as stated above the pillar creates a nice divide in the image.

[robonrome]

Thanks All, sounds like the B&W has the vote so far.:)

Thanks too for the compositional tips and observations, I'm pretty sure I could have done a better job of it despite being a bit cramped by other buildings.

Here's a detail shot of the back of the chapel's simple stain-glass windows - didn't bother with B&W for this one as I liked the subtle colour grading of the stones and figured this would be lost.

C&C welcome

[ThomGascoigne]

Nice detail shot but yeah B&W for that too! I wish you tilted upwards and cut off the first 3 lines of brick and got more of that top window though

[Eagle]

B&W

[robonrome]

OK here's a colour and B&W now of some detail on one side of the chapel.

I'm torn with most of these and like each for different reasons.
:)
Your take?