Gorgeous 180-Degree Panoramas of Latin America's Churches

Photographer Richard Silver was walking around New York several years ago when he happened to enter a church with an “amazing amount of work on the ceiling.” So he aimed his camera and—click, click, click—took a series of snaps in a broad, overhead arc from one end of the building to the other. A little post-shoot editing later, and he had the entire ceiling laid out in one image, like a sprawling carpet made from ornamental stone and holy glass.

Silver has tried his hand at experimental photography before, stitching together “time-slice” landscapes that show famous monuments progressing from dawn to dusk in one composed image. But it’s his “vertical churches” that occupy much of his time as a member of Remote Year, a travel company that arranges lodging and office space for people who want to work remotely abroad. “Once I played around and perfected the technique, I now use it as I travel the world,” says the 55-year-old New Yorker.