Ben Cousino finds high altars to be incredible, inspiring, and intricate structures — and they’re just one aspect of historic sanctuaries that he’s had the chance to examine up close over the last few years.
In the future, he’d like to take a closer look at the many bell towers that dot skylines across Toledo.
“One thing I’ve noticed about [churches] is that they’re perfectly imperfect,” said the local photographer. “Because of the techniques that were used to build them and just time and settling, they’re very asymmetrical. You don’t necessarily notice it until you’re trying to line it up in a photograph.”
Cousino, 35, first got into photography by working as a crime scene investigator for the Toledo Police Department. He began photographing churches across the Diocese of Toledo in 2022 to post, along with an array of historical and architectural information, on his Facebook page, Benjamin Cousino Photography.
He’s since photographed most of the Catholic churches in Toledo that were built roughly between the 1860s and 1920s, and for a while had shifted his Facebook content to downtown Toledo skylines and freighters passing through the Maumee River.