Stono Baptist Church

In memory of my South Carolina trip.  A year ago.
My SC host is an early bird.  Says to me, hey on the way to the Air Show have something I want you to see.  I said, I'm all in.
We stopped near a little town (?), Ravenel.  Just beside the road is this abandoned building.  A simple design.  The Stono Baptist Church.
The original Stono Baptist Church was established in the early 1840s.  A fire of the original building led to the establishment of the current building in 1847 (ish).  The church was active up to the beginning of WWII.  The building has been dormant since.  Although the church is no longer active, there are recent headstones in the attached cemetery which lead me to believe that function is still active.
At the corner of SC 165 and New Road is the 'old' Stono Baptist Church.  From the outside, looks like an old single room church on a maintained lot.  And this is why one needs a tour guide.  While the outside is interesting in a charming way, it is the inside where the treasure is.
And this is where the photo mistakes begin.
The front door is almost directly east.  Beautiful sunrise, to our backs.

Stono Baptist Church - Sunrise

NIKON D7200 Ver.1.04/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

27 mm, 1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100

MANUAL Mode, Size DX

My host, who is pictured here, is not getting a close up of the front.  He's going for the object inside.

Stono Baptist Church Organ

NIKON D7200 Ver.1.04/18.0-200.0 mm f/3.5-5.6

18 mm, (1/60, 1/500, 1/8) sec, f/11, ISO 100

MANUAL Mode, Size DX

And this is where the downward spiral began.
First, my primary rule for on the road photography is to not change a lens in the field.  Yep, on this day was was carrying two bodies - but for an air show.  One could say that I didn't know we were stopping here and they would be correct.  But we returned the next morning and I didn't make any adjustments.  That's just stoopid.  This was an area with multiple possibilities.  I had my walk around 18-200 here.  This screamed for a 35 mm prime.
Next, with a 35 mm prime lens, I could have taken three portrait orientation shots and stitched them together.  Straighter lines to work with.
This is a three shot HDR.  No faking this one.  It is very necessary with the sunlight on the trees and the inside almost dark in the shadows.  It is what HDR is made for.  Well, that's one thing I got right.  And the math checks out, with a 35 mm prime lens doing a three shot stitch - yep 9 shots.  But it would be worth it.
And finally, a tri-pod would have really helped.
All  lessons learned.  Just need to put into practice.
And this is how an artist works.  Not like me who swings the camera around.  Again, lesson learned.

Well, the building has been there for over 70 years, maybe it will make it for another when I can return.  The organ in the room is just an awesome subject,