San Xavier Redux

The San Xavier Mission,just south of Tucson, continues to be one of my favorite places to visit and photograph(see blog entries of 1/22/10 San Xavier del Bac--”The White Dove of the Desert” and 1/7/12, A Perfect Day). A couple of days ago the Old White Haired Guy and I drove to San Xavier for a photo shoot. I had wanted to photograph mostly interior details, and had not wanted crowds. The wind was awful, probably about 40 miles per hour, but that didn't matter since we were going to do interior shots anyway. It was after Easter so I figured all the snow birds and other tourists would have headed back to Iowa, Wisconsin, Canada, etc. Wrong! They all went to San Xavier for one last look on their way to wherever. Including tours. We did get a few shots inside and a few detail shots outside before we gave up. Anyway, here are some more of San Xavier.

The shots below were taken from the same point, a hill to the east of the mission where they hold Easter sunrise services. The camera was on a tripod and not moved. They were taken between about 0700 and 0750. The top left is the first one and the bottom right the last. Time wise they go left to right first row, then left to right second row and finally left to right last row.



I managed to get a few interior shots before the hordes arrived but nowhere near what I wanted. Below is a shot from the front of the church looking towards the altar with the side door open. The front door is behind me, closed and locked because of the wind.



This little angel is on a pillar near the front door.



That ended the inside shots. The milling herd came in and made tripod photography impossible. We went outside only to be greeted by 40 mph wind, limiting what we could shoot. It was virtually impossible to mount a telephoto lens and keep it steady, even on a good tripod. We did get a few nice shots, though, by playing with the sun.

The photo below is of where the crossing is and the dome above the altar seen from the west side near the side door.



The next two photos are of the west bell tower, taken from the west side.





The photo below is of the front door. This door is made of mesquite, and as far as I know, is the original. The next photo is of the door handle; the part of the handle that you grasp is a rattlesnake.





We packed up and guess what? Right! Just in time for lunch at Molina's Midway. Carne seca gorditas and green corn tamales! Mahvelous, simply mahvelous!