San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church

I recently visited San Francisco de Assisi Mission Church, located in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. Ansel Adams photographed this church, Georgia O'Keefe painted it, and I feel lucky to have been able to stand where they stood and create my own image of this iconic structure.

First I worked the back side, the view that is most closely associated with this church.  When I processed the photos of this view later, sepia just seemed to capture the mood...  

Then I walked around to the front.  Although this isn't the iconic view associated with the church, I still thought it was beautiful, especially the look of the adobe walls against the clear blue sky....

Then I concentrated on getting a "different" shot altogether.  I went as wide as possible with the lens I had, then pushed in close to the entrance, using it as a frame.  A lot of times photos seem to happen through a sense of serendipity, but this time I was very conscious of trying to find perfect balance, a sense of symmetry, with this shot, with the way the white trim of the door way framed the inner courtyard, how the blue cross on the ground aligned the white cross on the roof, how all the elements were placed in the frame...

Purchase prints here

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 18-55 DX