Mission San Xavier del Bac

Author's Comments

The first time I saw San Xavier I was driving south out of Tucson on a January morning, and the white of the stucco against that particular shade of desert sky stopped me in a way that few buildings have. The mission sits low in the valley, and from a distance it does not look like architecture so much as something the desert produced on its own. White Dove is exactly right. The name does the work. Morning is the only answer here. East-facing facade, baroque detail carved deep into stucco, and the kind of raking light that finds every edge and shadow in the ornament. By ten the sun is high and the whole thing flattens out. I have made my best frames between seven and nine, working the front entrance from across the plaza with a longer lens to compress the towers, then moving in close for the carved details around the doorway where the shadow does the heavy lifting. Winter and spring are kindest. The sky goes that deep saturated blue that only happens in dry desert air, and the contrast against the white walls is almost too much for a sensor to hold. Expose for the highlights and let the shadows fall where they will. The interior is its own thing and worth the quiet visit, though I tend to leave the camera in the bag once I am inside. This is an active parish, and there are mornings when you will share the pews with people who have come to pray rather than to photograph. That is part of the place. The dove still belongs to the people who built her.

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