Apr
23
2011

Sunset @ San Xavier Mission

PhotosSaturday, April 23, 2011 - 05:21:19 pm
(Posted Under: Photography)
Funnily enough it was a year ago this week that a year ago this week we were in Tucson for the Sand Rubies 25th Anniversary. And today to catch the Persuaders. And both times, the sunset hours were spent at San Xavier Mission.

It's one of my favorite things to do in Tucson - go down to San Xavier, and wait for sunset. Actually, y'know, just going down to San Xavier is enough. The place is just absolutely amazing. Thanks to my wife for entertaining me with yet another trip to the Mission - while it's actually only our third time down there, it feels like we do it every time we go to Tucson. Given the new camera, the was no question in my mind about wanting to go down there again. And I wasn't wrong in my thinking, shooting with that today was absolutely different experience than shooting with my old camera last year.

I managed to get a bunch of amazing photos during the sunset, most of which make all the photos I took last year look like they were done for amateur hour. The difference in what I took today is nothing short of amazing. And of course, not only were the results incredibly better, but were also incredibly easier to achieve than with the old camera.

The first two are the best wide angle shots. This is arguably my favorite part of a sunset, a vibrant orange along the horizon, with a deep blue sky. While the early afternoon had been kinda shitty and almost overcast, by the time we got to San Xavier the clouds had broken up into great expanses of puffy clouds. By this time they'd kinda dissipated, but the sky had remained that deep blue, and there were enough clouds around to add detail to the sky. I love that shit.

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Most of the shots are from Grotto Hill to the east of the mission, but I did briefly go down in front of the mission once the sunset was in full swing. As is always true with the most spectacular part of a sunset, the moments slip by ever so fast, and almost immediate I wanted to be on the hill to not miss anything from up there. But it was worth it, I love this photo I shot of the mission bells of the building to the west. Before making a dash back to Grotto Hill.

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Tonight also proved a good time for playing with different metering for different effects. Control over that is absolutely wonderful, allowing for extremes like this photo below. I can't say how much I appreciate being able to get sunset shots without the sun "bleeding" due to matrix metering.

Though, in hindsight, I do regret not packing my tripod this morning. While the silhouette of the mission is really cool, I'm really intrigued with the idea of what this could have looked like with a bit of HDR treatment. Not with the intent of usual HDR usage, but more so just to get some forefront detail while preserving that exposure of the sun in the background.

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And yet another photo that I would have had no hope of getting in the past was this one of the San Xavier Plaza at dusk. Absolutely love both of these. And was happy with the result, given I'd completely neglected to even think about bringing the tripod.

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Photobox ImageAnother thing that is amazing at sunset is the Catalina Mountains. Ironically enough, as great as this photo is, it doesn't actually do the scene justice in comparison to being there. With that said, it's still a great photo. What I particularly like about is that because of the zoom factor of the shot (200mm), the mountain range doesn't seem that big - until you look at city of Tucson down below. [wink] I'd love the say that I most purposely going for this effect - but it was actually a fluke.

Photobox ImageOf course, this would all imply that you need a sunset to enjoy San Xavier and the surrounding area, and that is anything but true. The whole place is absolutely amazing, and there is hardly part of it that doesn't exemplify what I love about the southwest. This afternoon the plaza was opened, so we were finally able to go and check it outside which was pretty cool.

Photobox ImageSurprisingly I've never noticed the area and courtyard to the west of the main building, which was pretty amazing. By all accounts it looks like a small chapel, filled with candles - which were lit after dusk, which looked pretty amazing. The desert garden lying between it and the main building was equally amazing. I have no idea why I've never noticed it before.

The following photos are some more great examples of why I love going down to the mission, and speak to that south west and Spanish influence architecture that I just love. Combined with the beautiful cactus gardens, I just love this place, and honestly, always find it hard to leave. Without a doubt, if I had millions of dollars, there are many aspects of the architecture I'd want to replicate for our house. This is true of both the mission and the plaza to the south. The millions of dollars (I can't even guess just how many) is really the stumbling block though. [smile]

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So it was a great afternoon and a beautiful sunset. Without even realizing it, I managed to blow through around 700 exposures. With an 8GB SD card, I don't even give any thought to such things these days. And since I was conscious of wanting to have the opportunity to blow up any perfect shots I happened to get, on arriving at San Xavier I had turned the camera on to full size, fine quality JPEG + RAW. So I was completely taken off guard when I got back to the car and discovered I only had 12 exposures left! It completely makes sense, but I was surprised by both the number of shots I'd taken and the fact that I'd filled up an 8GB card, effectively in a few hours.

Though, I have managed to reduce that 700+ figure down to 90 or so shots worth keeping. [smile]
Now Playing: The Persuaders - Drove It All Away

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