Available Light, San Antonio

I began work on the 4 missions in the San Antonio area this spring (there are 5 if you count the t-shirt shop known as the Alamo). They are each a delight and 3 of the 4 still have mass celebrated in them. I am embarrassed to admit I have driven cross- country past these missions for years without stopping, but I believe the work I have done since 1993 on the Arizona missions have helped me to see this subject matter in a personal way.

This afternoon I was working the largest of the 4 missions (San Jose) when the sky clouded over in a flat, steel gray and a light rain began to fall. I wandered back into the granary where the ceiling and wall textures caught my eye earlier. I was immediately intrigued by the quality of the light in this room – the rainy sky had opened up the shadows and the light appeared to be coming in on both sides of the room. This feeling is never possible on a bright sunny day and while the room appeared to be nearly dark the light had an open quality and knew what I wanted to make.

The indicated exposure was 2 minutes and I knew that the exposure and development needed for this low light situation would be more like 2 ½ minutes with some “gymnastics” required in the development of the films. At one point I waited for a tour group making their way through the mission and was asked afterward by one of the group why someone would “make a picture of an empty room?” to which I replied that it was not empty, to the contrary, it was filled with light.

Travel Journal
March 2007