Across the Southwest » Churches & Missions

Storm over Pecos National Historical Park

Adam Schallau — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:37:05 +0000

A monsoon storm , common in New Mexico during the months of July and August, spreads out over the church ruins of the Spanish mission at Pecos National Historical Park. The mudding used as stucco has fallen away revealing the adobe bricks used to form the walls of the church. Near the village of Pecos, New Mexico.

Pecos National Historical Park

This image of the Pecos National Historical Park and others like it are available for purchase at my website AdamSchallau.com.

~Tech details~

Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM lens

Exposure: f/11, 1/80 second and ISO 100

Filters: Hoya HD circular polarizer

Kiva ~ Pecos National Historical Park

Adam Schallau — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 02:33:06 +0000

A beam of light from the mid-day sun illuminates the interior of a kiva at Pecos National Historical Park just east of Santa Fe, New Mexico. A kiva is a subterranean ceremonial chamber built by pueblo indians. I love photographing kivas, especially in the summer because they are considerably cooler than the outside air temperature.

This image of a kiva at Pecos National Historical Park and others like it are available for purchase at my website AdamSchallau.com.

~Tech details~

Camera & Lens: Canon EOS 5D Mark II and EF16-35mm f/2.8 II USM lens

Exposure: f/16, 10 seconds and ISO 100

Filters: none

Notes: I used a large collapsible diffuser over the entrance to the kiva to soften the light that was entering the chamber.

Editor’s Pick Award – Travel Photographers Network

Adam Schallau — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:00:59 +0000

I’m excited to announce that I’ve had an image selected for the Editor’s Pick award by the Travel Photographer’s Network. The photo is of an old Chevy parked behind Saint Francis de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico. I captured this photo with my Canon G9 at ISO 80 and it was handheld.

El Santuario de Chimayo Church on the High Road

Adam Schallau — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:21:58 +0000

I originally photographed this church, located on the High road between Santa Fe and Taos, back in 1999. Back then, I wasn’t really into photography yet and had no understanding of shutter speeds and f-stops and as a result the photo wasn’t that great. Ever since then I’ve wanted to recapture this scene, but one thing or another has kept me from doing so. Sometimes it was the weather, my schedule, or it was the hoardes of tourists (nothing wrong with that, it’s good for the economy) that visit Chimayo.

On my way home from Santa fe this past weekend I had some time to burn and decided to stop by to take a look. I was surprised to find the wild roses growing up and over the entry into the courtyard in front of the church. There were many visitors to the church, but I had to have this shot. I setup my tripod and after about a 20-minute wait I was able to capture the scene you see above. I also have several photos with people coming and going, but I wanted to capture the church in a peaceful state. I hope you enjoy the photo.

Mission Concepción – San Antonio, Texas

Adam Schallau — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:45:15 +0000

Stairwell

I thought I would share a few photos from a visit to Mission Concepción in San Antonio, Texas a little over one year ago. The San Antonio Missions National Historical Park consists of 5 Spanish missions built along the San Antonio River in the 1700s to bring Christianity to the native population and to make them Spanish citizens.

On my visit to Mission Concepción several parts of the old church were going through a stabilization process and for reasons of safety were off limits. Even with the partial closures, there are limitless photo possibilities. The Spanish architecture is beautiful and the light plays off of the stone walls very nicely, providing photographers with lots of opportunities to test your ability to handle difficult lighting situations. In some ways, the light reflecting from one wall to another reminded me of the photographic challenges of shooting in the canyon country of the Colorado Plateau.

Bell tower and sky at Mission Concepcion

I’m often asked about my process when developing an image and I’m happy to share my techniques. The image of the stairwell was captured using a Daylight White Balance setting and has had minimal processing applied. In other words, this is how it looked.

For the image of the bell tower and sky, I took some artistic liberties selectively de-saturating the image while cooling the shadows and warming the highlights to achieve the look seen here.

Walkway and arches

In the last image, I have applied the effect of a cooling filter and added some contrast to emphasize the shapes of the walkway and arches. Again I have cooled the shadows and warmed the highlights.

All the images shown here were captured with the Canon EOS 5D and EF24-70/2.8L lens with the camera mounted on a tripod to insure sharp pictures. All images were captured as raw files and processing was accomplished using Photoshop CS3.

Please click on any image for an expanded view.

Black Mesa Panoramic

Adam Schallau — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 02:38:31 +0000

Black Mesa, New Mexico

Please click on the image for an expanded view.

Classic Southwest ~ ‘56 Chevy and Saint Francis de Asis Church

Adam Schallau — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:38:46 +0000

Every now and then, you get lucky. I was eating dinner this evening at the Ranchos Grille, on the patio, when this beautiful red and white ‘56 Chevy pulled into the parking lot.

The driver parked among all the other cars, and my first thought was “cool, I’ll get some shots when I’m done eating”. I went about eating my dinner of chicken enchiladas smothered in green chile (yum!) and after a minute or two I looked up and discovered that the car was no longer there. Bummer, I missed-out on an opportunity.

Much to my surprise, the car was now parked behind Saint Francis de Asis Church. Ordinarily I’d be very upset if someone parked right behind the church because after all, it’s famous for it’s backside. The last thing I’d want is an ugly car blocking my view, but this isn’t an ugly car.

This image is available as a limited edition print, please contact me for pricing and availability.

Click on the thumbnail image for an expanded view.