I had to dig into my archives for this one, all the way back to my days of shooting Fuji Velvia slide film. I’ve shot countless photos in the Taos area over the years, but this is still one of my favorites.
For my first two years living hear I rented a small place in Ranchos de Taos, one block from the historic Saint Francis de Asis church which is easily one of the most photographed buildings in North America. When the light was good I’d make my way to the church with camera in hand. On this particular evening I was being shadowed by a dog (probably looking for a handout) as I explored the light on the church. I kept tripping over him as I’d back up to reposition my tripod, or he would wonder into the shot often getting right in front of the camera. The dog was frustrating the heck out of me.
Then it came to me. I’ve got plenty of photos of the church, why couldn’t the dog be the subject? I couldn’t believe it when I patted the top of the adobe wall that surrounds the church’s plaza and the dog obediently jumped up onto it. He sat there very patiently as I took several photos of him basked in the late afternoon light with the church in the background. What a great dog and another great moment in Taos.
Some of the photographers viewing Across the Southwest will notice that I’ve used a tilt-shift technique to minimize depth of field in some of my images from the shoot at Vivac Winery. The technique used creates a scene that gives the impression of being a miniature, or a model, because of the lack of depth-of-field.
