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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Fifty Seven: Expressions of Faith > Holy Saturday, Tumacacori National Monument, Arizona, 2009
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11-APR-2009

Holy Saturday, Tumacacori National Monument, Arizona, 2009

We visited the Franciscan mission church of San Jose de Tumacacori on the day before Easter – Holy Saturday, when Christians commemorate the day that Christ’s body lay in the tomb. The old church, constructed between 1800 and 1823, was abandoned during the Mexican War of 1848. Its tiny cemetery is still intact. The largest grave was decorated with a double offering of flowers, no doubt an Easter tribute to the dead. The light had gone out of the sky as we walked among the silent graves. We had no idea who was buried here. Indians? Franciscans? In what centuries did they live and die? I did not seek answers -- only an image that expressed faith. To do so, I contrast the vivid colors of the Easter flowers to the stark, barren crosses that surround them, and to the two hundred year old scarred wall rising behind them. I moved behind a tree, probably bent centuries ago by an Indian, to anchor the scene within a foreground layer. The living tree seems to embrace the dead within its crooked trunk.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1
1/500s f/5.2 at 144.0mm iso100 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time11-Apr-2009 15:33:27
MakePanasonic
ModelDMC-G1
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length144 mm
Exposure Time1/500 sec
Aperturef/5.2
ISO Equivalent100
Exposure Bias-0.66
White Balance
Metering Modemulti spot (3)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Programprogram (2)
Focus Distance

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Phil Douglis21-Apr-2009 21:52
A very good point, Tim. We can control saturation in two places -- our saturation setting in the camera, and our saturation slider in Photoshop. This image was not a richly saturated in its original form. As you know, I prefer to add some saturation to many of my images, particularly when richness of color makes a point, as it does here. You are right -- if I chose to desaturate this image, I would change the meaning of the picture to one of faded memories. The degree we saturate or do not saturate with color can, as you say, be a very expressive tool. Thanks for helping me teach.
Tim May21-Apr-2009 20:39
I want to speak about saturation and this image. Your saturation seems to exude a sense of the rich history of this place. My memory of the place when we were there was of a much less saturated scene. Which, if your image were less saturated, could speak of the fading of memory and history. I never really thought about saturation as a part of the expressive tool box before.
Phil Douglis21-Apr-2009 19:08
Yes, we both managed to find similar meanings through different approaches in the same cemetery. You were fortunate to have wonderful light -- we were working under overcast skies, so I had to make the color and composition speak in place of the light here. Thanks, Jenene, for the link.
JSWaters21-Apr-2009 18:39
This is very reminiscent of my favorite image from my trip to Tumacacori,http://www.pbase.com/image/79238675 The idea of faith and man's expression of that idea was strongest for me here in the graveyard.
Jenene
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