The California Missions Trail

I’m doing a series of photo essays (If I can call them that) for the California Missions. There are 21 missions in California that compromise the California Missions Trail, the trail begins in southern California at the 1st mission in the trail (Mission San Diego de Alcala at San Diego) and ends in northern California at the 21th mission in that trail (San Francisco Solano at Sonoma).

San Diego De Alcala (also named Mission San Diego) is considered the first church in California and it’s called the Mother of the Alta California Missions. Founded on July 16, 1769 by Father Junipero Serra. The mission represents the beginning of the mix of religious and political impacts of Spanish conquer for California on locals and the birth process for California before it becomes as a state. For more facts and information about the mission click here.

I tried to reflect the cultural authenticity and historical nature of the place emphasized it by using monochrome tones. All pictures are processed as HDR (only basic) then post processing in photo shop. With the time limit there I tried to capture the spirit of the place and show the different architectural nature of the place plus taking pictures for some of the fixtures and interiors of the building. You feel naturally the humbleness of those mission places in comparison with the today luxurious nature of modern churches.