Mission Basilica de Alcala, Porch & Cross

I love the missions of California and always spend some time revisiting them when I am there. This particular one has always intrigued me. Just to the right of the entrance, is a long porch, open on one side, and lined with benches on the other. At the far end of the porch there is a beautiful garden and a memorial, the centerpiece of which is a solid white cross. Every time I visit this mission, and look down the darkened porch to the cross, brilliantly white in the sunshine, I am moved by the appearance, and I often wonder if the placement of the cross was deliberate or just happenstance.

Somehow, I want to believe that it was deliberate. The floor and the sloping roof work to focus on the cross, and I feel that this sight must set the mood for visitors going into the mission. From simply a photographic perspective, I think this image makes a powerful statement.

[photo for week of 3 May 2010]

© David Butts, 2010