433 - La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel
OUR VAN’S FINALLY FIXED, WOOOOOOOOOO! Within minutes of picking it up, we were off to our next destination- La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel. And let me tell you… This was one of the most epic churches I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
It all started after our departure from Guadalajara, a city that had offered me and Haley wonderful hospitality for the past week. Our van broke down a few posts back, so we had to wait for it to be finished while living in various hotels.
Whenever I spend more than 3 days in one location, I start to get attached to it. Leaving is so much harder. I wonder if this feeling is common amongst people who travel as much as we do.
Either way, we had our farewell cry (supplemented by last minute tacos) and left town. Our destination was La Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel, which was a HUGE church Haley found on Google Maps. The plan was to head north of Mexico City to see a bunch of waterfalls, but the drive was far. This place gave us a nice “middle ground” to stop, take some shotskis, and rest for the night.
We showed up about 3 hours before sunset, and were greeted by a police officer telling us we couldn’t enter the city. Apparently our van was “mucho grande” and wouldn’t fit down the small, cobblestone streets. He wanted us to park right there in his lot, and pay him.. It smelled like a scam, but we didn’t speak Spanish good enough to make a valid argument.
We kept trying anyway. A few confused minutes later, we somehow managed to convince him to let us go to ANOTHER city entrance and park there, as it was much closer to the church than this lot. Thank god.
Jump forward about 15 minutes, and we’re at the second entrance, stopped by yet another police officer. She wouldn’t let us in either… We argued with her a bit, and eventually she said something in her radio. 10 seconds later she let us through.
I have no idea what happened, but we made it in so I didn’t ask questions.
We started driving down the small, color-splashed streets, and I began to think this might have been a bad idea. Everything was TINY. If we found a parking spot we fit into it’d be a goddamn miracle.
Luckily there was a church nearby, so our miracle was granted. We found a spot, setup camp, and got ready to boogie.
The walk to the church wasn’t far, and I began to realize that this town was rich. Not just middle class rich, like upper class be BALLING rich. All the shops were expensive boutiques, there were smoking hot chicks everywhere, and the bars looked like something out of Instagram heaven.
We arrived at the church, and the place was a shit show. It became clear that this was a MAJOR tourist destination in Mexico, as hundreds of people walked around us. To be honest I was expecting a boutique church in a rural town… Not this. This was completely different.
Not that it was a bad thing. It was nice to experience an upper class neighborhood. I think it was our first one since crossing the border… A striking reminder that not every part of Mexico is third world. Every single house looked like a work of art. Vibrant colors, plants, and shops were everywhere. And the church… Don’t even get me started.
It was like god just returned from vacation in Mexico and decided he was going to retire there, so he built his dream home.
I’m glad god was happy about it. But for us, it was going to be a nightmare to shoot. There were so many people everywhere. To start off, we decided to walk INSIDE the church. I was hoping the outside would clear out closer to dark.
Inside, there was a massive sign that said “no fotographia,” but I don’t believe in that rule.
But not all rule breakers come out successful. I didn’t get any good shots in the MAIN church, as it was simply too crowded to formulate any kind of reasonable composition. We walked back outside, and stumbled upon an “overflow” church that was almost empty. We walked down the empty aisle, and I glanced in a side door.
What I saw looked like something out of an exorcism flick. One old lady was just sitting in front of an alter, in a dimly lit hall. I couldn’t see her face, and no one else was around. It was genuinely creepy, and I snagged this shot:
“Modern Exorcist”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6
[ISO 1000 ~ 10mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/100s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I decided it was time to get the fuck out before her head started spinning. We melted back into the outside crowd, and started to look for ways to shoot the biggie church.
I realized there was a lot of people, but they came in waves. If I timed it right, I could snag something quick if everything was composed. I sat down on the ground, aimed my tripod, and waited. After about 10 minutes, I got a gap with only one person in it, so I snagged the opportunity and Photoshopped them out:
“Pillar of the Gods”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6
[ISO 250 ~ 10mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/500s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
It was perfect timing because the sky happened to be overcast from above, and the sunlight was hitting the sides just right. I also learned an important lesson about subjects. Since the subject was the ENTIRE church, I figured I’d narrow it down by focusing on one aspect of it. The side mantle. Notice how I centered it perfectly, so it was clear to the audience this was the main point of the photo.
I’d always done this with landscapes, but never translated it to architecture before. Genre crossing, baby!
And with that, we took a couple laps around the area, looking for something else vaguely artsy before the sun went down. Even though there was wacky shit everywhere, I couldn’t get the church out of mind. It was so ridiculously epic. Everything seemed pale in comparison.
I needed to go back. I started thinking of different angles, and more importantly, if it would be lit up at night. All we had to do was stay another hour or so, and it’d be a completely different scene.
We waited.
Once it was dark, I found the most epic shot of them all. Framed by the entrance gate, the church was GLOWING with all the lights on. The only problem was that this was the main entrance to the church, and the place was still packed. If anything, it had gotten even MORE crowded now that it was dark.
It was in this moment I realized I needed to not give a fuck. I setup my tripod right in the middle of the entrance staircase, and waited. Everyone walked around me, clearly annoyed. I strapped on my 10mm lens and set my camera into time-lapse mode. With the dozens of shots I got, I then masked all of the shots of the church that DIDN’T have a person in it together in Photoshop, like a strange digital jigsaw puzzle:
“Star-crossed Churchscape”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Laowa 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6
[ISO 250 ~ 10mm ~ f/8 ~ .5s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
There you go, tip of the day. I invented this technique on the spot. If your scene is busy, make a time-lapse of all the people walking by. Then overlay the parts that didn’t have a person in front of it one by one in Photoshop. That one shot is a stitch of probably 7-8 shots.
And with that, we called it a night. I KNEW I had some bangers. We went off to our cozy Sprinter and slept like babies.
...only to wake up to a fat parking ticket. Apparently we were parked in a “violation zone,” and the police took our license plate. Fuck. I guess that’s how they do it in Mexico.
The ticket had a location to pick up the license plate, but it didn’t show up on Google Maps. Double fuck.
This holy land just became my personal hell. Maybe it’s because of that exorcism shot I took earlier.
We buckled up for mayhem, and walked back to the main plaza. Our hope was to ask locals for directions to the police station. Turns out the place was right next to the church! I guess this wasn’t so bad after all.
...except they told us the police officer hadn’t dropped off the plate yet, and to come back in two hours.
AGHH. At this point I just said fuck it we’re going to McDonald’s. My guilty American comfort food. And there happened to be one on the outskirts of town. I ate my annoyances away with a Big Mac, a Large Fry, and a 4 Piece McNugget. Two hours later we picked up our license plate and left town.
Well that place had it’s highs and lows. I guess that’s what makes a solid adventure though, so I can’t complain. BUUURP.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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