San Xavier Del Bac Church C.1885 Number 2 Collage Tucson Arizona 1885-2012 #1 Acrylic Print

San Xavier del Bac was founded by Father Eusebio Kino in 1692. Construction of the current church began in 1783 and was completed in 1797. The Baroque style structure is considered the "finest example of Spanish colonial architecture in the US; constructed of low-fire clay brick, stone and lime mortor," built by members of the Tohono O'odham Nation, on whose reservation the church is located.

The National Historical Landmark is visited by 200,00 persons yearly. Restoration continues on San Xavier.

I first became obsessed with photography and motion pictures while growing up in post WW2 Manila in the Philippine Islands in the late 1940's/early 1950's. Film noirs were a particular influence. But my first love remains the theater. I acted in numerous amateur productions from 1958 to 1978. In 1979 I earned a MA in drama from the University of Arizona; earlier getting a BA in English from the University of Minnesota, where I co-founded the first film society on campus and ran it for four years. While at the U of A, I studied with the master black and white photo essayist W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978) the last year of his life. I am the last person cited in Jim Hughes' definitive biography of Gene, as I wrote about attending his final...