The Apostle of California

Although arriving in Alta California with seemingly good intentions, Junípero Serra witnessed the decimation of the people that he came to convert to Christianity. The cruel rounding up of native peoples and contact with the European newcomers introduced diseases into those communities that virtually eliminated them as a viable culture. The canonization of “The Apostle of California” in 2015 by Pope Francis was controversial.

This photo was taken by a Mamiya 645 Pro TL medium format film camera and Mamiya-Sekor C 45mm 1:2.8 N lens with a Tiffen 67mm Skylight 1-A filter using Kodak Portra 400 film, the negative scanned by an Epson Perfection V600 and digitally rendered with Photoshop.