When we were researching Santa Fe before our trip — come on, we’re journalists — Jeff and I encountered quite a few websites and brochures calling Santa Fe “the City Different.”
Which seemed a little pretentious to me. You see, what makes Santa Fe “the City Different” is its adherence to the Spanish Territorial or Pueblo style of architecture and to its city-planning approach; both the architectural style and method of city-planning hail back to the 16th century. But I still thought the name was pretentious.
Then, when I was actually in Santa Fe, it hit me. Sure, many of the buildings are “faux-dobe,” but the city nevertheless looks unlike any other. In what other cities do you see new buildings styled in centuries-old architecture?
Anyway, I took the same photo I took almost three years ago — except this time, on film.
I think this is on the corner of Don Gaspar and Water in downtown Santa Fe. BW400CN, 120mm.
We walked around and had dinner in the Plaza after we left Bandelier and cleaned up a bit. Then, after dinner, we walked around some more and I saw a picture:
St. Francis of Assissi Cathedral. BW400CN, 120mm.
I wanna say this was shot at f/2.8 and 1/20th of a second. Not an easy task when using a medium-format SLR with a waist-level viewfinder!
Words and Light 
I love S.F. and New Mexico in general. It isn’t the architecture that makes the city different, though. It is the people.
The state’s ummmm “diversity of thought,” including the tin foil hat brigade, makes Austin look rather poser-ish.