22-SEP-2006
Fisher Towers, Moab, Utah, 2006
The Fisher Towers, just outside of Moab, are an illusion. They are patterns etched into the side of a hill, looking very much like a city skyline. When the late afternoon washes them in golden light, they can acquire a sense of dimension, as if some of the “buildings” are closer to us than others. In actuality, they are all part of the same hill. In this image, I was able to use the late afternoon light and the shadows of overhead clouds to offer a dimensional illusion of massive futuristic city. The clouds throw the foreground into deep shadow, anchoring the image. The hill itself is also abstracted by the shadows of the clouds. The actual clouds, dark with rain, echo the darkness of the hill and foreground.
22-SEP-2006
Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, Utah, 2006
Very few images of this famous arch only show half of its bottom half. Most predictably show the entire arch framing the canyon below. I wanted to stress the warmth of the reflected sunlight on the underside of the arch, and use it as a counterforce to the curving side of the mesa below it, so I include only about one quarter of the famous arch in this image. The view of the canyon completes the image.
15-OCT-2006
Sunset, Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, 2006
The setting sun reveals the ancient texture of these hills, arranged along a gradually receding diagonal line. These rocky surfaces look very familiar. They provided the background for dozens of western movies.
18-SEP-2006
Footprints, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Utah, 2006
The evening light on this huge sand dune brings out the trail of human footprints along the crest of the dune, as well as the deep shadows that give the dune and its foreground undulations great dimension. The tiny figure walking along the crest tells us just how large this dune is. The image begins with green vegetation in the foreground, then moves to sand in the middle ground, and returns to green trees in the background. These dunes are just outside of Kanab, Utah.
21-SEP-2006
Golden rain, Arches National Park, Utah, 2006
The circumstances surrounding this image were bizarre, to say the least. We were photographing in Arches just as the sun was going below the horizon. The entire ground turned purplish gold, and at that moment a rain shower erupted in front of us. The falling rain reflects the light of the setting sun, creating what seemed like a mirage, or a scene out of a biblical movie. Using the red butte at right as a counterpoint to the burst of golden rain, this is as close as I’ve ever come to photographing a supernatural event. It is a graphic example of the power of light to utterly transform a landscape.
18-OCT-2006
Fall colors, June Lake Loop, California, 2006
The play of light intensifies the richness of this vivid color. I’ve layered the image in quarters – using the rocky foreground to anchor the image, cathedral-like middle ground of glowing yellow trees, and a two stage backdrop featuring both a shadowy and illuminated hillside. Its towering neighbors dwarf the tiny red tree.
20-OCT-2006
Aspen, Lee Vining Canyon, California, 2006
Interpreting the landscape with light usually involves accurate light metering. However in this case, I experimented with over-exposure, making the lighter areas of the image seems almost transparent. The resulting softly impressionistic palette blends green, yellow, and orange into an expression of both the delicacy and the brilliance of nature at work.
21-OCT-2006
Abandoned house, Bodie State Historic Park, Calfornia, 2006
Bodie once contained 2,000 buildings and 8,000 people. Today it is one of the best preserved ghost towns in the world. At sunset it seems truly haunted – this underexposed image, based on the brilliant gold of the sage, suggests rather than describes this house. We see only the side struck by light – the darkness implies the presence of the spirits that are said to live here.
16-OCT-2006
The Sierras, from Alabama Hills, California, 2006
This vertical landscape contrasts the shadowy Alabama Hills to the higher, sun struck Sierras above them. The image begins in sage and ends in sky, with deep browns and golden oranges gradually rising through the image. The colors in the deep shadows are, in their own way, as warm as the colors create by the setting sun in the background.
17-OCT-2006
Approaching storm, Onion Valley, California, 2006
Not all expressive landscapes are made in soft golden light. There are times where the light is neutralized by weather, such as in this image. We were riding through snow showers in the Onion Valley when we spotted this tightly packed group of isolated trees in the midst of changing colors. Using a 28mm wideangle lens, I create a three layer image, featuring golden sage at in the foreground, the fall foliage in the middle ground, and the approaching storm moving out of the hills in the background. The light is soft and even, without a shadow in sight. We rely entirely on color and texture to express the beauty and meaning of this scene. The storm brings moisture, and it is moisture that feeds the tree and sage and keeps them alive.
20-OCT-2006
Afterglow, Mono Lake, California, 2006
A cloudscape can also be a landscape. This image is both, defining the scale of the distant hills, juxtaposed against a corner of one of the most unique lakes on earth. The shape and coloration of the cloud is unique – some call it a Sierra cloud. A giant spear of pink, the well-defined cloud echoes the lighter, more diffused clouds behind it.
20-AUG-2006
At my doorstep, Phoenix, Arizona, 2006
I travel all over the world to make expressive images. Yet I found this one on my own back doorstep. I live on the edge of the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, and made this wideangle image over my back fence. The sky belongs to all of us, and nature often paints it in colors so delicate yet vivid that they defy description. The key to this image is the towering cauldron of gauzy clouds, swirling in air currents tumbling upon each other in a pattern that seems to explode over the low hills that flank Piestewa Peak, the highest mountain in Phoenix. I use the horizon as context, and one of my yucca plants as an anchor layer, letting nature’s palette do the rest.