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Showing posts from 2017

Hokokam Star Party

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Remnants of an ancient American Indian tribe, these petroglyphs sit atop a hill in the Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson. The Hohokam tribe existed there between 200 and 1400 AD. My girlfriend and I spent an evening there watching a meteor shower and making some long exposures over the Thanksgiving holiday. It remains unknown what the etchings mean, but I imagine it to be a representation of the earth spinning within the stars.

Petrified Forest

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I have to thank Arizona Highways for their issue on the Petrified Forest National park. Having lived in Arizona, and only an hour and a half away, I have not until now visited the National Park. I have driven by it a number of times, but this last spring break I made the decision to stop for the evening and following morning to see what it is all about. We arrived just before closing, and sunset which is typically the best time to do landscape photography. They close at sunset and as there is no camping within the park we couldn't dally. From the main entrance and visitor's center you don't get a glimpse of any petrified wood right away. Instead you follow the road along a rim with pull-outs and wide views of the Painted Desert. Painted Desert Sunset Petrified Forest is one of the few parks where you can take your pets off the road and onto their trails. We did just that as we circled one of the Ancient Puebloan ruin sites. Not much to see there except

Farewell 2016. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

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Twenty-sixteen was a bittersweet year for me. I experienced the absolute worst day of my life, seeing my father pass away from lung cancer. The image of his last breath is forever burned into my consciousness, and will be something I will have to carry with me the rest of my days. Another disappointment is shared with the entire country. The events that transpired on November 8th will no doubt change forever the environment and landscape as we know it. These recent events really make one look deep and focus on what really matters. Like it or not the job of a landscape photographer is to document the beautiful world we live in, and to serve as a reminder that nothing is forever. The landscape image is one that can increase awareness of the necessity to preserve and conserve. I set out on my journey in photography to not only remember the good times and adventures, but to document for posterity the disappearing and fragile universe. The melting glaciers, the collaps