This is one of my favorite panoramas from my trip last summer. As the sun rose on the other side of Mount Geikie, the clouds and fog began to clear and revealed the peaks around us. I especially like the streaks of light on the snow on Mt Geikie to the south.
Mt Geikie from the North, Wind River Range, WY (12″x34″)
Here is another panorama from my trip in Wyoming last summer. Pyramid Lake sits at about 10,500 feet in elevation, between Mount Geikie and Pyramid Peak. Even in mid-July this whole area was covered in waist-deep snow. I particularly liked the floating snow island and the turquoise hue of the water. The clouds looming in the background made me particularly nervous all morning because we could not see approaching weather due to the ridges and mountains to our west.
Pyramid Lake, Wind River Range, WY (13″x36″)
I haven’t chosen to go out and shoot new material in the last week or two, so I decided to post some urban “landscapes” from areas around Boston, New York City, and Chicago.
Church and Sky, Newton, MA
Waiting at 190th Street, New York, NY
Stairway to C Gates, Chicago O’Hare International Airport, IL
Aptly named because it is one of the “first ruins” one encounters when hiking up Canyon de Chelly, First Ruin peaks out from a cave on the north face of the canyon. Although many visitors travel to Canyon de Chelly for the human history and ruins, I like to visit the area because of the geology and sense of time one experiences while hiking in the region. The cross-bedding from the ancient sand dunes are visible up and down the canyon. Desert varnish creates streaks of darkened rock on the walls. Erosion forms giant cracks, splitting the sandstone from the foot of the canyon to the rim. Meanwhile, the river meanders down the bottom of the canyon, slowly eating away at the rocks and soil. These prominent geologic features and processes create a backdrop into which our short human history is set.
First Ruin, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, AZ (16″x49″)
I took a few different panoramas of the same storm as it moved over Albuquerque last August. I decided to convert this series of photos to black and white to emphasize the texture of the storm clouds. The panorama loses some of the deep blues and lacks the yellow sunbeams, but I like the mood and atmosphere of photo in black and white.
Albuquerque Monsoon Clouds, outside Albuquerque, NM (16″x60″)
Although the clouds in New Mexico can be amazing during any time of year, the summer monsoons are guaranteed to bring in interesting and dramatic cumulonimbus clouds. I took this series of photos during the summer monsoon in August of 2011 just outside Albuquerque, NM along Tramway Boulevard. The light passing through the clouds near the horizon line caught my eye first, but then I started looking at the rest of the sky and realized that storm clouds surrounding the city were just as interesting.
Albuquerque Summer Monsoon, outside Albuquerque, NM (16″x60″)
I still have a whole series of panoramas from last summer of the Wind River Range that I have not posted. Towards the beginning of my trip in Wyoming, I climbed to the top of Mount Geikie (12,064 feet). On the approach to the summit, I took this mid-morning panorama of the peak and surrounding mountains. Ice and wind have slowly ground the rocks down, so now they look like a frozen wave hanging over the old glacial cirque to the right.
Mount Geikie, Wind River Range, WY (16″x51″)
The Sandia Mountain Wilderness area is one of my favorite places to go for a quick run or hike. Facing one direction, you can see the city of Albuquerque, but turn around and you can see the Sandias towering over you. They are particularly beautiful in winter and early spring when covered in snow. The mountainside provides an excellent vantage point for seeing clouds and storms as they rush across the valley from Arizona.
Grass and Clouds, Sandia Mountain Wilderness, NM
Skip back in time 200 to 250 million years ago- North America is completely different. The Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado (Four Corners) area was much closer to the equator (much like Panama today). Thick deposits of mudstones and sandstones were deposited in the region in low-lying, humid environments. If you fast-forward back to modern time, millions of years of wind and water have slowly ground down through these rocks to create many breathtaking areas (think: Canyon de Chelly, Petrified Forest). These rocks are not only geologically interesting, but they are also visually interesting. Below is one of the mudstone deposits (which is actually purple) from the Blue Mesa member of the Chinle Formation. This entire area is littered with ancient, fossilized tree trunks.
Eroded Mudstone, Petrified Forest National Park, AZ (16″x45″)
I shot this panorama around sunset while low-hanging storm clouds hovered over the school building. I liked the symmetry of the shot and the glow in the lower windows as they reflected the sunset behind me.
Statue in the Sunken Garden, Newton, MA (16″x32″)
