House, Field and Clouds near Zillah, WA
Approaching storm clouds and darkening skies behind a lone building near Zillah, Washington.
Lone House in Field and Approaching Rain Clouds, near Zillah, WA (16″x32″)
Westfjords Beach, Iceland
The Garðar BA 64, a steel fishing vessel that was retired in the 1980’s, was run aground in Skápadalur Valley in the Westfjords, where it sits rusting on the beach as clouds and storms roll in off the Atlantic and Arctic. I wish I would have stopped here for longer to photograph the century-old vessel- a great example of how time, wind, and water slowly eat away at the human creation.
Garðar BA 64, Skápadalur Valley in the Westfjords, Iceland (12″x18″)
Mountains and Beaches in Northern Mexico
I recently photographed a series of sunrises and mountain ranges between Sonoyta and Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. Here are two of my favorite panoramas from the area.
Mountains outside Puerto Peñasco, near Puerto Peñasco, Mexico (16″x59″)
Playa Encanto Sunrise, near Puerto Peñasco, Mexico (16″x67″)
Structures in the Sonoran Desert
Abandoned and decaying structures fascinate me. These types of buildings are scattered across the landscape along the road from Sonoyta to Puerto Peñasco, Mexico. While driving through the area a few weeks ago, I stopped to photograph a few of these structures.
Cement Structure and Columns in Desert, near Sonoyta, Mexico (16″x50″)
Buckled Billboard in Desert, near Puerto Peñasco, Mexico (12″x18″)
Plaza Blanca Light and Shadows
After hiking up the slot canyon in Plaza Blanca, I turned around and headed back to the car around sunset. I took this panorama as the setting sun cast a bright light on this fin of rock jutting up out of the river bed.
Plaza Blanca Fin of Rock in Light, near Abiquiu, NM (16″x41″)
Plaza Blanca
Earlier this summer, I decided to take an evening walk through Plaza Blanca (the White Place), a slot canyon across the river from Abiquiu, New Mexico. Georgia O’Keeffe’s work often focused on this area, and a visit to the valley allowed me to imagine the artist painting under the open blue New Mexican sky long before I was born. My sister and I attempted to hike into this canyon a few years back, but we ended up getting accidentally sucked into a similar, parallel canyon to the east and south. This year, we were sure to ask for detailed directions and arrived at the White Place a few hours before sunset. The rapidly eroding landscape at Plaza Blanca is part of the Abiquiu Formation, which consists of redeposited volcanic ash and other sedimentary rocks that are about 20 million years old. The cliffs near the parking area form a wide valley that narrows into a slot canyon to the north and west. Afternoon summer clouds floated by overhead and swallows dove between the canyon walls as we wound up into the hillside. We started heading back to the car around sunset, leaving part of the area unexplored. I hope to make it back to Abiquiu soon so I can photograph more of the slot canyon.
Plaza Blanca Bluff and Stream Bed, near Abiquiu, NM (16″x55″)
Plaza Blanca Rock and Shadow, near Abiquiu, NM (12″x18″)
Architecture of Erosion
The dilapidated Standard Oil Products building and sign always catch my eye while driving through northern Arizona and the Navajo Nation on US 160. I have been trying to put together a series on time, erosion, and the human/natural landscape in rural Arizona- I think I’ll use this photo in the series. I took one short and one long exposure to try to capture the sense of time in the photograph. Which do you prefer?
Standard Oil (short), near Shonto, AZ (12″x18″)
Standard Oil (long), near Shonto, AZ (12″x18″)
