My online journal where I share my interests in photography, nature, coffee life, journaling, fountain pens, bicycling, spirituality and asking deep questions.
It amazes me I still look for how many comments or visits there are to my images. When I look at stats I am setting expectations and that is not what I want to do. My hope is that my images will say something to me and others, to move me and others. I shoot because I cannot shoot. There is something inside urging me to look for images and every so often being pleased with the results. Darn those expectations. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!
“I chose nature photography as a way of capturing and sharing the beauty, power, and fragility of wild places and the life that inhabits them, so that those who have become mired in the man-made chaos may open their eyes to the real world.” – Guy Tal
Earl had a wonderful post a few days ago called Embracing Chaos. In that post Earl states “there is a part of me which exaltates the wonders, energy and unease of chaos.” I totally agree!
Once I began to really look at this world I noticed the differences in the designs of nature and those of man. As Edward Weston suggests “nature is crude and lacking in arrangement” compared to what man creates. Yet that chaos affects me in a totally different way than mad-made order. I experience a different feeling when looking at briar patchs along a small creek or the twisted and bent cottonwoods rooted along the banks of a river than I do when I see the 15 shrubs (not 16 as one died and has not been replaced yet) planted in a grid pattern around a neon sign in front of the bank. The chaos of nature does not grate against me the way man-made order does.
These images were taken with my first digital camera, a Nikon D100 and a Nikon 18-35mm or the Nikon 24-85mm lens back in 2003 and 2004. That camera and those lens were instrumental in helping me see and simplify the beauty in the chaos of nature.
Perhaps the greatest tribute ever given to Muir took place in a private conversion between two great contemporary mountaineers. Galen Rowell once asked Rheinhold Messner why the greatest mountains and valleys of the Alps are so highly developed, why they have hotels, funicular railways, and veritable cities washing up against sites that, in America, are maintained relatively unencumbered by development. Messner explained the difference in three words. He said, “You had Muir.”
Another one of my motorcycle touring trips included a couple days visiting the Badlands in South Dakota. I was not expecting the beauty I discovered there.
The Lakota called the topography “Makhóšiča“, literally bad land, while French trappers called it “les mauvaises terres à traverser” – “the bad lands to cross”. This dry terrain is a type of soft sedimentary rock and clay-rich soils that have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It almost has a look of volcanic rock. And, it is so rich in colors, patterns and shapes. This type of terrain can be found in several locations in the U.S. such as Makoshika State Park in Montana,Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and the Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Another popular area of badland formations is Toadstool Geologic Park in the Oglala National Grassland of northwestern Nebrask and you can include Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado and Utah.
This is an image taken back in 2003 on Foothills Parkway during a week long trip to Smoky Mountains. It was my first experience visiting the park. I loved the park and am surprised I’ve not returned. It was a memorable trip in that I dropped and broke a Nikon 80-400mm VR lens so I spent the last three days shooting with my longest focal length of 85mm.
A few years ago, Mike and I took off on a road trip with our motorccylces, making a loop around the southeastern corner of Colorado. Part of our trip was a ride over Trail Ridge in Rocky Mountain Park. This two lane road is the highest continuous highway in the United States and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 ft (3,713 m). We stopped along one of the scenic pullouts to stretch our legs and take in the view. The peak in the background is Longs Peak, one of the 53 peaks in Colorado over 14,000 ft, and reaches a height of 14,259 ft. Good times!!
A foggy morning along the Yellowstone River in Lamar Valley. One of my favoritest places I’ve ever been.