Valley Of Fire

Early in our earth's history, the oceans contained a tremendous amount of dissolved iron.  As plant life began to build, it shed oxygen.  That oxygen combined with the iron to form iron oxide, known to most of us as rust.  The iron oxide joined with grains of sand settling to the ocean bottoms.  Thus formed the great sandstone deposits of the American southwest.

As iron concentrations changed, so did the resulting sandstone colors, leading to the varicolored layering seen so often.

When concentrations were high for a long time, the resulting rock formed a uniform red color, but the layers remained.

One of the characteristics of sandstone is that the layers often vary in hardness, and erode into remarkable shapes and forms.

Two legs topped by a deformed butt?

Beehive?

Tongue?

As the desert sun pokes into the carved alcoves and tunnels, the reflected light makes the rock glow as if it were luminous.

In the Valley Of Fire the wind, blowing tiny bits of sand, has carved all these shapes, forming holes, tunnels, and even alcoves covered by curtains of rock.

Backstage behind the curtains...

Rubber duckie?

Won'tcha Come Up And See My Etchings?

We heard about petroglyphs near Rincon, so on Friday off we went, looking for them.  Well, our directions were bad but we had a nice hike, and we THOUGHT we had a better idea of where they might be.  We went back today.

After parking, we hiked to the top of a rather dramatic wall of red rock that would be a magnificent waterfall with a good storm.  We stood there on the dry rock, trying to decide where, in this challenging terrain, we should look.  I looked back and up at the spot we had been standing a minute before and saw, in the black "varnish" that forms on some of these rocks...

Having found our first petroglyph, we started up the wash, knowing that we were at least in the right area.  Both Jan and Jim stopped to look at some markings, trying to figure out what they were.

Here, darkened to make them more visible, are the markings they were studying.

Suddenly, they were everywhere we looked.

This has been said to depict a series of waterfalls.

A lizard?

I have not seen a description for this one, but I think it probably represents rushing, swirling water.

For those who can "view" a 3D photo, this is what the terrain was like.

Cool day...

Life In The High Desert

Hiking in the high desert, we see some variation and one constant - life is hard.  At 7000 feet, windswept peaks are topped with fractured rocks and twisted trees.

Even down low, wood twists and turns as it attempts to live, forming abstract shapes when it dries and silvers.

There is some life there, though.  My hiking buddy met Cousin It in a dry wash.

Got wood?

As an Oregonian, massive trees, straight grained and tall, are familiar to me.

I use them in my photos, and I hike in their shade.  As someone who used to do woodworking as a hobby, I can make good use of this natural material, not just as part of a photo.

Here in high desert country, it is different.  Trees are more challenged.  Even when they grow, they are stunted and gnarled.

Maybe backlighting with some fill light...?

When they can no longer manage the struggle, they shed their bark, they dry, and they turn a silver grey color which, in the shadows, can reflect the blue of the sky.  They split and crack, revealing their tortured growth.

There is a strange beauty in these twisted remnants.  Both Jim and I have been trying to capture these forms with our cameras.  It is frustrating.

I guess a couple of old men can be interested in wood, but not know what to do with it when they get it...

New Mexico light

I am camped at one of the campgrounds at Elephant Butte Lake State Park in southern New Mexico.  Days are often cloudless but when clouds are present, the light changes can be dramatic.

Mid-afternoon yesterday, the lake looked like this.

Early morning, it was very different.  The heavily overcast skies allowed a single spot on the lake to be lit by the sun.

As the afternoon sun settled slowly to the Gila Mountains to the east, gaps in the clouds plus still air composed some nice views of the mountains across the lake.

The day continued the light show to sunset.

Today, dawn was still offering treats.

Remember, these were all shot from within 100 yards of my RV in a single 24 hour period.  This is why I am here for my sixth winter.

With a nod to John Cleese,

...and now, for something completely different.

When I am here in New Mexico, I do not work as hard at photography as I do in the northwest.  I sleep in in the morning.  My hikes are as much for simple exercise as for photo ops; in fact, I often do not bring my camera.

A friend challenged me to try new approaches, new ways of looking at stuff.  Here is some of what that challenge produced.

Snow here is rare.  Snow and fog, even more so, but that is what I awoke to this morning.  So, up and out.  The grasses at the edge of the river were bent under their crown of ice.

If all is one color, shoot black and white... Picnic anyone?

The posts along the river faded into the fog.

By 1 in the afternoon, it was clear and sunny, tee shirt weather.  We took a hike, but I continued to look for shapes and patterns more than vistas.  Some desert flora accommodated me.

Finally, I like this shot in color, but that is much like stuff I have done before.  After some work with Photoshop, I like it almost as much in black and white.

Happy New Year, y'all.