The Photographer

Sometimes we find ourselves way out in the world looking at sunsets. This photo epitomizes the photographer's task; to go and to see and take pictures along the way. There is a reason the photographer is in the dark. How many people would recognize the great photographers of the world from pictures of they themselves apart from their work? When was the last time you saw a picture of a photographer featured on the front page of a magazine or newspaper, or even on the Internet?

Size really matters

I learned rather young that size really matters. The top picture is a natural arch in the sandstone. If I didn't tell you how big it was, you might be impressed. But if I step back a few feet and take the picture over again, you can get an idea of its true size. If this arch were, say, ten feet across, it would be a local attraction. As it is, it is right next to a campground and probably hardly ever noticed. If the arch were 100 feet across, it would be a tourist attraction and shown on many maps. The largest natural stone arch in the world is said to be Rainbow Bridge at 234 feet (as measured by laser). If it were close to that size it would be world famous. Size does matter, in some things.

Faces in the rocks

I realize there is a psychological reason we see faces where none exist, but I am still fascinated by the way our minds can pick out animals and faces in the clouds and rocks. It may take you a minute to see the face, but it is there none-the-less. I guess if the rocks have faces, they probably have voices also. I haven't had enough outdoor time lately to hear any of the voices however. 

Avoiding a snare

We all make mistakes. Some are unavoidable. But some, like this very obvious spider web, are so obvious, it is hard to justify calling them mistakes. When we choose to do things that we know will be harmful, we are not taking a chance we are walking into a certainty. Why do we do this? Maybe we need to ask ourselves that question more often.

The Hazy Canyon

On most of my recent visits to the Grand Canyon the air quality has been bad to worse.  There are two major causes of this problem, controlled burn forest fires and coal burning generator plants up wind of the Canyon. On some days the haze is so thick, you will have difficulty seeing across the Canyon. Unfortunately, both these conditions exist during the heavy tourist season time in the summer. Not much can be done about forest fires. If the Forest Service did not conduct controlled burns, then we would have even more destructive uncontrolled burns.

But there is no reason, given our present technology, to put up with smoke pouring out of 300 foot smoke stacks. Personally, I am not against industrialization at all, but a 1000 acre solar facility does not pollute the sky over the Grand Canyon. In today's world, pollution is a choice not an inevitable consequence.

Into the depths

If you look carefully, you will see a tiny glimpse of the Colorado River at the bottom of the Canyon. For some reason, there are relatively few photos taken down into the Grand Canyon. Almost everyone familiar with the Canyon identifies with the iconic photo showing the flat horizon and the vast extent of the Canyon's crenelated side canyons. But this is the view you get as you walk into the Canyon, right near the top. As you descend the trail, soon the walls close in and your perspective changes and you are walking inside the Canyon and enter an entirely different world. Looking down from above, you cannot see the real Canyon of soaring stone walls and the huge fast running river. Most of the desert is a study in open spaces, The Canyon is a study in confinement and limits.

Looking forward to summer

We don't have distinct seasons here in the desert, just warm and hot. For example, deciduous trees begin to lose their leaves in November and don't finish until the new leaves come out beginning in January. Despite the lack of anything resembling seasons in a more temperate climate, there are subtle changes during the year. Even though the temperature doesn't drop that much, some of the plants go dormant. The big event of the year occurs in April, May and June when the local cactus begin to flower. This is a prickly pear flower, one of the most spectacular.

The long view

Sometimes we get so caught up in details we forget the long view. Only occasionally do we get a glimpse of the future but we can always step back and take a look at what we know and what we do in the context of the overall picture of our lives. I treasure the times I have begun to understand the longer view of life and how the puzzle of daily life fits perfectly into the pattern. That is probably why I keep coming back to the Grand Canyon. It is a perfect place to be reminded of the longer view of life. 

More Lithops

I like these little succulent lithops from Africa so much, I decided to put up another picture. They are also called living rocks for obvious reasons. They are small and have no spines or other protection, they rely entirely on being unobtrusive and blending into the background. Once a year, they come out of hiding and flower. They are are a pretty good model for life. 

A Prickly Perch

I would not advise standing on a cactus, especially a saguaro. Even if none of the spines managed to stick through your shoes, they have a tendency to work their way through the sole or leather or whatever eventually. I speak from experience. It is interesting to talk a walk in the desert with someone who did not grow up with cactus and the desert. They seem to pick up a lot more than those with experience. It is kind-of a reverse physical and direct spiritual experience. The less you know about the desert, the more cactus you tend to pick up. The more you know about the desert, the more beauty and enjoyment you get from walking.

A Natural Tunnel In the Rocks

The younger you are, the more impressive this rock formation appears. It has been there so long, that the sides of the tunnel are polished rock from the thousands of hands rubbing along the walls. Yes, it is just as impressive in person and yes, you can climb up on top if you have a mind to do so. It is located right in the middle of Phoenix, Arizona in South Mountain Park near the Fat Man's Pass. It is the entrance to Hidden Valley. There are a lot of places like this in Arizona.

Ghost Rocks

I just happened to catch this ghost rock unawares. If you look carefully at the space in the middle you can see the ghost just disappearing through the crack between the three large boulders. They are very difficult to photograph and you probably have never seen one before and it is unlikely that you will ever see a picture of one again. The rock on the right side of the picture is smiling at my attempt to capture the elusive ghost rock on film. You can just see its left eye staring at me as I take the picture.

What do you see?

The photograph is a window to the reality of an instant. When you look at a photograph of a window, you can wonder about the reality of view. This window is hopelessly impossible, like a Magritte painting, it is a study in surrealism. If I fail to explain the context, you cannot imagine how this window came to be. But this is a real window in a real place showing that life is always more surreal than imagination can ever be.

Lithops

Lithops are also called living rocks because they blend in so completely with the rocks and soil of their native Africa. They are not cactus, but are considered to be succulents and live in very arid regions. There are dozens of species and varieties and everyone loves them because they are so "cute." These little, almost invisible plants are one of the bonuses of going to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.

North Grove Loop, General Grant Grove, Sequoia National Park, California USA in California

The General Grant Grove is located near the border of Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia National Park. The Grove contains the General Grant Tree, one of the largest in the Park. The North Grove Loop Trail winds through a beautiful rocky setting for some grand sequoias. The rounded granite boulders are a contrast to the huge trunks of the giant trees. At the time of this panorama, the forest was exceptionally dry but even though there had been little rain, the small streams were still running from springs in the area. The panorama shows the variety of trees that grow, all of which are overshadowed by the giant sequoias. This is truly one of nature’s most spectacular areas and certainly worth the visit. The big trees grow only in certain areas and are separated by large stretches of heavy forest. The scarcity of the trees is not all natural since in the early years of California history, they were heavily logged.

Joshua Trees

Joshua Trees in Central Arizona, North of Wikenburg, Arizona USA in Arizona

The prominent large plants with many thick branches are Joshua trees or Yucca brevifolia. The plant is found in Arizona, California, Nevada and the extreme southwest corner of Utah in the vast Mojave Desert region. Depending on local conditions the plants can live for hundreds and even a thousand years. It is difficult to imagine that so many desert plants are so long-lived. The plants were named by the early Mormon settlers who reportedly likened the plant to the Prophet Joshua reaching his hands up to the sky in prayer.

The other prominent plants in the panorama consist mainly of creosote bushes and cholla cactus. This section of the Mojave Desert is location in northwest central Arizona just north of the town of Wickenburg. All plants are sensitive to elevation and thereby temperature changes and so as you drive through the desert and drive over the ridges the plant species change dramatically from one elevation to another.

Hoover Dam

Located just a short drive from Las Vegas, Nevada, Hoover Dam is one of the busiest attractions in the Southwest. Completed between 1931 and 1938, this concrete gravity-arch dam was one of the largest in the world at the time. It is 726.4 ft (221.4 m) high and 1,244 ft (379 m) in length. The roadways, parking structures and visitors' center give the whole area an unreal aspect. If I didn't know better, I might think this was a computer generated set for a movie. The Dam is famous for its part in the one of the latest Transformers movies. This panorama was taken looking upstream from the parking structure on the Nevada side. One interesting feature is that the state line between Arizona and Nevada runs down the approximate middle of the Dam, making a one hour time difference during Daylight Savings Time.

Bloom where you are planted

For almost all of my life we have had a plaque in our kitchen that says, "Bloom Where You Are Planted." I was reminded of that plaque when I saw these two plants. Both appear to be thriving in what is obviously a less than desirable environment. I have no idea where they get water or what they are growing on, but they are doing quite well, thank you. When you think of all the people in the world that believe that happiness comes from having something besides what they already have, you can guess how influential this motto has become in my life. Whatever happens, good or bad, I will continue to thrive, just like these unbelievable plants.

Winged Figures of the Republic

Oops, for those who read this earlier, here is the photo I left out.


That is what the statues are called. There are two of them and they are reportedly the largest bronze statues in the United States at the time they were cast. Quoting from the Bureau of Reclamation website and quoting the sculptor, Oskar J. W. Hansen from Norway,

The building of Hoover Dam belongs to the sagas of the daring. The winged bronzes which guard the flag, therefore, wear the look of eagles. To them also was given the vital upward thrust of an aspirational gesture; to symbolize the readiness for defense of our institutions and keeping of our spiritual eagles ever ready to be on the wing.

Concerning the statues:

The winged figures are 30 feet high. Their shells are 5/8-inch thick, and contain more than 4 tons of statuary bronze. The figures were formed from sand molds weighing 492 tons. The bronze that forms the shells was heated to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, and poured into the molds in one continuous, molten stream.

The figures rest on a base of black diorite, an igneous rock. In order to place the blocks without marring their highly polished finish, they were centered on blocks of ice, and guided precisely into place as the ice melted. After the blocks were in place, the flagpole was dropped through a hole in the center block into a predrilled hole in the mountain.

When I visit the dam, the sculptures are overpowered by the immensity of the engineering work at the dam. The huge canyon, the huge electrical transmission towers, the huge dam itself, all tend to make the huge sculptures rather insignificant in comparison. 

Utah and Arizona State Seals

While I was walking around on the top of the Hoover Dam, I found these very lovely bronze state seals for Arizona and Utah. The seals are embedded in a decorative cement base for two huge statues on the Nevada side of the dam. I will get to the statues later in another post. I decided to show these two seals because of my earlier post about the Utah beehive and seal. Arizona's seal has the motto "Ditat Deus" which is supposed to be Latin for "God Provides." Google Translate renders the saying as "God Enriches."

The images look skewed because if I took the picture directly above the seal, I would have cast a shadow, so we have to live with the skewed images.

Bridge over the Colorado

This is a 180 degree panorama of the view from the top of the Hoover Dam down river towards the Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge. Formerly, all of the traffic between Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada traveled over a narrow road on top of the dam after winding down a narrow canyon. This dramatic bridge over a 1000 feet above the river is an engineering masterpiece and a huge tourist attraction in addition to cutting almost 45 minutes off of the trip from Phoenix to Las Vegas. We have stopped to take pictures from the bridge before but this was my first opportunity to show the bridge from the dam. As usual, you need to click on the photo to actually see the detail.

Full Halo Around the Sun

This is not the first time I have seen a full halo around the sun, but it is the first time I was standing there with a good camera. This is usually a winter phenomena because it is caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. Usually, the halo is much smaller. Halos around the moon are also common. This picture was taken on the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge across the Colorado River just south of Hoover Dam at about 1:00 pm.

The most valuable artifact

This is a replica of the original Sunstone from the original Nauvoo Temple built in Nauvoo, Illinois in the 1940s. The reason I say original Temple is because the original was destroyed and a replica finished in 2002. There are only two remaining original Sunstones. In 1989 the Smithsonian Institution purchased one of the two remaining stones from Historical Society of Quincy and Adams Counties in Illinois and had been displayed on the grounds of the Woods mansion in Quincy for the preceding 75 years. A news account of the day said,

In one of the most expensive purchases ever by the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of American History, it has bought a "sunstone" from the Mormon pioneer's abandoned and destroyed temple in Nauvoo, Ill.

The 2 1/2-ton stone, with a carved radiant face emerging between cloud banks beneath a pair of handheld trumpets, began display this week just a few feet to the side of the original Star Spangled Banner at the museum's main entrance."Except for the Star Spangled Banner, you couldn't ask for a more central location," said Richard Ahlborn, curator in the museum's division of community life.

 See "Nauvoo Sunstone at the Smithsonian" By Lee Davidson, Washington Bureau Chief, Printed in the Deseret News, Published: Tuesday, Nov. 28, 1989 12:00 a.m. MST

The Beehive State

Utah has been known as the beehive state ever since I was born. When I was growing up, the neighbors had beehives but the hives were kept in white boxes, not rounded and not woven. This is the first and only beehive I have seen in the design used by Utah almost everywhere. Here is a stained glass window with the same design. Sometimes we have to look to history to understand the present. In fact, without history, we can never understand the present.

Reality or a Dream?

We get so wrapped up in hyper-realism that we may have lost our ability to dream. What is a dream? A vision of what can or could be? Or merely an excuse for ignoring reality? Of is it a refuge from reality? As Hamlet is quoted by Shakespeare,

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub