Almost Abstract

I like to see the forms and contrasts in nature. Sometimes these forms become almost abstract when then lose their larger context. This photo is almost black and white, in fact, I considered showing it in black and white, but decided I liked the tiny color accent from the branch in the left hand corner.

Late Spring Iris

It is almost summer here in Utah Valley. The last Spring flowers to bloom in profusion are the iris. We have a number of different varieties in our front yard. We had iris at our older home in Mesa, Arizona, but after we moved about 12 years ago, we did not have any. Now, here in Utah we are planting iris and other flowers again.

The Mayflower II

I have tens of thousands of photos in my archive and I have been backing them up onto new hard drives recently. In looking back, I found this photo of the Mayflower II in the Plymouth, Massachusetts harbor. Three of my remote ancestors came to America on the original Mayflower back in 1620.

Spring Flowers in the Desert

The desert is full of contradictions. It is supposed to be dry and desolate, but it is often beautifully green and covered with flowers. We have been walking in the hills next to our home and looking at the beautiful wildflowers. Spring is nice but the other seasons are also.

Driftwood on the Beach

Most of the beaches I visit are devoid of driftwood. This Canadian beach is on the Juan de Fuca Strait. It is bordered by heavily forested islands and the mainland. There are big storms that push huge logs up onto this narrow stretch of rocky beach. It is a beautiful place but not at all inviting for swimming or water sports. The wind was blowing very hard right into the camera.

Moss Covered Branches

We always seem to be attracted to excess. We love the richest, the fastest, the biggest of everything. I guess I am not different. But I see images within the images. Excess only leads to more excess. But here I see animals and faces in the shapes. I never tire of the excesses of nature, but I am often saddened by the excesses of men.

Falling Water

Waterfalls have an almost universal attraction. This waterfall is on the Englishman River on Vancouver Island, B.C. The water falls into a narrow canyon about ten feet wide and is very spectacular. Of course the fact that there is enough water to make a waterfall is a novelty to someone who spent most of their life in the dry desert. Arizona has some spectacular waterfalls but nothing like this with and abundance of water.

Land of the Earth and Sky

Exploring the box canyons and cliffs of Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah opens up a wonderland of formations. We try and figure out how the erosion of wind and water could create such a variety of colors and forms.

Kodachrome Landscape

There is a surreal quality to the rock formations in Kodachrome Basin State Park in Southern Utah. The pipes, as they are called, are the attraction and draw attention to themselves inordinately. But the rest of the sandstone outcrops and cliffs are also spectacular. We had a beautiful, but windy, day to hike around the hills and washes of this mainly desert region. I took some of the shots over and over because of the changing light conditions from the very fast moving clouds.

Grosvenor Arch

I realize that this is yet another view of this arch recently. But we just got back from another trip there. About eleven miles down the Cottonwood Canyon Road south of Cannonville, Utah is one of the most spectacular natural stone arches in the State of Utah. Situated in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, it is called Grosvenor Arch, after Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor (1875-1966) President of the National Geographic Society and editor of the National Geographic Society Magazine. The dirt road to the arch is not for low clearance vehicles or the faint of heart. We have seen people turn around and go back when faced with the ruts, the mud, sand and rocks of the road.

Rain Forest Canyon

The world is full of extremely rugged country. Most of the photos you see are of country that is tame and insipid. These views give you impression that life and the world are simple and uncomplicated. Just the opposite is the case. The world is full of cliffs and deep water. One of the worthwhile challenges in life is learning how to both survive and appreciate the process of survival.

Yellow and Red Tulips

I have really been enjoying the progression of Spring flowers here along the Wasatch Front. In the low deserts of Arizona, flowers bloom all year long and the usual, cultivated varieties begin blooming in January and February. Tulips are very rare because of the heat. The contrast here in the mountains is that the cooler temperatures are practically perfect for most of the cultivated varieties. I still miss the cactus flowers and probably always will, but I am happy to see the tulips and iris blooming.

Vancouver island Sunset

This particular image coveys a sense of serenity and peace at the end of the day. Appearances can be misleading. In fact, a few yards across this bay, there was a large colony of very vocal sea lions and the noise level was almost deafening. They barked all day and all night. Being from the city, it didn't take us very long to ignore the sound but this photo does bring back the memory of the sea lion colony.

Vancouver Island Coastline

I haven't decided between mountains and the ocean, I guess there are places with both. Either the ocean or the mountains are very different that the desert I have lived in most of my life. I guess I like all the places. Right now, I live next to a high mountain at the mouth of a rocky canyon, but I can see living by the ocean also. But to get this view, I would have to move even further north and that will probably not happen.

Rainforest Flowers

These delicate flowers looked like the were dancing above the green of rainforest floor. It is hard to tell which of the green plants are the ones sending up these exquisite flowers. If you look carefully at everything around you, you will find the the world is unlimited in its beauty.

Clouds over Toroweap

The contrast between the dramatic clouds and the deep canyon is striking. This is the Toroweap Overlook, where you can see straight down 3000 feet to the Colorado River. It is a remote section of the Grand Canyon National Park that is not suffering from too many tourists. There are still places where you can go and be alone or nearly alone.

Fog on the Lake

If you spend a lot of time out in the forest and deserts of the world, you will see some unusual things. This was one of the more unusual things. This fog or cloud was right on the surface of the water. The low angle of the sun made long dark lines through the fog and if looked like other parts of the image were floating in the air.

Uinta Mountain lake

The Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah rise well above the tree line and appear rocky and barren. But down in the lower valleys they are heavily forested with many small lovely lakes. Summer is a beautiful time of year to visit, if you can avoid the mosquitos. Unfortunately, like many parts of the country, an extended drought has killed many trees through bark beetle infestations. But it is still an amazingly beautiful place to visit.

Colorado Plateau

The Colorado Plateau is a strange mixture of sand, stone and sky. This image is actually taken inside of the Grand Canyon. the high cliffs you can see in the distance are like a huge staircase beginning at the Colorado River at extending upward in giant leaps to over 8000 feet in some places. This photo was taken just a few yards from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon gorge.

The Arches of Southern Utah

There are only certain types of rocks that have the characteristics to create rock arches. Parts of Southern Utah have these formations in abundance. You might get the idea that Arches National Park had some sort-of monopoly on arches, but they can be found on many back roads all over the Colorado Plateau and in adjacent areas also. Not all are as spectacular as the Grosvenor Arch located near the Arizona/Utah border, but they can be seen and found in many unexpected locations. Let's just say that you need a high-clearance vehicle and four-wheel drive would be nice to find them. You might also have to hike a few miles. That is not the case with this arch, it is right on a very rough, easily accessible road, unless it is raining, like it was the day this photo was taken.

Late Evening at the Grand Canyon

As evening falls over the Grand Canyon, the light turns the entire canyon into lovely pastels of lavender and dark blue with rose colored highlights. The plateau that forms the Rim of the Canyon is almost flat and the light conditions are easily affected by the amount of cloud cover and the way the clouds reflect the light from the setting sun. Whenever I am visiting the Canyon, I try to see both the sunrise and the sunset. It makes for wonderfully long days of watching the light change every few minutes.

The North Rim

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is less accessible and has far fewer visitors than the South Rim. It is also a thousand feet higher in altitude and the views of the Canyon are separated by dirt roads and require a lot more effort to find and view. Many of the parking areas end a distance from the Rim and require moderate to long hikes to reach the vantage points. But, it is all worth the effort and the bonus is you are often the only person visiting the overlook.

Stone People

The stories of the Superstition Mountains in Arizona are so bizarre and strange that you don't know what to believe and what is really superstition. One story says that the local Indians believed that these rock formations were stone people. I haven't been able to substantiate that story. But the rock formations are impressive and the country is very rugged.

Temperate Rainforest

A temperate rainforest is a coniferous or broadleaf forest that is located in a temperate zone and receives a large amount of rain. Vancouver Island is part of the Pacific temperate rainforests ecoregion and in some places receives up to 10 feet of rain a year. This compares to the average of around 10 inches or less a year in the Southwest deserts of the United States. The average rainfall here in Provo, Utah is about double the desert with about 20 inches of rain.

The Victoria, B.C. Harbor

A few years ago, I took one of my favorite photos of the Victoria, B.C. harbor in the rain. This was a sunny, but windy day, and I took a more expansive photo from a different perspective. Vancouver Island is turning out to be one of my favorite places. We were interested to see people buying palm trees and banana trees at a local Costco store, so we assume that either the weather is mild enough for these plants or a lot of them are grown indoors. It is an interesting place and very beautiful.

The Amphitheater at Bryce Canyon

I decided it was time to return to the desert and the canyon country for a while. Utah has five National Parks and has been promoting them as tourist destinations for some time now. The state's campaign has been overwhelmingly successful in drawing huge crowds to these five parks. We have found that the visiter experience has been seriously degraded as a result of huge crowds and we are probably going to avoid some of the parks in the future during some times of the year. The interesting thing is that all you have to do is move a short distance off of the "beaten path" to find all the beauty and solitude you might desire. Bryce is a good example of a park that looks like rush hour on the freeway at some times and can be almost entirely empty at other times. However, some of the parks, like Zion and Arches are almost lost causes. But, there are so many other beautiful places to go, we will never run out of opportunities to visit them.

Seattle Harbor at Night

This image is another of that class of images that verge on the abstract. As I look at the image, I can clearly see my post-production efforts but that is effect I was striving for. I think this image would make a really interesting jigsaw puzzle.

A Plethora of Tulips

If one is pretty, then thousands must be thousands of times prettier? Well, no. Fields of flowers have their appeal, but I am more inclined to appreciate one tulip than a whole field of tulips. Masses of colorful flowers are a great attraction but at the same time they detract from the pleasure of just a single blossom. I do love flowers, but I love them more individually than in clusters.

Reflections in Seattle

From time to time, I see the abstract in what is around me. If you recognize this building as the EMP Museum in Seattle, you would be correct. But this view resolves itself into an abstraction absent a point-of-reference perspective.