Desert and Rock

Flowering Yucca, Valley of the Gods
Two flowering yucca bask in the sunruise light in Valley of the Gods near Mexican Hat, Utah.
Hope Arch
This arch is located near the heart of Navajo Nation, on the Arizona side,
White Ghost
The famous white ghosts of Wahweap.
Monsoon Rainbow, Cerrillos Hills
e were returning to Santa Fe from Albuquerque one August late afternoon when we crested La Bajada Hill to see the remnants of a monsoon thunderstorm over the Cerrillos Hill, with the sun filtering through the last of the rain to illuminate a rainbow. I quickly pulled over near the rest stop on top of La Bajada Hill and composed this image. New Mexico, like so many western states, is a land of big skies, which I hoped to convey with this composition: a high desert plain of cholla cactus and the not insubstantial Cerrillos Hills dwarfed by the thunderstorm cloud and the rainbow.
Sunbeams, Death Valley
In the late afternoon, sunbeams illuminate dust in Cottonball Basin at Death Valley National Park
Rainbow, Zabrisky Point
A rare sunrise rainstorm at Death Valley National Park reveals a rainbow above Zabrisky Point.
Desert Tundra
Tundra-like grasses fill the bottom of a dry lake bed in central Arizona. On the way to the Overland Expo, I fell in love with the red and green round shapes and colors and asked my friend Adam Schallau to pull over. We shot around the area for at least 30-minutes, until we found this nice area of boulders above the lake bed. Thanks Sally Stacks Smithies for your patience! Shocking that such a cold-feeling, nearly arctic like place can be found in the desert southwest!
"Reflecting Pool"
My good friend Adam led me to the reflecting pools above Red Rock Crossing so I could attempt to get a classic view of the iconic Cathedral Rocks above Sedona. After a day of rain, there were numerous pools. Unfortunately, we never really got much of a sunset. But I waited till after sunset to make this image of a pretty scene.
Sunset, Delicate Arch
Sunset at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park
The rising sun lights red rock cliffs ablaze underneath the watchful eye of Henry Mountains near Hite, Utah. After a blissful night of camping in our own private campground next to White Canyon, my friends Adam Schallau, Sally Sally Stacks Smithies, and I raced to find a sunrise location where we could see the fresh snow on the Henry Mountains contrasted with the red rock cliffs below. With slightly different visions, we ended up about a quarter mile apart at sunrise, but we were all treated to a fabulous light show that none of us will soon forget.
"Totems' Shadow"
As a storm clears out, an eerie shadow shrouds Monument Valley's Totem Poles in mystery. Image made last Sunday afternoon about this very time. For the first time I can recall, I had a corrupted memory card and feared I lost all the images I took from Monument Valley. But with a little persistence and help from my friend Adam Schallau, I was able to recover this image, as well as my other images, from Monument Valley.
"The Mittens, Monument Valley"
Just a pleasant, late afternoon at the Mittens overlook in Monument Valley.
Heart of the Matter
In the painted hills of O'Keeffe Country, a red heart presides over a small wash. I find that the grey bones and red flesh of the desert reveal themselves best under the soft light of twilight. This place is hidden in plain sight. I've thought long and hard about how to make an image here, but I've never visualized an image worth making until this weekend. Sometimes in photography it takes a long time until something finally clicks in your mind's eye.
Metamorphosis
In the blue hour at Ah-shi-sle-pah Wilderness Study Area, a petrified stump below hoodoos provides clues to a lost world. This fragile place on BLM land is within the proposed 10-mile buffer zone surrounding Chaco Canyon National Historic Park.
"Night Pillar"
Petrification
Somewhere deep in the San Juan Basin, a tree stump from a lost world lives on in stone. I spent a long afternoon sitting next to this stump, in deep contemplation of its mysteries written in stone. What once lived and died some 75-million years ago was reborn through petrification. Yet, even things written in stone are not forever.