layers

12 May 2014.   The calendar on the wall displays a photograph of lush, green lady ferns beside a stream in Banning State Park, Minnesota.  But here on the mesa, there is snow on the windows and the sky is bleak.  Snow in May is not without precedent.  Friends of ours from Colorado claim that the most terrifying drive of their 70+ years was when they left our house some years ago, again in May, making their way over U. S. Highway 64 from Tres Piedras to Tierra Amarilla.  The road is narrow, and drop offs occasionally are not for the faint of heart.  In blinding snow, hold on for dear life.  As they did.  The good news about snow in May and fire season, is that moisture of any kind is welcome, and the high winds have diminished, even if temporarily.

Given that backdrop, I turn to photographs in bright sunshine - layers of earth.  Not being a geologist, I cannot tell you the depths nor the ages of the layers, but instead use the photographs as a demonstration of visual beauty and interest.

The first is of a series of dunes at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Reserve in southern Colorado.  The light and dunes constantly change, providing endless photographic possibilities.  I love the way clouds alter the look of the dunes.

Echo Amphitheatre near Abiquiu has distinct geological layers that are stunning in color and shape.

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument contains passageways through the layers of sandstone, waiting to be discovered.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

"Because it is clean"

After searching the 2002 edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations as well as the internet at length for the specific quote of T. E. Lawrence about loving the desert "because it is clean",  I am still unsure as to whether the quote was from Lawrence himself or a screenwriter's dream.  Regardless of the source, the phrase is epic, one that addresses both the human fascination with and repulsion of the desert.

We have what many from damp climates might consider a desert just north of us in Colorado, Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.  I have blogged about this place before because it is mesmerizing, as all deserts and dunes can be.  The dune stacked in the background with scrub in the foreground, has an otherworldly, fantasy quality about it.

Below is a detail of one of the "holes" in the dunes, created and ever changing with the capricious spring winds.

This is the perfect time to explore the dunes, while the temperatures are moderate and Medano Creek may be running courtesy of snow melt.  For the full effect, double click on the images.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

nature's backbone

It is more often referred to as the life blood of the earth, but water takes myriad shapes, sizes and forms.  The intermittent, seasonal stream known as Medano Creek that runs through Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern Colorado definitely has its time and shape, depending on runoff.  The warm, summer day on which I made these images, demonstrated how water can literally and figuratively be a backbone.

Already, ice is changing form and becoming water, which will flow, as is its nature.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image