A Photographer's Love Letter: The American Southwest

Death Valley National Park

Romancing The American Southwest: A Photographers Love Letter

This mysterious land of enchantment—the American Southwest—is a siren song seducing many an explorer, writer, poet, artist and even those seeking healing of the metaphysical kind. It’s an indescribable allure that promises those of a curious nature to provide endless fascination. For those suffering the ills of industrialized urbanization, the open road and vast empty spaces have long inspired romantic notions, uplifted spirits, encouraged self-discovery and delivered an unabashed sense of freedom. You’re entering a realm imbued with a magical charm and a tangible presence of ancient people.

Rain

Sedona, Arizona 

“It’s not that we have to quit this life one day, but it’s how 
many things we have to quit all at once: 
music, laughter,
the physics of falling leaves, 
automobiles, holding hands,
the scent of rain, the concept 
of subway trains... if only one could leave this life slowly!” 

― Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy

Sonoran Summers

    ...are long and hot. Long hikes are out. Sonoran Summers lead one to photograph the ground or venture on

urban treks under a sunless sky. 

Verdant Dreams-The Canon 5D Mark IV

The verdant summer greens of the Arizona high desert.  Here in Oak Creek in between the Summer monsoon

rains. A little play, a little work and a lot of peace and quiet. 

Canon 5D Mark IV

Death Valley National Park 

2017- We Rise Up

Sunrise in the Sonoran desert 

I am a lover of words. Poignant and powerful markers of character and intent.  Nothing is as satisfying as succinctly expressing  what moves the heart, what captivates our intellect and defines our curiosities. Yet, so much of 2016 has left me without them, speechless and muted.   I would love to read the words of  Steinbeck, Abbey or Whitman had they encountered  our country's current state of "transition".  

I was deeply moved by Michelle Obama's speech in New Hampshire earlier this year and I can't forget her words. Not words of a politician, not words of a democrat, not words of a woman of color, just words, woman to woman. Words that resonated and awakened. 

Good Night Moon

Death Valley National Park

Canyon de Chelly

  My latest article: Romancing The American Southwest 

is currently featured on The Luminous Landscape 

This article is also published in the current issue of  On Landscape Magazine 

Me

I had a couple of hours to come up with a bio and photo of myself for a photography project I was working on.  Had to be "polished and graphic" for publication purposes. To be truthful, I knew I had to do it but procrastinated hugely as I'm not much into taking my own photo.  I was actually on my way out to hike with my dog and had to turn around when I got an email  to  get it done today.

I completed the task at hand, sent off my bio and photo. My favorite of the self-portraits is this one. To those who have said, 

"Step out from behind that camera!" 

 I say this:  As in life, I've given the camera ( my photography) the spotlight.  

My work says so much more about me than a bio shot ever could.  As in the photo, I see myself as simply the girl behind it all.  I'm not hiding, just content to be quiet, understated, introspective and observing, 

With one eye, I see the world as it is and with the other, I see the world behind the lens. There are two very different worlds I live in.

 The beautiful amber light from the late afternoon sun brings forth the element I cherish and seek to capture, the warm glow of natural light. 

Perfect side light now seen falling on auburn hair, a gift from my mother.  

“She was a beautiful dreamer. The kind of girl, who kept her head in the clouds, loved above the stars and left regret beneath the earth she walked on.” 

― Robert M. Drake

Eastern Sierra Nevada- 2016

The Eastern Sierra Nevada, 2016 

Convict Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Falling Forward

California Color

Where did the time go?
 2016 has seemingly slipped out of my control and threatens to come to an end soon. Seems like a blur and in reality, so much of this year was spent dealing with the fallout of the previous year,     

Bishop, California

Fall in the Eastern Sierra Nevada 

Death Valley National Park

The Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Southwestern Monsoon

"When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about." -- H. Murakami

The Southwest Monsoon

Fossil Creek, Strawberry, Arizona

Hiking Fossil Creek, Strawberry, Arizona

Camping at Coal Mine Canyon on the Navajo Reservation.  

"You're the fear, I don't care

Cause I've never been so high
Follow me to the dark
Let me take you past our satellites
You can see the world you brought to life...to life"

E. Goulding

This beautiful black and white image is featured in 
Outdoor Photographer Magazine's famed 
Black & White issue (2014) 
in a tribute to Yosemite National Park. 

PURCHASE PRINT

    Girls be chillin

"It’s in our nature to want to watch our human frailties played out on a huge, epic canvas. Ancient societies had anthropomorphic gods: a huge pantheon expanding into centuries of dynastic drama: fathers and sons, star-crossed lovers, warring brothers, martyred heroes. Tales that taught us the danger of hubris and the primacy of humility. It’s the everyday stuff of everyman’s life, but it’s writ large, and we love it." 

T.Hiddleston

The Grand One

New Watercolor

"Red Cliff Reverie" by Valerie Millett

20x30" Original Watercolor on Arches CP

Canyon de Chelly

Canyon de Chelly

"As it started to snow, some 300 men, women, and children, perhaps tipped off by a sentry that an army was on its way, ascended to the top and pulled up the ladders. Hoping the evil might pass beneath them, they planned to hunker down and dwell in silence for months.Then one day, as the bleak winter sun slipped behind the canyon walls, a column of American soldiers came marching into the canyon, laying waste to fields and chiseling their Kilroys into the sandstone. Some of their inscriptions are still visible today.  Somehow detecting the Navajo sequestered on top, the Americans camped near the base of Fortress Rock, beside a stream called Tsaile Creek, and attempted to starve them into final submission.

Palatki

 Palatki Ruins, Northern Arizona

Giclee Printing

"Beaded" Giclee Print on Fine Art Paper

 Giclee - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt".

 The term"Giclee print" connotes an elevation in printmaking technology. Images are generated from high resolution digital scans and printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The Giclee printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction.

Printed on acid free, 100% cotton rag, Sommerset Velvet paper for the look and feel of the original watercolor.

Canyon De Chelly

 The Color Of The Canyons

Autumn In Arizona--2015
Upper Desert

Yosemite National Park

Autumn 2015 
Lower desert 

Road Trippin'

I consider myself fortunate to be centrally located and surrounded by hundreds of miles of dynamic geologic land forms, where new discoveries are a mere road trip away.  Each adventure becomes a muse and a catalyst for my next set of photographic expressions, prose and cherished memories.   
The photography serves as the documentation while the writing helps to define and express the emotive. Each road trip becomes a complete love affair. Affair being an apt word as the landscape and nature of a road trip opens up the freedom to dip your toes in then leave.

Local Color

Arizona Autumn 2015

Falling For The Desert Color

“Or maybe spring is the season of love and fall the season of mad lust.
 Spring for flirting but fall for the untamed delicious wild thing.” 

― Elizabeth Cohen

“Her pleasure in the walk must arise from the exercise and the day, from the view of the last smiles of the year upon the tawny leaves and withered hedges, and from repeating to herself some few of the thousand poetical descriptions extant of autumn--that season of peculiar and inexhaustible influence on the mind of taste and tenderness--that season which has drawn from every poet worthy of being read some attempt at description, or some lines of feeling.” 
― Jane Austen

“Every now and then one paints a picture that seems to have opened a door and serves as a stepping stone to other things.” 

― Pablo Picasso

Before I was a photographer, I was a painter. Photography changed everything. The joy I felt within the creative processes of planning and executing a painting, I've also found in photography. I still compose my images as though they were to be painted.

I still find that beautiful, creative satisfaction as I explore in and out of my own photographic comfort zones. I love experimenting with different genres and with light, color, lenses and post process. Anything that brings me closer to communicating the mood of a landscape. I want to always be excited and motivated to experiment in finding that connection.