Autumn's Grand Tapestry

Sonoran Shade

Desert Oasis

Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. 

This is another paradox: what is soft is strong_Lao-Tzu

Desert Landscapes Rock

“A plant needs to do more than stretch its leaves toward the sun. 
It also needs to send down roots deep into the ground. 
They hold on tightly in the dark,
 out of sight where it is easy to forget about them. 

But it is the fact that a plant can do these two things at once, 
anchoring itself to the earth even as it reaches for the sky, that makes it strong.” 
― Cameron Dokey

Sunrise on the desert landscapes at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum 
This place could easily be addicting! 

Horton Creek Trail

Payson, Arizona

One of my most favorite hikes, especially in the Spring. Head out on the trail early and you wont see another hiker for hours. I like to start on the trail at sunrise and have these amazing pools and run-offs all to myself. 

Bonsai Rock - Outdoor Photographer - Beth Young

Photo by Beth Young

Photographing Lake Tahoe's Bonsai Rock - Outdoor Photographer: 

Bonsai Rock is an iconic feature of Lake Tahoe, a 191-square-mile lake surrounded by a mixed conifer forest and breathtaking views of the Sierra Nevada.

California Dreamin

Newport Beach Pier

Oak Creek

Ive only had the Mark IV for a few weeks now but the moment I pulled the trigger and previewed my first playback image, I could immediately see a difference. 

Native Smile

 Seen in Arizona Highways Calendars 

Aravaipa Wilderness Canyon

Aravaipa Wilderness Canyon- Fall 2017

These Dark Days Of Autumn Rain

The West Fork Trail-October 2017

Fall in the Eastern Sierra Nevada 

Eastern Sierra Nevada- 2016

Falling Forward

California Color

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

Coal Mine Canyon

Camping at Coal Mine Canyon on the Navajo Reservation.  

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.

Beyond A Shadow :

Two days a year in the enchanting landscapes of Monument Valley a mysterious event occurs. The Mittens,  designated as the East and the West are two free-standing sandstone buttes , two classic iconic symbols of Monument Valley. In March and September, the West Mitten's shadow will land on the East Mitten in a perfect reversed image. A photographers dream. When all the elements play well together, the sunset, clouds and a little magic, something truly spectacular occurs.

Drifting Away

Watercolor by Valerie Millett

I brought her good news and her face lit up. Her soft blue eyes, slightly closed by the huge grin on her weathered and tired face beamed with measurable warmth.  To see her smile, I felt a sense of relief. This exact moment in time everything was good in her world made that everything good in my world.  She was leaving. She steadied herself, legs unsure for a moment and reached out to hug me.  It felt good to hug her.  She held on longer and paused to kiss my cheek.  She held my face in her hands and lovingly looked into my eyes and told me she loved me. I told her, I love you, back.  As she left, she turned around and waved and looked at me as though she'd loved me an eternity. She left me, in tears.

Making Peace With The Canyon

My first and only encounter with the Grand Canyon was when I was a child. My constant companion was a stuffed rabbit and I can recall to this day the pink velvet pants he wore and the curve of his sweet face, his black loving eyes. He was my safe place to land during a childhood that was at time often fraught with unimaginable darkness. 

It was on a family trip where he was snatched out of my hands and held over the railing and dropped. Every ounce of security I had in the world plummeted into an abyss in front of my eyes. I didn't know, I didn't know a lot of things, I was a child. He had really just landed on a ledge that I couldn't see as I lay on the ground in a heap of grief and despair. Onlookers witnessing my public humiliation.  These were the stories that populated my youth and these were the stories one never shared in school. 

So with great anticipation and some intrepidation, I returned to the canyon after all those years as an adult.  I wondered if I would remember the exact railing of a scene so long ago. Turns out, I did. 

A bittersweet journey into the past. A more loving memory: My mother had bought a small box of polished rocks and crystals when I was there and I cherished them for lifetime.  I still have them.  As a young girl,  I used to lay them out on my bed and study them. I was fascinated by them and I attribute them to that spark, that first realization that an immense natural world of beauty and wonder existed for me to explore. Little did I know at the time, how that wonderful natural world would come to mean so much to me and in reality guide so much of my life. Save my life in so many ways.