Nature Photo Journal #14

I’m smitten with Red Rock Country. I was neither born there nor have I ever lived on the Colorado Plateau. But the moment I step onto a sandstone feature, sink my fingers into the chromatic earth, or stare our at the wide horizon, I feel at home. My pulse slows and my shoulders relax as I sink into the landscape. Possibly it’s the inviting vastness or the diversity of shape and texture that reminds me that we are mere humans walking on a massive planet through a time that is only a brief breath in geologic chronology. I imagine that stirs distress in many; for me it cools my mind and frees my soul.

One can wander day after day, exploring the expanse or getting down on hands and knees to examine some magical detail …

Or get lost in the rich, saturated color. Maybe it’s that orange and blue out there, nature’s magical trick of complementary colors, that invites such balance …

Eventually dusk comes. Light shifts from bold, to subtle, to almost dull. Earth’s features become silhouettes of the complex forms they once were. And we are left craving the coming day, or longing for the next trip …