CUCHARA ART SHOW 2024
Texline Homestead: Travelling the backroads of Texas and Colorado, you see many old homes, long abandoned and slowly sinking into the land from which it was raised. This lonely old homestead stands just outside of the town of Texline. When I saw the light striking the dry grass, the house seemed more vision than reality, a dream or a vision. As I walked away it felt that if I were to look back the house would have disappeared.
Snaky Dune: The Great Sand Dunes National Park is a land of amazing beauty. Almost every direction you look offers up a lovely scene. I was leading a student on a trip to the dunes when we came upon this serpentine form late in the afternoon. The winds were whipping up sand all along the dune crest and catching the light when we framed up this shot of Mt. Herard in the Sangre de Christo range.
Fiordland Cloudfall: New Zealand is famous for its amazing scenery and also for its lack of roads and tracks in much of the country. Which is why it also famous for helicopters. On this helicopter excursion into the fiordlands along the western edge of the south island, we caught the marine fog being blown in against the mountains, creating a cloud-fall over the ridge just as the sun was setting between the overcast sky and the distant horizon.
Fern Chasm: On a trip on the south island of New Zealand, we passed by a small opening in the mountainside with a crystal clear stream pouring out. We swerved to the shoulder and grabbed out cameras. Wading him-deep in the cold water, we came upon a scene of unimaginable beauty: ferns and sun and a misty waterfall that took our breath away. I couldn't feel my feet in the cold water but I could feel my heart pounding in my chest to see such a wonderful scene hidden away deep in the mountainside.
Zion Tree: After a long walk in the pre-dawn hours in Zion National Park, I came upon this tree perched on a small and interesting rock outcropping. There was, however, a very unattractive, chaotic bush right in front of it. I had to wade chest deep into the thorns to frame up an image worthy of the subject. Sturdy boots, pants, and jacket saved the day!
Alta Lakes Stumps: A trio of tree stumps along the shore of Alta Lakes glow in the afternoon sun. I captured this image after eating my lunch in the shade of the pines just up the shore. I was looking at these tree stumps thinking, "surely there's an image to be made." In the breezy conditions, I had to use a neutral density filter (a very dark piece of glass over the lens) to slow down my shutter speed to 30 seconds. This long exposure smooths the wavelets on the water surface and gives the ghostly feel to the image.