Through My Desert Lens
Photography has been an enjoyable hobby of mine since I was a teenager. For me, it has always been a way of sharpening my focus on the world around me - on the things that stir my soul.
There’s something about composing a photograph through the lens of a camera that allows me to focus not only on what I see through the viewfinder, but also on the elements of what I’m experiencing. While I’ve captured a few images that come close to conveying an entire experience, most of my photographs are really just approximations of reality. And that’s okay. As long as I’ve given each photograph my best effort, I leave with something far more important: a trigger for a memory of a moment that happened only once.
No matter how many times I return to the same places, viewpoints, or overlooks, each experience is completely unique. Some are better than others, but all are worth remembering.
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| A foggy morning at Bryce Canyon National Park |
This photograph, for example, was taken on a rainy morning while camping in Bryce Canyon National Park. After breakfast under a tarp with Rhonda, we noticed that the rain was beginning to subside. The thick fog we had awakened to was starting to lift, revealing the saturated colors of the red rock that Bryce Canyon is known for. We grabbed our cameras and headed for the nearest overlook to capture the storm breaking up.
Technically, this photograph falls squarely into my satisfactory category. The lifting fog is interesting, but the image itself rates little more than a strong “OK” in my book.
What I see in this photograph now, however, goes far beyond the image itself.
I remember inhaling the very rare smell of dampness in the desert - the aroma of wet rocks, pine trees, and earth that seems to come alive when bathed in water. I can still feel the cool morning air and mist on my face, and hear the echoes of ravens calling from the canyons below. And in the quietest moments, the sound of desert rain is one of the greatest gifts.
The desert seemed to be coming alive, revealing a side of itself that normally remained hidden. Combined with the lifting fog, the experience awakened my senses and wrapped me in an intense feeling that something magical was about to be revealed. The fog also transformed a normally grand landscape into something much more intimate and immediate. In a strange way, it echoed the feelings I had many years ago on my first visit to the desert Southwest - the sense of being separated from the rest of the world and the feeling that every day ahead was the beginning of a new desert inspired journey, filled with unknown possibilities, perspectives and discoveries.
I certainly haven’t been disappointed in that regard.
That, perhaps, is what photography has given me after all these years. It provides clarity of both vision and thought. Through my desert lens, I focus on both.
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