Eight Years And Counting
I got my first real camera in high school and took photos for many years. After taking a break during my early work career, I re-engaged with photography more than twenty years ago. I created my photography website and this monthly Photo Blog eight years ago in December 2013 and I've published an image and story at least once each month since then, and sometimes more. This is the 118th blog post I've created and I enjoy it even more now, than when I started.
If you have been doing something for this long, it would make sense to ask yourself why you do it. And so this is why I photograph the landscape...
I have had a passion for the outdoors my entire life. I feel different when I am outside… surrounded by trees, water, and rocks… or standing alone in a high mountain meadow… or enjoying the solitude of the desert. The act of photographing… looking closely and "seeing"… deepens my experience and my interaction with the landscape. Taking a camera into the landscape allows me to experience it more fully, which in turn, allows me to create better images. The experience and the images are forever linked.
I share my images with friends and family to perhaps influence them to spend more time in the landscape and to slow down, explore, and look closely. It is critical that we preserve as much of our wild spaces as we can - whether in national parks or nearby places.
As Edward Abbey said... “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.”
The image above is the last one that I'll send out from my Capitol Reef trip in October... time to move on! But it really was an incredible trip, a beautiful place to visit, and a place I will return to for sure.
I completed the gallery page for Capitol Reef and you can find all the images and the stories that tie them together at this link. I have also included some "behind the scenes" images for you to enjoy. Take a look, and consider adding this park to your travel plans at some point in the future. But don't tell too many people... this one is a hidden gem and I'd like to return some day without fighting crowds of people at every turnout in the road!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!!