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There are so many things about this image taken along Scenic Byway 12 that are unexpected that I just had to get online and post it. First, the moment itself was an unexpected delight. We were driving from Capitol Reef National Park en route to Zion, when everything came together all at once. It was one of those highway corners that no doubt causes people to exclaim with joy any time of day. What we were given was a spectacular sunrise. It was exhilarating, working with the light and against time, as this magic light is fleeting.
The experience of reviewing my images that night was significantly less exhilarating. How was it possible to kill one of the most spectacular sunrises I had ever witnessed? Well, that was then and this is now. I'm reviewing my images to select a "Top 20" to show before a presentation tonight. This imaged beckoned to me, asking for some attention. After a few tweaks and a crop, it now represents that morning's glorious display. It's amazing what a little time can do with both the memory of an event and the objectivity of my eye.
My eye is always drawn to The Solitary Tree. It speaks to me in many different ways. Often, the tree is just on the outside of a community of trees - a forest that provides shelter. This tree is perched on top of a cliff, exposed to the elements. Its position is not precarious. It's getting everything it needs to survive. The universe is open to the tree - it adds character to the tree as the years go by and provides space for the tree to grow. Over the years, the wind may twist the tree and leave tracks of time on its exterior, but the basic character of the tree is unchanged. As everything changes with time, the ground may eventually erode from underneath this tree, causing it to shift its position in the world in order to thrive.
Today I am this tree.
Driving from Bryce Canyon to Escalante, my attention was grabbed by this abandoned corner store in Henrieville, Utah. I'm pretty sure the Coca-Cola sign had everything to do with my attraction to this site. My dad worked for Coke most of his adult life, and I spent my high school summers working at the Coca-Cola office in Toronto. I looked up Henrieville online tonight to see what I could learn. Its population in 2000 was 159, and the population of its zip code 84736 in 2007 is 961 according to another site I found. In either case, Henrieville is truly a small western town.
After days of shooting the "grand landscape" at Bryce Canyon, it was a lot of fun to settle in and work at closer range at this site. In fact, I noticed that I was feeling quite refreshed after an hour or so of shooting; I was exercising different visual muscles.
Texture is one of my favourite subjects. Narrowing my vision to the details of a structure gives me the opportunity to express my vision by creating abstract images. Sometimes I the feedback I receive when I show my images is that I made something out of nothing. The first couple of times I heard this comment, I wondered if it was derogatory. It may have been, but I also think that making something out of nothing is a defining characteristic of photography as art. What does a photographer do? We go out into the world, beyond the creature comforts of a studio, and bring home a vision of the world that is uniquely our own.....on a good day, anyways!
After the relative isolation of Bryce Canyon and Capitol Reef National Parks, entering Zion came as a bit of a culture shock. Located about 150 miles north-east of Las Vegas, Zion is more accessible than the previous parks and towns we visited. A few years ago, the main canyon was so over-run with vehicle traffic that a shuttle system was implemented to reduce smog and the headache of not being able to find parking in the canyon. The up side of the increase in human traffic was the corresponding increase in the amenities and restaurants in Springdale. (Check out The Spotted Dog restaurant if you're ever in town. The owner had fabulous taste in the kitchen and the photographic art hanging throughout the dining rooms.) There's always an up side!
I took this picture on our way into Zion for the first time. We had stopped at the side of the road to gawk at the magnificent canyon walls. There is no denying it - drastically different from the other parks we had visited, Zion is a knock-out in it's own right. I had been fighting to make "nature" images, trying to crop out any sign of people and our trappings. I remember turning around and leaning on my tripod, gazing to look at the way the sky was mimicking the crest of the canyon wall. I envisioned the shot from the other side of the vehicles, but I was either too tired or lazy to make the walk. So I thought, "I'll just take a grab shot" to show what it was like.
Looking through the camera mounted on my tripod, I started composing the image. I tried to go over the cars, but that didn't work. Then I gave in and started to work the cars in to the image. Once I had the shot lined up, it made me laugh out loud. Before I had realized it happened, the vehicles had become an integral part of the image. It wasn't a grab shot after all, this image was telling a story.
Another one thanks to "The Fun Camera"....Sign on the Best Western outside of Zion National Park..... (W)ho makes the pies???
Click on the picture if you need to see a slightly larger version :)
P.S. We've reached a milestone - over 1000 visitors since the inception of the blog - a milestone!
