07-01-2007		The Wave
Hiking “The Wave!” For those who have not experienced the “Wave” or visited the Northern Arizona and Southern Utah deserts, the terrain, a labyrinth of geological formation, inspires and amazes all who dare enter. Our six-mile round-trip hike to The Wave began as pre-dawn winds were teasing us with a cool and refreshing July summer breeze. But we knew, as the glow from the morning sun breaks the eastern mesas, the sandstone would turn red. And, not just in color, but red “hot” as the sun began its daily and relentless crusade to dry out the already parched Arizona desert. This being our first visit, we were in total awe of the beauty nature has created in such a harsh and rugged environment. “The Wave” truly a photographer’s dreamscape. To learn more about hiking to the Wave and the Coyote Butte Wilderness, visit the BLM's website. Send comments to Mark
10-15-2006		The Changing Aspen
Every Fall, the brilliant hues of Arizona’s yellow aspen carpet the towering peaks outside of Flagstaff. On a particular trip in October of last year, to Lockett Meadow, which sits 8600 feet above sea level in the San Francisco Mountains, there was an amazing abundance of golden yellow leaves. Viewing this gorgeous vista, I immediately parked my car and hiked up the hillside, camera in tow. With a 300mm lens, shooting across the field, I narrowed my view to a grove of aspens majestically stretching to the blue sky. Their long straight trunks, white as the first winter snows, seemed to jump off the film against the blackness of the shadows they cast on the forest floor below. Atop these ashen tinder shafts were glowing puffballs of yellow, gold, and greenish-blond blends of color. As the leaves of the aspen change from their summer colors to their autumn tones, my resulting image serves to remind us of the remarkable transition of the seasons, the shorter days ahead, and the approach of winter.