Winter solstice 2022

Winter solstice 2022

Another spin around the sun, and the light returns as promised.

May 2023 be a spectacular year full of joy and satisfaction.

Thanks for sharing the journey with me. xoxo T

Christ in the Desert Monastery, Rio Chama, New Mexico

Doors with opposing handles

 

White Lakes, New Mexico, roadside, bar, ruins, abandoned places, abandoned building

Roadside bar reimagined

 

White Lakes, New Mexico, roadside, bar, ruins, abandoned places, abandoned building, chain gang, standard oil

Standard Oil Products

 

Arizona, Pipeline fire, Flagstaff, wild fire, forest fire

The Pipeline Fire

 

montana, badger

Badgers!

 

Sheep mountain, Montana

Sheep Mountain View

 

thunderstorm, cumulonimbus, shelf cloud, cloudspotters, New Mexico, storm, clouds

Shelf cloud rolls ahead of the rain

 

giraffe, Namibia, Africa, Southern Africa

Oh, yeah, Namibia boys

 

Namibia, Africa, Southern Africa, Sossusvlei, red sand, red dunes, salt flats, salt pans, desert

It’s a long walk

 

New Mexico, aerial photo, airplane, landscape

New Mexico from 12,000 feet

 


New Mexico, ruins, abandoned places, abandoned building

A view of the pond from the house I can’t find again.

Things you find in the desert

Things you find in the desert

The desert always holds the unexpected.

A coal, oil, lumber train lumbering through sage and creosote.

Great blue herons wading through a still Rio Grande channel surrounded by autumn cattails and reflected in rain-muddied water.

A fall watercolor of saltgrass to sage, sage to willow, willow to cottonwood, the details of texture and color fuzzy, delicately bleeding onto the page.

Subtlety is an art form.

Great blue heron, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico, national wildlife refuge, desert oasis, desert

 

Great blue heron, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico, national wildlife refuge, desert oasis, desert, cottonwood, willow, Rio Grande River

The last time I was at the ocean

The last time I was at the ocean

Only a couple of months ago. The South Atlantic in Namibia. The cold water, the cold air, the African sun. Pebbles like rolled glass. I collected some of these against my better thoughts. The pier with hot chocolate for the KilcherKinder. Wine for me and Constantin, a different form of warmth on a cold day. African winter, not something one believes in. Barefoot in the cold sand, the high surf, tide. Flamingos in flight, their pink bodies, kinked necks, and streaming legs like an afterthought, “Don’t forget us!” Houses, building at the beach’s edge. Too close, too certain. Is there no storm surge, no risk?

This ocean I see daily, the ocean of desert, the ocean of grass, cholla, juniper, and pinyon. It is not lifeless as many think. No more lifeless than the oceans of water. We dismiss too much. The surface belies nothing of what lies underneath. If we can’t see it, does it not exist?

The ocean, power, depth, crashing waves, fluid, flowing, cleansing. What does it know? What does it see? What do we deny?

My mind stalls. The ocean draws me. Always has. Yet I have no more words to express, explain desire, need, floating, held, drifting to the lulling, the rhythmic calm of ocean. Sensory overload via deprivation.

New Mexico, juniper, pinyon, ocean, grassland, grass, clouds

Slow assimilation

Slow assimilation

It has been a long slide from Africa to October – at least the length of a giraffe’s neck.

A few photos to stem the tide… I won’t promise soon, but sometime, there will be more for you here.

In the meantime, a little scale…

Africa, Namibia, giraffes, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand, desert, triangles, patterns

Africa, Namibia, giraffes, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand, desert, triangles, patterns

Africa, Namibia, giraffes, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand, desert, triangles, patterns

Red dust retreating

Red dust retreating

Africa in retrospect

My gear is mostly clean and stored now. A substantive layer of red grit has been rinsed from the bathtub after scrubbing boots, duffel, and backpack. I am getting used to the sun being in the southern sky again. My hands no longer look like worn stone and I seem to have finally lost the sand in my teeth after face-planting on the downslope of the famous red dunes. This was not an easy trip, long days, difficult roads, heat, cold, wind, and dust.

What’s the difference between this and fieldwork in New Mexico?

Space, time. People. Attitudes. Beliefs. Distances, geographic and human. Colors. Textures. The light. Elephants. Hyenas and lions.

My camera stopped working early in the trip. Although disappointed and frustrated by the sudden lack of this visual extension of myself, it gave me permission to see. Instead of looking quickly and then taking photos, I watched the landscape; I observed the animals. I saw more and saw it more viscerally. I picked up my cell phone to take a photo and realized the futility of trying to capture something so distant and obscured, or so intimate and detailed, and put it down again. Slowly shifting away from the thought that poor resolution was better than none.

I have much to process, the photos I did take with my camera and phone, and the images my head holds. These latter are somewhat out of order and are filtered through a light I can’t recreate on a different continent, with colors faded and intimacy lost.

Here are a few landscapes from South Africa and Namibia before the camera quit.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, South Africa, Augrabies Falls National Park, landscape

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, South Africa, Orange River, landscape, border

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, At Kronenhof Lodge, Hardap Region, landscape,

Africa, baboons, route C27, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, At Kronenhof Lodge, Hardap Region, landscape,

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand dunes, desert, landscape,

Africa, baboons, Namibia, silhouette, road trip, clouds, sky, landscape, outcrop, Sossusvlei, red dunes, sand dunes, desert, landscape,

Whoa! Man. Rebooted

Tomorrow I am off on an adventure to Africa. My connections may be spotty and the possibility that I have no wifi for the rest of the month is good. And for that I am grateful. When I return I promise to share photos and stories.

In the meantime, in light of the ongoing American political saga, I offer this piece from 2016.

woMAN; Woe, man; Whoa! Man.

wo MAN

When I was in third grade, the elementary school principal came into our class to speak with the students. I don’t now remember what the primary reason was for his visit; what I remember is only a fragment of his lecture.

He stood at the chalkboard and wrote in large letters:

M A N

Stepping to the side so everyone in the class could see the letters, he said, “Without man,” he stepped back to the board and wrote “wo” before completing his sentence, “you cannot have woman.”

On the board was the word:

wo MAN

Almost 50 years later, I can still see this man saying these words, spewing ignorance and sexism across a new generation of children.

The principal of a school stepped into a classroom to tell half of the students that they were not of value or importance, that without the other half, they simply did not exist.

At the time, I am not sure that I understood all of the implications of his words – I was, after all, a child. But, I still think about this often; clearly, it made an impression on me.

To be told that, as girls, our very existence is entirely dependent upon men fundamentally undermines all that we intuitively know to be true about ourselves, our intrinsic value in the world, and all that we think ourselves capable of doing.

Woe, man.

Women innovators, explorers, and scientists the world around and for generations back have been discouraged from their pursuits. Surely, their place in the world did not involve pushing boundaries. Too many women have been punished for pursuing their dreams, questioning the status quo, and for attempting to break barriers.

Sexism must die. In light of the recent election, the dis-ease that it has created, and the long road that lies ahead for us, it seems particularly important to bring these words out of the dark. They are words that can no longer be whispered. They must be clearly spoken, believed, and lived by every thinking person: sexism must die.

The possibility of a quiet revolution or a slow paradigm shift has passed. Improving women’s status has repercussions well beyond the individual; it has been proven time and again. Yet, repeatedly, women are held back, pushed down, and thrown out.

And, of course, this extends beyond women to every other minority (whom, collectively, create a majority).

Whoa! Man.

Imagine a world where all genders, orientations, colors, and religions are celebrated. Imagine collaborating across the board, and finding the best place for each of us to shine. Imagine if we were each encouraged to pursue our inherent talents and were supported in our dreams. What an amazing world we could create.

It’s time. Whoa! Everyone. What a cool world we live in.

The Top 100

The Top 100

WooHoo!

This spring, I entered one photo in the annual National Audubon Society photography contest. Of almost 10,000 photos entered, my photo was selected as one of the Top 100.

I’m super excited. Yet… I don’t know how to celebrate this – Suggestions, anyone?

See all of the Top 100, as the introduction says, “in no particular order” here: The 2022 Audubon Photography Awards: The Top 100

And the winning photos here: The 2022 Audubon Photography Awards: Winners

I invite you to see my other work here: Tamara Enz

Hooray!

The Road not Taken Enough