On The Trail

Vaquerro Con Vacas
Sonoita, AZ

Drove over three hundred fifty miles today in search of scrap. The beauty of the landscapes surrounding Tucson and destinations to the southeast makes it all worthwhile to me. The bolders near Dragoon and the plains of Elfrida bordered by the Chirhuacua Mountains makes for interesting vistas. Headed home I chose back roads that lead me to Tombstone and west to Huachuca City, the Mustang Mountains, Sonoita, Patagonia, and back through the Santa Rita mountains.

On my last leg, as I was headed north I glanced back behind towards the entrance of Sonoita and a cowboy sculpture caught my attention high on a hill. There was sufficient light for a perfect silhouette and the image that I had in mind needed to be photographed. Processed it to my liking this evening and here's the final result.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Day of Reflection

Ocotillos at Pima Canyon
Tucson, AZ

A desert is a place without expectation
Nadine Gordimer

After a hectic week, today I chose to enjoy a sabbath at my favorite canyon: Pima. As odd as it may seem even the Tucson's high desert climate enjoys spring time. There's both greening of limbs and the blossoming of copious wildflowers throughout the country side. The rocky desert becomes littered with blooms. In nearby streams even the cottonwoods take on the spring season as female cottonwoods produce snow like plumes that gently float to the ground if not set adrift by a nearby breeze.

As I started my trek up the canyon, I noticed the bright orange red blooms of the Ocotillo. The canyon heralded the spring with their blooms. Brown colors now replaced by dotted limbs with red bright tips. The canyon was prepared to share her mystery and beauty again, bloom by bloom. This is spring time in Pima Canyon.

A desert need not be barren. It does require diligent study. In time we learn the treasures buried deep within the boulders and among the cactus.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Sunset on the San Rafael Valley

Puesta del Sol: San Rafael Valley
Patagonia, AZ

"A large drop of sun lingered on the horizon and then dripped over and was gone, and the sky was brilliant over the spot where it had gone, and a torn cloud, like a bloody rag, hung over the spot of its going. And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east.

--John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Had forgotten about witnessing  a complete sky sunset after leaving the Lazy J2 Ranch on the San Rafael Valley. You will never experience a sunset like this where the complete horizon comes into play. It's almost too much to take in and absorb and more than likely it was my motivation for taking the shot.

The British writer, historian, and playwright sums up what I've been feeling and why I choose to share this image in particular with you. He wrote, "If I can put one touch of rosy sunset into the life of any man or woman, I shall feel that I have worked with God."

While my underlying nature is albeit a tad melancholic, there remains a side of me that chooses to reach out to others and tries to encourage and befriend. The mind is not always accurate and it deceives. The heart on the other hand beats deliberately to a separate yet faithful rhythm. If you had to chose between reason and heart, I believe most of us would be content with the choices the heart makes.

Reliance strictly on the mind short changes and deprives us of our ability to feel. The world is tactile and sensual. It's not all mind. Strict logic  "just business" is a short sided imposition placed on us by those who settled these shores to meet the demands of an industrial revolution gone wild. The carrot for most was the promise of a better life, but one filled with sacrifices until a promise of a retirement down the road. There's nothing logical about missing sunrises and sunsets. We need to reverse this disconnection with our heart and with our friends and family. We need to live now, see now, and feel now.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Luminosity

Blue Skies Over Pima
Pima Canyon
Tucson, AZ

Light and the absence of light has been an integral part of me. Early on in my life, I actually noticed a mood shift which winter and shorter days cast on me like a cloud blocking the sun. Without a true realization, early on I gravitated to the light and warmer climates. It really was not a shock that I chose to settle south of the Mason Dixon line. It was a natural migration towards light.

Although north central Texas has shorter winters, its winters still have deprive folks of some light as we follow the rest of the country and fall back to shorter days, when I need light the most, winter. Fortunately, during my travels to both central Mexico and the higher elevations of El Paso, I discovered the wonderful combination of bright light at higher altitudes and cooler dryer weather of the desert. Out doors, it became clear how my mood shifted as sun rays brightened my spirit and danced across arid landscapes.

Pima Canyon at Sunset
Tucson, AZ

It was in the barren high desert that I grew to appreciate the warm almost ember like glows reflected from mountains both in the dawn and at dusk. Shadow and light dance as partners to melody orchestrated by nature. We enjoy both among the opens spaces of the high desert.

Since I've come to Arizona, my late afternoons are filled with observation as are my weekends. Each day, I take mental notes of the lights play on the mountainous landscapes which surround me. The mountains become illuminated temples to the Gods. Nature forces us to observe the blushing mountains. Some say the mountains blush because embarrassed by our adoration.

In honor of their beauty, I will be preparing my recent Catalina Foothills and Pima Canyon Series on both canvas (gallery wraps) and a select luminous few printed on aluminum. These will soon be on exhibit and for sale at Tucson's Steinway Piano Gallery. Befittingly the images will rest at the foothills of my favorite subject: the majestic Catalinas.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

You Never Know

Headwaters of the San Pedro River
Whetstone, AZ

My job often takes me to remote locations off the beaten path. Have to admit there are times I wonder what I am doing and why. Then I encounter something out of the ordinary. Something which catches my eye and heightens my curiosity. There's always time to pull off to the side of the road and compose an image.

Junk Yard
Whetstone, AZ

Several weeks ago my assignment was to visit a landfill and also  find an abandoned junk yard. Truthfully this was beyond a the beaten path and remote enough that it could not be found on a GPS. It was well worth the trip down several unpaved gravel roads. At a dip in the road, in the midst of the high desert, I found this refreshing stream surrounded by stately cottonwoods. The light peaked through clouds and branches and softly lit the grass along the stream. Everything was picture perfect. I took a few shots from my car window and then moved on.

Down the road was my find, the abandoned junk yard, amongst cottonwoods and unkept trailer homes. Old rust cars were strewn everywhere in all directions what appeared to endlessly. Still another photo opportunity of a different kind. This time I used my iPhone and thought about the story I would tell. You never know what you will find. Somehow for me, I find the time to make it all pretty and right. My heart wants it that way and my spirit won't give in until I make it so.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

Asphalt and Flowers
Catalina Foothills
Tucson, AZ

Been walking on the asphalt pavement alongside the Catalina Foothills here in Tucson. Each day, I try to get a good four mile hike up and down the steep inclines. Usually, my eyes are cast on only whats immediately in front of me or along the periphery.

A couple of days ago, I chose to look down and  noticed that something was emerging between the asphalt cracks worn by the long summer desert heat. Blooms were emerging from this harsh unlikely place.  A few days later, I noticed that the blooms had become flowers and that nature was determined that even in this unlikely place we would witness something beautiful.

In my solitude, away from family and friends, I've often wondered why this was my immediate destiny. As I contemplated the flowers there between the asphalt cracks and to the side of the desert, I had my answer. It's my lot to bloom in an unlikely place; to bloom where I've been planted.

Slowly, the answers are coming unfolding it seems, a petal at a time. It's not financial gain that's beginning to happen but rather an evolution of a dream. Here, in this place, my work has blossomed. Soon it will be showcased at the Steinway Piano Gallery, appropriately beneath the Catalina Foothills within walking distance of my apartment. While I am here, in this place, this is what I am supposed to do. Sometimes we bloom in the most unlikeliest places, but we bloom.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com

Just a Walk

Near Sin Vacas
Catalina Foothills
Tucson, AZ

"God never made an ugly landscape. 

All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild"

--John Muir

Walks afford me the opportunity to purge my mind and refresh my soul. The undulation of the mountainside gives me a natural baptism.  When I emerge, I am reborn by the evaporated moisture of sweat and the opening of the eyes.

My choices are limited by my exile and I am driven by awakening senses. To that extent, the wilderness experience has sharpened my visual and spiritual perceptions. Each day has fractions of unique experiences which I try to capture, interpret and share, like a Catholic cantor. You've unwittingly become parishioners. a live audience. To that extent, my chronicling is equally mine as it's yours. This cantor/chronicler is motivated by not solely his senses but by your reactions. Hope the images do not disappoint. Every now and then let me know.

www.photographybyalhernandez.com