Category: Scenic

Missing Entries

A black-and-white shot of a distant Weaver’s Needle as shadows fall across the foothills. Taken in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on February 19, 2023. Original: _RAC4307.ARW

A telephoto snapshot of Weaver’s Needle when I was teaching Bear to hike and having fun documenting how different it was compared to walking Ellie in Portland. I looked in my hiking journal to see if I had any notes about the day but there was a big gap, with the next entry coming a month later noting “I’ve been hiking a ton since December, but they have been dog walks with Bear in the preserve and I haven’t been documenting them. Which is a shame, and I regret it.”

From then on I wrote up our walks in the desert just like any hike, which is fortunate as almost all of them since have been with him.

📷: Sony A6700 | Sony 100-400mm + 1.4X
🗓️: February 19, 2023

Into Shadow

Shadows creep towards the mountains from atop the Marcus Landslide Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on November 22, 2024. Original: _Z720869.NEF

Shadows crept towards the mountains as Bear and I looked down from atop the old landslide. We were like Frodo & Sam about to head into Mordor. Except we only had a mile and a half to go. On well-groomed trails. In perfect weather. With no one hunting us. And plenty of water and snacks.

Otherwise just like Frodo & Sam.

📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 27-40 f/4
🗓️: November 22, 2024

Christmas Presence

A woman in a red jacket walks on the trails in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on December 25, 2021. Original: _ZFC1111.NEF

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is to get up early and go out for a hike, you have the park mostly to yourself until families are done opening presents and the trails get busy. On this Christmas a few years ago I saw a kindred spirit as I looked back to the mountain behind me.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 24-200
🗓️: December 25, 2021

Sonoran Gothic

A crucifixion thorn grows next to a saguaro skeleton on the 118th Street Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on August 8, 2021. Original: _CAM3378.ARW

A nod to Grant Wood’s “American Gothic“, even if only the saguaro skeleton keeps to the long vertical lines of the iconic duo in the painting. The crucifixion thorn is not to be contained and confined, it is an explosion of life, a dancer in the desert, the beauty of being true to yourself.

📷: Sony A6500 | Sony 16-50mm f/2.8 G
🗓️: August 8, 2021

Euphoria

My shadow stretches across a massive rock face, making a pretend tree trunk for a tree growing amongst large boulders with Granite Mountain in the background on Januargy 26, 2024. Original: _ZFC9300.NEF

It’s funny how personal photography can be. This is my favorite image from my leave of absence but if I had shown it to myself at the start of my leave I would have been confused, recognizing the scene but not the significance. For me it captures the joy and even euphoria I felt as my mind unwound taking Bear into the desert every day. As big as he is his shadow was too short to stretch across the massive rock face so you won’t see him, but I do. I see myself too and not just my shadow, but a self that was coming out of the shadows. I had to put him back into semi-hibernation for a while but we’ll meet again.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50 DX
🗓️: January 26, 2024