Rocks

connecting with Rocks...
“I wonder whether the stars are set alight in heaven so that one day each one of us may find his own again.“<br/>I personally think that every adult should be prescribed The Little Prince and read it once a year. For severe cases of adulthood—twice a year.
I spent a couple of hours near these formations in the Bisti Badlands, waiting for the perfect light for the picture and carefully climbing around the formations. While blue hour often brings a marvelous glow to the terrain in places like this, ironically the best picture from that evening was taken long before sunset, right from the trail below.
When you think you need to be a good friend and take at least one picture of your buddy during your trip together, but the best you can manage as a portrait photographer is something like this. Well, the portrait didn’t turn out so bad, as long as he can find himself in the picture. Not even sure why he still talks to me...
Otherworldly landscapes of New Mexico badlands
Even after learning how hoodoos and similar formations are shaped by nature and time, these “Cracked Eggs” still look too unreal to be natural—as if they belong to another level of wonders.
At first, that morning didn’t bring the light I was hoping for. I even ignored the batch of photos I had taken that day while reviewing the raw material. It was only on a second look that I realized the light was just right—there was no need for any extra drama in the picture. The place feels sacred. I'm sure it was exactly this way for people who used to live here.
Do you know the best part of an approaching storm in the badlands? Definitely not the chance for incredible light for landscape photography. It’s the fact that sometimes these storms actually bring falling water—which immediately turns the clay-like soil into a slippery mess. After only two previous experiences skating in my life, this was my third. A two-mile hike on a skating rink back to the parking lot.
I have won a photo contest only once in my life. Well, I have participated in a photo contest only once, too. Freshly baked from college, I joined a large outsourcing company in Kharkiv, and when they announced the annual photo contest, I submitted a couple of photos I had taken the previous year. I thought the winning photo was completely lost. But to my surprise, a few days ago, I found tons of archives on an external disk I had completely forgotten about (it’s like a USB flash drive with mp3 that’s been sitting in your car for the last ten years, but even cooler). Because the contest was held right after the 2008 crisis, I received a 128-MB USB flash drive as the prize (yikes, the year before they gave away laptops at the company party). I’m sure I can find that flash drive too if I dig deep enough in my wardrobe.
When you come here for a sunrise and have no doubt why this massive rock is sacred to the Navajos.
An iconic place that has been gaining more and more popularity in recent days.
What can a person camping right by the ocean with no access to the Internet for 24 hours do? Right, watch the breathing of the water and take occasional pictures. While at some coastal locations, changes to the scenery brought by low or high tide are hardly noticeable, here on Shi-Shi Beach the in-water rocks become barely visible during high tide, but almost all the water retreats during low tide. Living through every minute of these slow changes is a truly magical experience.
One of the reasons I love photography is the absolutely priceless feeling of utmost balance and completeness that I experience when driving back after evenings like this. It doesn't matter what the final result, picture-wise, will be. What matters is the experience I've been lucky to live through.
Photography as a hobby is a mini version of my life. It doesn’t make much sense; I'm just desperately trying to get as much beauty out of it as I can. And even though it often feels like a competition, there is actually nothing and no one to compete with.
Other themes:
Deserts gallery
Deserts
Golds gallery
Golds
Landscapes gallery
Landscapes
Seascapes gallery
Seascapes
Skies gallery
Skies
Trees gallery
Trees
Waterfalls gallery
Waterfalls