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Majestic Places & Spaces! : I was 13, maybe 14 years old; a lanky, scrawny teenager who was transitioning through what had seemed like, so many stages all at once. There was puberty, breaking-of-the-voice, friendships with boys, and of course a redefining of the distance from girls! As it turned out, I wasn't really drawn to the sorts of things my male friends seemed to be spending most of their time on - I was more interested in getting high with hiking and discussions about the meaning of life than with courting the opposite sex. And so began a period of sometimes unnerving solitude, when I spent a lot of my time in pursuit of things/ideas that interested 'me' - and not just ones that were deemed 'cool' by my peers. No siree - I wasn't about to be 'herded' anywhere :) About that time I discovered a place in the high mountains where after a strenuous hike, I could sit in a field of 'geodes', hammer them open, and find amazing crystals of quartz and amethyst -- I'd pack my saddle bags full with these rocks, and walk my heavily-laden bicycle back, 10 miles to home. Then came college and my first geology class. I remember thinking how odd it seemed that one could carve a career out of walking in beautiful places and studying rivers, glaciers, mountains! I was hooked ... 20 years later, as I look back on these photographs ... they each bespeak of all the reasons I chose to pursue geology, and now wouldn't have it any other way! These are some 'Majestic Places & Spaces' I have been blessed to have been in. I use these images (along with stories accompanying them!) in my Introductory Geology classes at the university where I teach. I am blatant, almost ruthless :) in 'leaving no stone unturned' in communicating my enthusiasm about the Earth and its richness and beauty as seen in these pics. I simply set the 'stage' so to speak and let the images do the talking -- it never fails to instill a sense of wonderment and a certain 'wanderlust' in the minds of my students - most of whom have not yet traveled beyond Virginia. I hear the 'doors of their minds' creaking open, the winds of change wafting in - softly yet surely, and I tell myself -- it's happening! And so, each semester I feel like I have 'spawned' a 125 students who are now keen observers of our precious planet. Yes - I stand guilty of 'infecting' my students' minds with wild and incredible vistas ... just so the Earth shall have a chance, and so that ... our children may too!

Majestic Places & Spaces!

I was 13, maybe 14 years old; a lanky, scrawny teenager who was transitioning through what had seemed like, so many stages all at once. There was puberty, breaking-of-the-voice, friendships with boys, and of course a redefining of the distance from girls! As it turned out, I wasn't really drawn to the sorts of things my male friends seeme ...

Updated: Feb 06, 2009 7:56pm PST

The Grand Canyon -- In a different light! : The Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. It's a place where time seemingly stands still, yet has marched on endlessly for hundreds of millions of years. It's a place that doesn't really care about what a big-shot you may be in a corporate boardroom or elsewhere. Here all beings are equal, humbled and mystically reminded of the intricate connections we all share in the web of life. To try to photograph the vistas in this amphitheater is akin to tyring to describe a passionate kiss -- some things are best said unsaid and best remembered as experiences -- here is a supreme example of one! My best experience at the Canyon was sunrise on January 01, 2000 -- it was below-freezing temperature and I had just hiked up to Hopi Point to catch the first sun rays on this 'anthropogenically created, big-to-do day, Jan. 01, 2000, the start of a new millenium!', when I was greeted by a Korean couple (on their honeymoon) sitting inside their car waiting for sunrise. We chatted and the next thing we knew the magical sunlight was hitting the blood-red walls of steep sandstone cliffs, the mind-numbing wind-chill and Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture wafting out mutedly through the speakers of the Korean couples' car -- they politely asked me if they could listen to the music softly as they watched the sunrise and if their music would bother me -- to which I had replied -- "Let's open all the doors of your car and play that piece as loudly as your speakers can put out!"... and so the three of us sat there ... two Koreans and a Indian whose different life journeys had brought them to an intersection at the edge of the Canyon ... trying to 'fit-in' in this grandest violation of human life and scale ... quiet because the only thing that we could muster to share with the Canyon then was a 1812 piece of music by a man long gone!

The Grand Canyon -- In a different light!

The Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona. It's a place where time seemingly stands still, yet has marched on endlessly for hundreds of millions of years. It's a place that doesn't really care about what a big-shot you may be in a corporate boardroom or elsewhere. Here all beings are equal, humbled and mystically reminded of the intricate ...

Updated: Mar 02, 2009 10:00am PST

My Hawaii -- Molten lava flows! : Lava flows meeting the Pacific Ocean. I had flown to Hawaii on getting word that there had been several surface 'break-outs' of lava flows which otherwise are not visible as they flow to the ocean through underground lava tubes (lava tunnels). Equipped with a gas mask, a face shield, tripod, camera gear, Powerbars and as much Gatorade I could carry - I hiked for about 6 miles to reach this spot from where I could photograph active flows from within 5-10 feet! I took sunset shots, then camped out close to the lava flows and photographed them through the night. I was treated to a full moon rising over this eerie but awe-inspiring theater where the darkness of night was interrupted only by the hissing of poisonous gases from the lava flows and explosions of steam as the lava met the cold ocean. All of these shots were on Fuji Velvia film taken with a Nikon F-100 body - which I fully expected to have simply melted due to the immense radiant heat being so close to the lava flows; amazingly the camera and film survived, to help me get home some incredible shots! My souvenir from the trip? Hiking boots with most of the tread on the soles burned out! Oh - and I also met another photographer (named - Stumpy! Really!) ... but his is another story, you see - Stumpy, had been photographing similar ocean enteries of lava when he got a bit too close to an explosion that sent shards of razor-sharp basalt flying through the air! Three fingers later ... well!

My Hawaii -- Molten lava flows!

Lava flows meeting the Pacific Ocean. I had flown to Hawaii on getting word that there had been several surface 'break-outs' of lava flows which otherwise are not visible as they flow to the ocean through underground lava tubes (lava tunnels). Equipped with a gas mask, a face shield, tripod, camera gear, Powerbars and as much Gatorade I c ...

Updated: Aug 07, 2008 10:30am PST