“To love another person is to see the face of God.” – from Les Mis
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Photography 101: Bliss
Monthly Archives: November 2014
Photography 101: Water
Water in the desert. It’s a huge factor, and not in the way you’d think. Water shaped the desert landscape, even though you might think there’s none there. The canyons and caverns of the American West were formed by water. I heard a very enthusiastic Death Valley National Park ranger named Jay Snow expound on this amazing fact. He was right. Death Valley is all about water. So is the Grand Canyon and Carlsbad Caverns and all those other iconic desert places. Many of them were once part of a vast inland sea, believe it or not. Water is ancient and powerful and wild. When we’re not tampering with it, that is. (and that’s a huge topic for another post on my ‘In Wilderness…’ page)
Upper Falls at Bandelier
Carlsbad Caverns ceiling
Photography 101: Street
Highway 4 near Jemez Springs, New Mexico
The Photo 101 prompt says, “try to capture an establishing shot: a wide-angle photo that sets up a scene. It might mean moving back some steps, or finding higher ground (like climbing stairs) to fit all of your scene in one shot.” Here’s the ‘higher ground’ I used to get this shot:
photo by Steve
Photography 101: Home
I’ve found another Word Press Photography challenge! Joining my pals Jeff Sinon and Mariah of Great Follies, I am going to see if Photography 101 helps me to get better at picture taking. The first assignment is ‘Home’.
I have was born on the East Coast (Salem, MA) and lived on the West Coast for 15 years, but the Midwest is where I’ve spent most of my life. I raised 4 kids here and brought myself through elementary school and mothering years by staying connected to woodlands and prairie. I photograph the land quite a bit. But home is movable. I love to travel and feel at home in lots of places. Where my heart is vulnerable and needs sheltering, centers around the table.
When I share a meal, I am inviting you into my deepest home. I am offering care and sustenance, as I need to be cared for and sustained. The people who eat at my table are family, whether by blood or by honor. We create Home together in mutual covenant. It is a sacred space.
photo by Steve
photo by Steve
Elect Eco Leaders!
As you head to the polls, I want to encourage you to Look UP!
Battleship Rock, Jemez Mountains, New Mexico
Look up from your life, past your own career, beyond your own neighborhood. Look to the wider world when you vote. What kind of leadership are you electing for the future? What kind of vision are you supporting? Are you helping to put in place legislatures that will protect natural resources or exploit them? Are you voting for human development or for the environment that hosts all life? These are challenging times, and much hangs in the balance.
How will you stand on the Earth?
© 2014, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved
Wilderness and the Myth of Nothing
“There’s nothing out there! It’s a barren landscape. Why would you want to go there? Why should we preserve that useless place?”
Nothing out there, eh? Well, if that’s Nothing, it’s pretty spectacular. It’s vast, for one thing. Stretching in all directions, as far as the eye can see and further. And it’s limited, encased in a single droplet from a juniper berry, sweet and pungent in my mouth, yet powerful enough to stimulate a rush from my salivary glands and wet my parched throat. You could live on Nothing. Many have, and left their artwork in symbols on the rocks. Yes, they had time for Art in ‘subsistence living’. Do you have time for Art in your life? It is barren of some things. There are no strip malls. There are no straight lines. There is a meandering curve of vegetation down there. It’s a lot more narrow than it used to be. The air is warming. The climate is changing. Fecundity is fighting the curse that foists barrenness upon it. The energy of life will not give up easily. And that’s why I want to go there. To learn. We must preserve it in order to let it teach us. We are ignorant. We ignore the wilderness and call it Nothing. There is a story there. A Myth. One day we may get wise.
The Ojito wilderness
© 2014, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved
Saints, Souls and Scorpions
What are we, really? What is our essence? Is it distinct?
What a burning question! How we long to know that we are special, unique, inimitable and eternal in some way. Our egos seek definition, boundaries and refinements. This is me! That’s not me! But is that really how the Universe is made up?
Carl Sagan says that we are made of star stuff. Ah! What a beautiful idea, connecting us with the cosmos, the eternal past and the eternal future. Thich Nhat Hahn says that we are ‘continuations’, the recycling of energy into life. Environmental education seeks to instill the understanding that we are a part of, not apart from, the natural world.
I love that today is a day for celebrating those connections. All Saints’ Day, Dia de los Muertos, Steve’s Birthday, my sister Dharam’s Birthday, all of those holy notions come together today. We ‘inter-are’, we interconnect, we are interdependent with all forms of life. It so happens that those born on this day share the zodiac sign of Scorpio. That reminds me that we are interconnected with forms of life that are not human. And somewhat scary. I saw my first wild scorpion in Texas one week ago. He was promenading around in the light of the bathroom facility at Guadalupe National Park’s Dog Canyon campground in the middle of the night. I was making a night visit without a flashlight but aided by the starry host. Had he not been directly under the security light, I would have missed him. He was pale and small, and I walked right past him in my drowsy stupor. It wasn’t until I was ensconced in the bathroom that it dawned on me. “That was a real scorpion!” By the time I emerged, he had moved on. I was sorry I missed a better look. And I wish I had a photograph.
The manifestations of star stuff that we get to see are fleeting and fascinating. Enjoy them. Look long and hard. Take pictures if you like. You may never see this combination again. And you will see other combinations to delight you instead. What a thing to celebrate!
© 2014, essay and photographs, Priscilla Galasso, All rights reserved
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