The Paria (Pahreah) River is not long; ninety-three miles from the base of the Paunsaugunt Plateau northeast of Tropic, Utah to the Colorado River just a bit south of Lee’s Ferry, Arizona. For nearly that entire distance it is cutting through and draining a portion of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, creating some of the most beautiful and amazing canyon country and desert geology in the Southwest. Just above the Arizona State Line, near the location of this Image, the old settlement of Paria sat along the river for forty years. regularly sustaining destructive spring flooding before being abandoned in 1910. Today its ghostly remains are a reminder of the on-going struggle of carving an existence from the desert; a struggle that exists side-by-side with the amazing beauty offered up by the land itself.
The original metadata for this image were 51mm, f/20, 1/13th second at ISO 100; but since I could not physically put myself in the position to achieve the angle of view I wanted, I chose to change the format to 16:9 and to crop out the excess visual information, leaving the diagonally canting rock layers and the slip-sliding lines of the small wash that has over the millennia given rise to their visibility.
If you have not visited the GS-ENM and the other public lands of Southern Utah I urge you to go there, see for yourself, learn the history – cultural and natural of this awesome landscape. Decide if you believe it should be left to the forces of unmitigated development or whether it should be preserved for everyone and for generations yet unborn.
The history we can learn from these complex layers is mind boggling. Whenever I see layers of the earth like this, it gets me thinking what caused each slice of history.
Although my eye is initially drawn to the the brighter spot in the top center/left, I also find my eyes following the “S” curve from the bottom center to lower left to upper right.
Last point that got me thinking. I rarely change the aspect ratio in post. Occasionally I shoot something that I know will be a square later, but rarely do I change from my camera’s standard 2:3, and as a result, I get things in the scene I really do not want. Time to change that!
Don, good morning and thank you for such a great image. It’s just so geometric, I keep finding pattern upon pattern in it. You also give us a hint of intrigue and mystery along the bottom with a small wash (?) or path (?). And, though I’ve never been to GS-ENM, I have no trouble answering your question: keep it pristine. Period.
It’s a place I’ve never been, but I see from your image I must go sometime. I see from the web there’s also an old western movie set there, which would tickle my fancy for shooting old artifacts.
Your descriptions are as beautiful as your photography. Micki
Good evening Everyone. Thank you all very much for joining me for this conversation ans for sharing your thoughts and observations. I hope that you remain well and safe as our pandemic ordeal continues to unfold. In our small corner of Western North Carolina we continue to experience an increase in new cases of infection, but our rate of increase does seem to be slowing, and we are encouraged by what we see outside as people take the social protocols more and more seriously.
Hey Kev. I always love the analysis you bring to every Image, and I delight in the no-telling-which-direction-you-will-go-in adventures you share with us. I, too, am drawn to the layers of earth that are so present on the Colorado Plateau and always wonder at the events that occurred that created them and then revealed them to us. And, of course, even as we are attracted to the layers, we notice the lines and shapes and patterns that give them context. The primary reason for changing the aspect ratio was so that I could include a wider swath of the ridge from the same angle-of-view. What one begins to see and realize is that there are two primary processes at work. There is the emotional process, which responds to every inclusion or exclusion of information from the composition. And there is the technical process of such considerations as angle-of-view (lens), element placement, light management, and all of the related ideas. Image creation is a very emotional and simultaneously non-emotional process, at least for me anyway. Walk in Beauty and stay safe.
Hi Ray. I often feel that your response to an Image and Kevin’s response somehow manage to create corresponding – but never identical – observations. That’s a good thing. I really appreciate your pattern-upon-pattern observation. I could not agree more. The element you mention is, indeed, a wash that cuts the entire depth of the ridge and continues lower, even beyond where I am standing and ultimately all the way to the river. There would never be any doubt where you and I would stand on this: the Paria should be left undeveloped and untrammeled forever. Be well, my friend.
Ah Donald, I am so hoping you will be able to join us in the Southwest in 2021, for we will definitely be there one more time. There is not much left of the movie set; much of it burned some years ago (2007), but I do know of a set not far away where many of the “Gunsmoke” episodes were filmed. Hopefully I can share with you the plans for this adventure very soon. Hope you are finding time and opportunity to explore wherever you are. Walk in Beauty and be safe.
Hi Micki. Thank you for being with us and for all of those kind words. They are all the more meaningful coming from you. Bonnie and I are planning to come visit as soon as the turmoil in our area calms down. We want to catch up on all of your activities. Take very good care and stay safe.
Thanks, again, Everyone, for being such wonderful supporters of my work. It’s a great joy to be able to share with you our wanderings through the natural world. Be well and stay safe.