The day that I left on the journey to east Arizona was a stormy day,
which meant that I'd be hitting a lot of rain-slicked roads and the
occasional fog bank as the altitude rose. This particular picture
came from a tunnel about 30 miles west of Globe. I had reached the
mountains by this point, but there wasn't actually any fog, just some
very low-hanging clouds. I used a blue gradient Cokin filter to add
the blue you see to the otherwise gray mist in the picture here.
Once I'd gotten past Globe, there really wasn't a lot to see. There
was about 100 miles or so of desert, brush, and not much else. However,
near the New Mexico border when I got on the 191 north, I looked in my
rear-view mirror and saw this beautiful sight. It had been stormy and
overcast for much of my drive east, but once I started heading north
there were breaks of light here and there. While this wasn't the most
spectacular of the ones I saw, it was about the only clear shot I could
get. With photography of nature like this, timing really is everything.
We don't get storms very often in Arizona so having thick cloud cover
is one thing to wait for. Also, as in pictures like the one here,
storm clouds are very fast moving, and within only a few minutes
something like this can appear and disappear. I'm beginning to realize
that much of photography depends on simply being in the right place
at the right time. The more you're out there and the more pictures
you take, the better your chances are of catching something like this.
Heading north on the 191, I reached a town called Clifton, which seems
to exist only by the employment of the Phelps-Dodge Corporation which
does mining at the north end of the town. Parts of town look somewhat
decent, but a small strip at the north edge looked like it may have
been the original shacks that were probably built there in the early
1900's by the first miners. The mining industry must be in decline,
because it was something of a sad sight. Maybe the town of Clifton will
be revolutionized by global internet commerce and one day be a bustling
area of growth? It's surely possible in this day and age, but the
other possibility is that whenever Phelps-Dodge is done mining and
closes it's doors, Clifton will be just another Arizona ghost town
hidden away miles from nowhere.
But enough about Clifton, you may be wondering what this picture is,
and why I took it. This is one of the mountains of dirt and minerals
at the south end of the open-pit mining operation. What made it look
unique to me is the harmony in this scene of the layers of red hues in
the man-made hill with the layers of blue in the clouds above. Many
will tell you that an open-pit mining operation is just a stripping of
the land and an eyesore, but I must disagree. Ethical American
corporations, working with sophisticated modern equipment are able to
target remote locations (like Clifton) and responsibly mine the
valuable natural resources this Earth has to offer. I believe that the
resources of this planet are here to be put to good use and am proud
that an entire community can be supported by the capital of an effort
such as this.
This is a more full view of the Phelps-Dodge open pit mining operation.
While most of the hills and mountains of the surrounding area are only
seen at their surface, the mining operation allows us to see the rich
colors and content that lie beneath the Earth skin. Many of the
man-made wonders in this world are large buildings and monuments which
are impressive all on their own. This however, I find to be a display
of the gears of capitalism working in a display of natural wonder.
This was one of the last stops on my long drive that still had sunlight
unfortunately, but I'm glad that there was still light for me to see it
when I got here.
Here we have a more clear fusion of a man-made object of beauty and
wonder (my Civic) against the backdrop of the graceful hills and
valleys of the open mining operation. I over-exposed this shot by at
least a full stop, or a stop and a half so the color saturation wasn't
very good for the hills. Fortunately, in this digital age of image
manipulation, I was able to slightly darken the image and add richness
to the color saturation once the image was scanned in. The clouds look
a little surreal now, but in my opinion, there's nothing wrong with a
helpful modification from the computer. Now if only there was a
graphics package that would allow me to remove that chain-link fence
from this picture....
Well, this one fits in visually, and it was on the same roll of film,
but it was actually taken near Canyon lake, which is a slight diversion
from that drive to Globe. It's mostly on the way though and I like this
picture, so I decided to include it. It was taken just shortly after
sunrise the weekend after I drove out east to Clifton and Springerville.
What this image is designed to demonstrate is the intensity of the
texture shown by things in the first and last hour of daylight. It is
during this time that the sun is at it's most extreme angle relative
to the Earth. This brings out much more texture than when the sun is
shining down from above. I had been hoping for more examples than just
this one, but once I got there, I realized that everything looked a
lot better at sundown than sunrise anyway. So, I'll have to save the
rest of the area for another day. One thing it did make very clear to
me though is the need for me to get a new scanner. The one I've got
just doesn't really cut it in terms of image sharpness for the
photographs I take these days. Hopefully in early 1999, I'll be able
to get a new computer and a much higher quality scanner, like a high-end
36-bit 600 or 1200dpi flatbed scanner.
Here, I've finally gotten to the pictures taken from Mt. Lemmon. Now,
I would have had a lot more, except for the fact of what you can see
in the picture. Although the view is wonderful, there's just so much
haze that you can't see all that far. Mt. Lemmon is somewhat unique in
that it takes you from the desert floor of Tucson to the 8000 foot
altitude of the mountain in only an hour's drive. The views are often
quite spectacular, but can be disappointing if the haze is as thick
as it is in this picture. Partly due to the fact that it's just
outside of the Tucson city limits, there is a great deal of traffic on
this road. You pay a $5 fee just to get in, and an additional $3 for
admittance to either the lake (better described as a muddy pond) or
the canyon (which I did not visit). I'm not a big fan of paying fees
just to visit an area for 30-45 minutes so that I can take pictures,
but it's understandable since so many people visit, it takes a lot of
cashflow to keep all the parks, trails, and roads in good shape.
I walked all around this "lake" trying to find a good angle to take
some pictures of it. Normally this would not be much of a problem to
find someplace to get good pictures of a large body of water surrounded
by trees, but this isn't exactly a lake. I guess any body of water
that's created by damming a river is a lake, but this one's a little
pathetic as far as lakes go. They must have a pretty wimpy stream to
dam because the whole body of water is an "L" shape that's about a half
mile long in each direction. It only appears to be about 3-10 feet
deep in most parts, and thus any dirt being stirred up by the many
people fishing clouds the water quite easily. There is also
disappointingly little parking for this lake, making me feel like I
really did not get my $3 worth when all I wanted to do was come in and
take a few pictures before leaving. The fact that no matter where you
went, you were surrounded by people didn't add value to the experience
either. Perhaps this would be a better place to visit on a weekday
during the fall or winter, but on a Saturday at the end of summer, it
was just far too busy.
This shot actually turned out fairly well in spite of all the haze.
Because it was getting late in the day, the sun was dropping to a
fairly low angle bringing out the texture in the hills of the valley.
The whole road up Mt. Lemmon is lined with places to pull over and see
sights like this. I had hoped to have enough time to go to the ski
area, since the lifts run year-round providing sight seeing tours of
the mountain, but there wasn't enough time. I will very likely head
back some time between now and spring though to see more of what this
mountain has to offer.
In this picture I've captured a scene from one of the many park areas
at Mt. Lemmon. This particular one is at the end of the road, which is
fitting considering it is the end of the roll of film, and the end
of this set of pictures. While I went to Mt. Lemmon alone just looking
for beautiful sights of nature, I found that it's really a place that's
meant more to be enjoyed in the company of friends and family. So
while I wasn't able to find a whole lot to take pictures of at this
particular place, I found someplace where I can head back with others
when I just want a day to relax away from the desert city.
Page Created: 9-20-98
All pictures and text Copyright 1998 Brandon Smith.
Commercial reproduction without express written consent of the author
is prohibited.