January 12, 2022

Blue Mesa #1
Petrified Forest N.P., Arizona
2021

This area of the Petrified Forest National Park is called Blue Mesa, but there is obviously a lot more going on there colorwise besides blue. In fact the closest color I even saw to blue was a kind of blueish steel gray. Shades of mauve seemed much more prevalent. Adjacent to and north of Petrified Forest National Park is the Painted Desert National Park. Despite the implication in color in the name Painted Desert, I found the colors in Petrified Forest National Park to be much more varied and interesting.

I took a hike through the Blue Mesa area and was moved not only by the colors (often lovely subtle pastel shades) but also by the forms, shapes and shadows I encountered, which I feel are best expressed in black and white. So this series of images will be partly color images and partly black and white.