Daybreak
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

(If you are size-curious, the fin running across the center of the photo covers maybe 8′-10′)

Little Landscapes #7
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

This is the most close-up photo I took at Cathedral Gorge and kind of proves the point I was making in yesterday’s post about the effect of granularity on the ability to produce similar patterns at decreasing scale. The width of ground covered across this photo is about 24″. What I could imagine to be sun shining on sagebrush on a canyon slope is really sun shining on frost crystals that had formed overnight on some quite granular sandy soil.

Little Landscapes #6
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

New Morning #3
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

New Morning #2
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

New Morning
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

The first day I was at Cathedral Gorge, it was overcast so the lighting on the formations was quite subtle and mellow. The next morning dawned with clear skies and a bright sun illuminating the gorge with high contrast light and shadows. Each type of lighting has it’s merits photographically but it was quite a surprise to see the difference; it was like seeing a new place without moving anywhere.

Gorge Sculptor
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

Another storm poised to do additional work on sculpting Cathedral Gorge.

Eight of my photographs will be featured in a new exhibition at the Rapscallion Gallery in Bozeman January 11-February 26. There will be an opening reception on January 11th from 6-9 p.m. Note that Ben Blackwood, one of the other artists featured, is from established Blackwood family in the Bozeman area who have been here for several generations. He is nice guy from a nice family, but no relation to us renegade Blackwoods who’ve only been here a few decades.

Short-Timer
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

The first day I was in Cathedral Gorge, it was experiencing a mix of rain and snow and also the last of water runoff from 6″ of snow it had received a week earlier, so the erosional forces that continually shape the place were in full evidence with muddy rivulets flowing out of all the drainages. That gave me the impression that this tree standing on the edge of the gorge would not be maintaining its commanding position that much longer. In reality, the area is quite arid so the rate of erosion in the soft bentonite clay is measured in inches or fractions of inches per year. So the tree has some time left to flourish.

Breakthrough
Cathedral Gorge, Nevada
2019

Erosion has worn a strangely square hole clear through this thin fin formation.