Eagles View
I'm not very satisfied with this image, but I feel that way with all my images and paintings. It's just that way. Never satisfied. Never. But! There's so much more than the image itself. And that's what it doesn't reveal. It doesn't reveal the true depth of the experience that came with it. What you're looking at is Cathedral Valley in Utah. Cher and I have wandered all over the areas you see below you. You could literally parachute me in and I'd know exactly where I was. Where I could find water and all the intimate connections that tie this place together to include it's ancient history that comes with it. A history that predates Humans by millions of years. It doesn't reveal the massive mountain behind me filled with brilliant golden Aspen making the change for the new winter coming. The Mountain with The Great Western Trail, parts of which Cher and I have hiked. It doesn't reveal the solitude of the place we camped. Quiet, isolated, a place to think about deep things. It doesn't reveal how windy and frigid was the overlook where this image was taken. I was so lost in the moment I didn't realize just how cold I was. My fingers wouldn't work. I got back to camp, fixed a cup of hot tea, sat down and felt a sense of rapture no words can describe. And that's the way it was. And that's the way it is. For me this image is much more than just a photograph. It's a validation.