VIEWFINDER

Burning Bush? Early morning light in the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge seems to outline an ocotillo's spindly arms with tiny orange tongues of flame.

Stark on the northern horizon, the Granite Mountains form a cool backdrop to a lavish display of Sonoran Desert plant life in the Cabeza's Sheep Mountain Wash.

Drawing Inspiration From the Land

As A PHOTOGRAPHER, it's in my job description to artfully render my surroundings no matter where I am. But some places inspire my best work and hold a connection for me that I can't explain. Why does a particular landscape seem to merge with one's own life? What forces enrapture us in these special places?

In this, our holiday issue, we explore the meaning of "place." We share the beauty of Arizona's special, often sacred places and recount the personal experiences that connect us to them.

Assembling this year's December issue photography portfolio, I asked our contributors to select their favorite images of the Arizona locations that inspire them. Normally our call for photography for each December's portfolio elicits an avalanche of stunning images. But this year I cajoled them to narrow the scope of their searches to only the top one or two places that stoke their creativity the most.

Then I asked them to tell us why these places speak to them. Their insights will surprise you and, hopefully, stimulate you to search out and identify your own inspiring Arizona places.

Poring over these images was one of the most interesting photo edits I've ever worked on. Knowing the photographers and their stock files as I do, I could have predicted some of their choices. Obviously, a large body of work from one location suggests a powerful connection between land and landscapist.

But other submissions caught me off-guard. Some photographers have secret devotions to little-known, off-the-beaten-path locales that few of us have seen. Not only are the images surprising, but finding photographers willing to share their secret spots with us is equally unexpected. It's akin to trout fishermen giving away the locations of their favorite streams where the lunkers hang out.

As I edited the stacks of photographs, I tangled with this chicken-and-egg conundrum: Do special places in our lives evoke stronger responses, or do they become special to us because of our experiences there? Which came first, the inspiring land or the successful photo shoot?

On this question, I lean to the former. Certain landscapes stir my sentient spirit. I'm drawn to places that are tranquil, where I can relax and see the world with clarity. Wrapped in remoteness, I breathe easy and my heightened awareness leads me to quiet recesses where light and shadow come to rest. In these places, the work seems effortless.

Conversely, some places demand a steeper learning curve. Visiting a location for the first time can result in a bit of wandering before I begin to really see it. I have to work harder for good photographs, revisiting these spots again and again before they give up their best images.

We all have our favorite places where we're absorbed by the natural surroundings. For me, that locus is Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge along our border with Mexico. Not heroic, as are the buttes and canyons of the Colorado Plateau, this swath of Sonoran Desert is subtle by comparison. In the immense space of the Cabeza, things once important are diminished by scale. Perhaps it's the oblique nature of this place that makes it so acute for me.

That's the spirit of place.

SPIRIT OF PLACE

Do PLACES HAVE A SPIRIT? Do places shape us? Save us? Teach us? Do we love certain places for their intrinsic qualities or because of things that happened to us there? And do writers and visual artists like photographers see the same thing when they look at a place? We wondered, since Arizona Highways is really all about that elusive and spiritual sense of place. So we asked some of the best writers and photographers in the country to tackle those questions. We said: Send us a story or a picture about a place that has inspired you or changed you-or share with us a Christmas memory connected to such a place. The personal essays and images that follow are what they gave us for you.

GRAND CANYON The Royal Treatment

"The extended peninsula of Cape Royal on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon offers compositional choices in almost any light and weather conditions. This photograph was made during a seemingly endless flow of intense thunderstorms passing through the Canyon. Dark clouds and heavy showers inundated the village at the North Rim, about 10 miles away, while I experienced only light sprinkles at Cape Royal. Severe weather kept the skeptics indoors, allowing me to enjoy the spectacle of clouds in the Canyon all by myself."

steve bruno

Steve Bruno of Tempe prefers using his large-format camera when shooting the Grand Canyon. Despite having to carry heavy equipment, he likes to hike to the Canyon's more remote areas for seldom-seen views.

HARCUVAR MOUNTAINS Chasing Wildflowers

"Every spring, hoards of photographers intoxicated by wildflower pollen charge off to secret desert locations in search of perfect blooms. Feverishly working my own choice plot, I heard a shout from a passing truck, 'You really oughta see Alamo Lake!' I thanked her, but figured she's from out of state and probably considers any wildflower display to be good. Still, I spun my wheels in a two-hour sprint to find the Harcuvar Mountains ablaze in the year's best wildflower display. As I pumped film through my camera, I reflected on the woman's gracious gift. The moral of the story: When someone who loves the desert gives me a tip, I'll always get going and pack extra film because the next image waiting for me may be my best."

After 30 years and countless miles chasing wildflowers and rainbows, Jack Dykinga is still in love with Arizona. His latest book, Jack Dykinga's Arizona, was released last fall.

LAKE POWELL Water Wonder

"Lake Powell is insanely photogenic, thanks to the interaction of the lake and the surrounding landscape. The interface of lake and land produces strong graphic patterns, the foundation of most pleasing photographs. As its water level fluctuates, its bays, islands, sandy beaches and side canyons evolve, and the lake's edge offers endless photographic potential. To me, Lake Powell's spirit-although admittedly blemished by environmental questions-is pure magic."

Gary Ladd lives in Page between the three parks he most enjoys photographing: Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Grand Canyon National Park and Vermilion Cliffs National Monument.

To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS 11

MILLER CANYON Fallen Autumn

"Tucked in the Huachuca Mountains, Miller Canyon offers the quintessential Arizona autumn, close enough to home for me to explore on day trips. On this particular outing, the brilliant fall color I sought had browned and fallen to the ground. Stuck with a bushel of metaphysical lemons, I tried my hand at lemonade. The canyon gave me elements to work with-fallen leaves, flowing water and moss. I found this view and headed home with just one image in my camera."

Using his experience as a photographer, Randy Prentice developed photographymanagement software that is currently used by many professionals. By night, he's a blues guitarist playing regularly at venues around his hometown of Tucson.