THE TIMELESS MOMENT

David calls it the “timeless moment,” that moment between then and now when the camera stops time forever. It’s a power every photographer has, but for David it’s a passionate idea, this moment that is eternal.

When we began working together, hiking together, David carried a 4x5 Linhof. Reaching the place he wanted before the time he wanted to be there, he set up his camera, then waited for the exact moment. It had to be right. No matter how fast he could reload film, the next image could not be what the first was.

Digital cameras provide him a different freedom. Shooting as fast as time, he has a new leeway. It means more images, although the determinant of perfection remains the capture of that moment.

Once, after early shooting on Deep Lake in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, David put his camera in the tent before breakfast. Drinking coffee on a rock overlooking the lake, we simply sat there, looking. “I’ve never done this before,” he said, “just sat and looked; just been in a place. I’ve always seen itthrough my camera.” I had a moment of superiority then. Writers must be in a place to experience it. Finally, I thought, he understands what being here means.

Then I realized a different truth. It isn’t that he doesn’t see the entire landscape. He sees it, and beyond, into a timescape, an eternity of dawns and sunsets; a weatherscape of fog and sunrise, of storm and form and glow. With his camera, he captures the immediate instant of an immense whole. I’ve been there, seen it, revered it. And let it go. I had no means to hold it. David does. In his images, I understand the timeless moment. And know without question what being here means.

Writer Ruth Rudner, a frequent contributor to Arizona Highways, married David Muench in their orchard in Corrales, New Mexico, in 2001. Since, she’s traveled countless miles with him, including many trips across Arizona’s diverse landscape. “The first backpack we ever did together was through Paria Canyon,” she says. “It was also my first experience of Arizona and my first story for Arizona Highways. Apart from the fact that he laughed too hard to do anything when I got stuck in quicksand, it was an extraordinary way to begin to know both the state and David.”

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