EDITOR'S PAGE

LAST MONTH, through the talents of writer Jeremy Schmidt and photographer Dana Slaymaker, Arizona Highways readers were introduced to the beautiful and all-but-inaccessible world of slot canyons. The distinctive, almost ethereal quality of Slaymaker's photographs inspired a number of inquiries about the procedure by which he achieved such unusual images. For the information of other photographers and anyone else interested in the capabilities of today's film and photographic processing, here are some technical notes provided by the artist: "Photographing these canyons has always been diffi-cult because of the delicate colors occurring within an extremely wide range of illumination. Shafts of light penetrate from the narrow surface slits and pick up the colors of the rock surfaces as they reflect down into places that are sometimes too dark to clamber through without a flashlight.

"These photographs were shot on 70mm Kodak Aerochrome 2448 film with a Hasselblad camera, processed to long-scale dense negatives, then reexposed onto sheet film through a series of pin-registered Kodalith overlays to compress each image into a printable range without reducing its inherent contrast. The resulting 8by 10-inch transparencies were then exposed onto Cibachrome paper. The prints just begin to approach what the human eye sees within these curious chambers and passages." "To the extent that the images seem surrealistic, they reflect the dreamlike experience of exploring a place where waves of water appear to have frozen into solid rock, and the passageways ahead become dancing figures before your eyes."

Joseph Stacey, 1909-1987 Editor, Arizona Highways, 1971-1975

Joseph Stacey, who accepted the difficult challenge of succeeding legendary Raymond Carlson as editor of Arizona Highways, died in Scottsdale on April 29, 1987.

Stacey's name first appeared on the masthead in the August, 1967, issue, but he had been associated with the magazine as a contributor or staff member since 1956.

When Carlson retired because of failing health in 1971, Stacey became editor. By then, he had in fact been producing the monthly magazine for several years, with the advice of the ailing Carlson.

Under Stacey's guidance the magazine published some of the most popular issues in its history, including a series of special editions on Indian arts and crafts in 1974. His last issue was the much-admired holiday edition of December, 1975.

In his retirement, the Rhode Island native remained in his beloved adopted Arizona and was an active freelance contributor to several publications, including Arizona Highways. He also edited numerous fine-arts catalogs for Period Gallery West.

Rest in peace.