portfolio

SUBTLE MOODS SHADE THE SANTAN MOUNTAINS

I'VE LIVED NEAR THEM for almost two decades and, like good neighbors sometimes do, we've become friends. But not quickly. Slowly and carefully. And comfortably. The Santan Mountains have been here a long time, and they were in no rush to reveal themselves: their subtleties, their ever-changing moods. Making friends happened gradually, from day to day, season to season. But now I know so well the look of the mountains when sunrise and sunset suffuse them with a warm glow ... when they seem to pull inside themselves beneath glowering thunderclouds... when they put on a cloak of yellow poppies and purple lupine. I know their joy on a spring morning and their patience in winter. I know their grit when recovering from the ravages of fire. Whether standing at their doorstep or embraced within their folds, I feel at home in the Santans. Like visiting an old friend.(LEFT) An ironwood tree blooms among saguaro cactuses in a wash below the Santan Mountains' Malpais Hills. (TOP) Naturally wary, a coyote pup stays close to its den. (ABOVE) A saguaro awaits the coming of dawn. The saguaro may grow only one inch during the first 15 years of its life. Arm buds don't usually appear until the cactus is nearly 100 years old. When fully mature, the cactus may be 50 feet high and more than 200 years old.

SANTAN MOUNTAINS

SANTAN MOUNTAINS

SANTAN MOUNTAINS