Bonnie Rannald's Photo-Explorations in focus with nature. : Southwestern Desert

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Nature's Artistry with Rocks

Familiar Shapes in Rocks

Rock formations and clouds share a common bond because interesting shapes and images are often found in them.

Perceiving images in objects like rocks and clouds is a psychological phenomenon termed Pareidolia. Many of the master artists including Leonardo da Vinci were aware of pareidolia and used the imagery for artistic expression.

One thing we do have plenty of in the Southwestern Desert is rocks, which most of the time are more numerous than clouds.

Some of my favorite rocks that are great examples pareidolia are as follows:

Natural Bridge in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah stands out against the snow and the Ponderosa forest and is actually an 85 foot (25.908 m) arch. The rusty-orange flying buttresses of Natural Bridge were formed over millions of years by wind, water, and chemical erosion.

Bell Rock in Sedona, Arizona has a distinctive shape and is one of the favorite tourist attractions. Standing at 4,919 feet (1499 m), Bell Rock is actually a butte, composed of horizontally bedded sedimentary rock.

The red and white sandstone of Calico Hills accents the desert landscape in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (RRCNCA) with peaks that extend up 4870 feet (1484 m). Towering in the distance behind Calico Hills at 6324 feet (1928 m) is the famous Turtlehead Peak which is the only limestone formation in the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

The Chief, wearing a full headdress watches out from a volcanic cliff at the entrance to Wilson Canyon, Nevada. The two mile long (3.2 km) Wilson Canyon gorge was cut by the Walker River many years ago.

An elephant rock sits atop what was once the lakebed of Walker Lake. During the last Ice Age, the prehistoric Lake Lahontan covered much of northwestern Nevada, as the climate dried, the lake receded, leaving behind unusual tufa based outcroppings.

A colorful outcropping of sandstone resembles an eagle at Buffington Pockets which is an area of unusual rock formations and canyons near the Valley of Fire State Park in Southern Nevada.

In most of the areas where these unique rock formations are located, traces of early humans can be found who left their stories carved in the desert varnish on the faces of these ancient boulders. Over the millennia, many different cultures have lived and hunted through these canyons and along the streams.

Today as I walk on the trails, I feel these ancient spirits that still dwell within the rocks. As I look closely I catch a glimpse of the former inhabitants through the pareidolia that stand out in the rocks. Maybe that is why I feel so drawn to spend countless hours just gazing at rocks. And when the gentle breeze touches my face at dusk, I know that they are there watching over their sacred home.

What an exciting and interesting photo-adventure this day has been. I love it when I am drawn to an area and not knowing what to expect I get treated to new experiences.

Photography places me in the moment where I can share that moment in time. It becomes a life story as represented by my interaction with the scene. The happiness and beauty or the sorrow and strife; how I focus leaves a lasting impression that might touch the viewer on a spiritual level.

"Reflecting Nature's Artistry"

Many of these images are available on my website:

http://www.bonnierannald.com/

For custom matted and framed images:
Off The Wall

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Saturday, March 2, 2013

Deserts, Stars and a Rose

The Story Behind the Inspiration

I have been asked many times how I came to adopt the Southwestern Desert as my home and the inspiration behind my photography. My answer to this that I try to keep as simple as possible is, I was offered a coaching position at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). However my intrigue with the desert began long before I ever stood on the sandy soil and marveled at the amazing beauty on a clear, warm night.

During my freshman year of college, a friend who was getting ready to graduate presented me with a special gift, the novella. "The Little Prince" by French writer, poet and pioneering aviator, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The Little Prince is written as a children's book with self-illustrated watercolors about a pilot who becomes stranded in the Sahara Desert when his airplane crashes. While trying to repair his plane, the pilot meets up with a young prince that has just arrived to Earth from his home on a small asteroid. In essence, through vivid use of characters and symbolism, Saint-Exupéry explores the childhood innocence lying dormant in all of us and the sacred bond of friendship that extends beyond distance and time.

Some of my endearing exerts from The Little Prince:

"I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams...".

"The house, the stars, the desert -- what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible!"

"If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers."

“What makes the desert beautiful,' said the little prince, 'is that somewhere it hides a well".

“All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travelers, the stars are guides. For others they are no more than little lights in the sky. For others, who are scholars, they are problems... But all these stars are silent. You-You alone will have stars as no one else has them... In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars will be laughing when you look at the sky at night..You, only you, will have stars that can laugh! And when your sorrow is comforted (time soothes all sorrows) you will be content that you have known me... You will always be my friend.You will want to laugh with me. And you will sometimes open your window, so, for that pleasure... It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh”

From the time spent exploring the Mojave Desert, watching the sunsets or hearing the laughter of the stars on a warm, clear night, a bond formed and the desert became my home. I do not know when or how the aviation bug bit me or if it was sparked by Saint-Exupéry, however on a warm March morning in 1982 I passed my private pilot's proficiency test and began to marvel at the desert's beauty from the cockpit of a single engine airplane.

The small novella by Saint-Exupéry not only touched my emotions, but perhaps left a huge impression that has influenced my adult life. After all these years, I still hear the laughter of the stars and become sentimental when I see a single rose.

For more information follow these links:

The Little Prince

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry