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before everything comes undone
Here are some more distant forest fires. The one on the right expanded from a barely-visible wisp of dark smoke to what you see here in about three minutes. It was fascinating. It was horrifying. It was unbelievable. And as sometimes happens, a song lyric presented itself to my brain as I made this image. I heard “got to cover some ground before everything comes undone” from the Bruce Cockburn song “40 Years in the Wilderness”.
Galisteo, New Mexico
photographed 5.15.2022
dome + clouds
I can’t even count the number of times I drove right past the turn to Cerillos, but it’s equal to all the times I’ve driven the road, minus one: the last time there I finally made the turn. And obviously it was well worth it.
Cerillos, New Mexico
photographed 5.16.2022
where there is smoke
I could not look away. For an entire day, no matter where I was, my eyes sought out the awful (yet strangely beautiful) smoke from nearby forest fires.
The fires were so intense that by the end of the day they would have created their own weather system, clouds known as pyrocumulonimbus, which contain lightning storms that can in turn ignite more fires. An article in Scientific American says, when you see these clouds, “you know you’ve got big trouble below.”
near Chimayó, New Mexico
photographed 5.15.2022
camera/bag
It pays off to be a keen observer. It even pays off in restrooms. Because that’s where I noticed that my purse and camera, hanging on the back of the door, actually looked photo-worthy.
Mingei International Museum
San Diego, California
photographed 5.3.2022
One Day | One Image 