Certainly one of my favorite subjects for photography, has always been the land. Henceforth, landscapes.

America, provides us with a lot of wonderful locations. I have much enjoyed the central and southern portions of the U.S. and its scenic splendor. With that said, I am partial to the west.

I have discovered many great subjects while roaming the west, but I will leave out in today’s post, one I have shared here a lot, mountains.

Often photographers ignore some of the west’s best known subjects, its plants. Cactus, So Talls and on and on.

Today’s first three images were created in west Texas and Arizona.

Prickly Pear cactus abounds in portions of the west. We usually think about the larger cacti but the groupings that appear can be great photographic fodder.

Regardless of the subject, light, the color, direction, and intensity, is a major part of any image we make.

We needn’t run from contrast and the bright spots and shadows it brings with it.

The desert can be green at certain times of year. Capture what you can.

I caught this rock form in the Badlands of western South Dakota, just as the rising son bathed it in liquid gold. Once again contrast, helps make the gold, more golden, and the cool colors cool.

I found this “split rock” formation in New Mexico one afternoon.

Sometimes cool blue and warm rock, can bring forth not only a powerful contrast, but with some sidelight, texture as well.

This was in Utah.

Of course the desert has the west written all over it. White Gypsum sands, a desert plant reaching upwards, and a shocking blue sky make for a western classic.

New Mexico is the location.

Enjoy the land!

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The last thing any pronounced Christian should be doing right now, in this admittedly scary and ugly world, is to hide away and pretend that isn’t happening. Lock themselves into the closet so to speak, and shut out the outside world and pray for the best. Feel good about ourselves because we do not even follow what the “world” is showing us.

We are not isolationists we are Christians.

We are in a time when every Christian should be proclaiming the Gospel, evangelizing, and should be aware of everything that is happening.

Television and the internet can be the harbinger of ugliness and hate, but it cannot be fixed if we do not know what is happening. That is one reason
why I stay connected to those sources.

We have a job to do, and isolationism is a cop out.

May God Bless,
Wayne