Certain aerial vistas are amazing due to the underlying terrain – the Grand Canyon, for example, is astonishing in one way or another every time you see it. Other sights, however, might be encountered just once in a lifetime, especially those rendered magical exclusively by weather.
I photographed ”Fog Wisps on Mormon Lake,” on a rare rainy day just out of Flagstaff en route to El Paso. (See, “New Friends,” my January, 2008 Flying Carpet column.)
One of only two natural lakes in all of Arizona,* Mormon Lake is dry much of the year and generally unremarkable from the air. But on this particular occasion I encountered rippling surface textures I’ve never seen anywhere before or since. Had I not recently visited on the ground, I might not have unraveled the visual mystery.
The lake had been dry for months and its bottom parched into a dramatic cracked-mud floor. The sudden arrival of rain had filled those cracked-mud panels with pondlets, which now in turn blossomed with individual fog wisps. It was a sight I was lucky to recognize and photograph, and one we’ll not likely see again.
“Fog Wisps on Mormon Lake,” debuts in Limited Edition sizes of 27″x40″ and 24″x36″, and Open Editions of 16″x24″ and 10″x14″. Print prices range from $175 to $1500, with many options in between. See detailed pricing and ordering information.
Like all my Views from the Flying Carpet, this photograph was collaboratively tuned for print with Master Photographic Printer Richard Jackson, who prints for the world’s finest photographers. Each individual print is meticulously crafted, matted and/or framed, and packaged for shipping under Mr. Jackson’s supervision.
Learn more about my Views from the Flying Carpet Fine Art Photographic Prints, including available images, my collaborator Master Printer Richard Jackson, and our process for creating these marvelous prints. You can also subscribe for email updates.
Read more about Richard Jackson’s printmaking in this month’s issue of Arizona Highways magazine.
Hope you enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime view from the Flying Carpet!
Greg
*What might be called a pond in wetter states, Stoneman Lake is Arizona’s other natural lake.
©2013 Gregory N. Brown