Place Where The Rivers Meet

Young Man,

Question the least of things,
understand what is true,

that all things false are forgotten,
what you believe, be it unfounded,
was never.

What is a man?
So then make yourself.



Northwest Territories, Yukon

One Fine Greenhouse

It is truly representative of a humble spirit in earnest question,

a worthy prayer scribed in completeness with admiration to a Most High Order.

This is the role of men.



Greenhouse at Shangri La Garden  Orange, TX

A note for #1

Cousin, be aware of  the darkness into which men are born, that each man by his own account must overcome singly, a state of denial / spirit of disbelief / ignorance determined to stay / emptiness / untruth that exists in every man in every faith.


Image of Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna Church     San Carlos, Costa Rica

Firebush / Hamelia patens

Firebush is a first-class tropical plant / butterfly and hummingbird attractant. Though it freezes to the ground most winters, in late spring when temps warm it returns faithfully to its flawless form, not one brown leaf, not one spent flower. 

It grows to 7 feet high and slightly less wide naturally, and I don't trim it at all until frost, when I cut it to the ground and leave the trimmings to insulate the roots during winter. It has survived 15 degrees for 2 consecutive long nights here in zone 8b south Louisiana just fine.

 It loves full sun and drip irrigation, but I have one in a dry spot that does almost as well. In fall leaves develop red specks to complement its special color. It looks particularly well next to Musa Thia Black banana you might see in the distance.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamelia_patens 

Musa Siam Ruby Banana Tree

I purchased 4 tissue cultures of this plant a year ago, kept them through the winter in a window in my house along with other small ornamental bananas, where I learned Siam Ruby is a bit more fussy.

In March I planted 3 plants in different environments in my garden, and one in a container inside my shade house.

So far it is my opinion that they are cold sensitive, do not like the low humidity inside a house, leaves are tattered easily in the wind, and stalks are weak. The plant in the shade house under drip irrigation fares best, and is a joy to grow.

The tissue cultures in this batch were not consistent in color as some are a bit more green in coloring than others. I prefer this one that is almost entirely red.

 Plant yours out of the wind or harsh sun. It loves ideal conditions, where it grows to 8 feet high and 5 feet wide in one summer. In the spring I will let you know how it fares zone 8b temperatures in the ground.

OK, spring 2015 is here and Siam Ruby is coming out of the ground like a winner. It survived a colder than average winter in zone 8b.

Hummingbird Moths

 White Lined Sphinx Moth

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyles_lineata










Pink Spotted Hawk Moth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrius_cingulata










Hummingbird moths do look to be near the size of hummingbirds, and resemble them remarkably while hovering above there favorite food, but on silent wings that do not hum.

Even their wings appear to be made of feathers. A special gift here in my zone 8b South Louisiana yard in late summer and fall, they feed near or after sunset, and are highly attracted to  White Hedychium (butterfly) Ginger.

The humming bird moth insists, that no one's garden is left without_  beauty in alluring complexity_  the man need not look for splendor, but paradise will seek the man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedychium_coronarium

White House Ruin / Canyon de Chelly, AZ

Young Man,

Hidden messages/freedom live in travel, sufferings, mistakes, learning, experimentation, endeavors. They comprise the definition of each unit of distance by event, occurrence, location, inspiration_ a measure far more meaningful than ticks of a clock/time, a value/opportunity wasted without action.

The whole of understanding resides in earnest question, afforded by this great unknown/vastly underestimated allowance/distance/chance we know.

The value of our best work/art/gift is limited to this exact degree of understanding/action. The spirit/intellect/person is formed/shaped/harvested/encouraged by the beauty of nature and deliberate acts of teachers who kindle interest in the devotion of hands on learning/doing/discovery by action/sweat/sacrifice/blood.

In conversations of men, abrupt off topic terms/subjects/links ( of which White House Ruin is one ) and off topic phrases ( facts unfamiliar to men  ) are uncomfortable, superficially denied, foolishly criticized, considered disconnections in the simple means of human communications ( complacency )...

 However in nature our greatest teacher, contrasts are commonplace,  undeniable, and accepted _  where these visual off topic terms/subjects become shortcuts through doldrums of information useless to the moment  ( travel through space is relative to mans acquisition of knowledge, the universe is equal to the mind, the man is equal to his lessons learned/travel/action ).

People for the sake of being on topic create a waist of word time, ( on topic being what feels good ) a modern day replacement for a repeated chant/repeated chorus of a song/obsolete form of courtesy,  which can be ridiculously slow and limit a learning process detrimental to the survival of a people. It must be amended. It's ballsy and borderline arrogant I know, but necessary for our descendents.

In the future, when two human beings address one another to exchange information, we must make it possible that more is conveyed in less time, and this can only be possible with a greater knowledge base, a greater respect and admiration of absolute truth. This will be the universal language of peace, and must be spoken sufficiently fluent to provide the connectedness we desperately need to become a type 1 civilization. We can not survive ourselves without it.

Looking into the night sky, the testimony of such vast possibilities overwhelmingly suggests highly intelligent neighbors who speak this language. Numbers among us must assume this responsibility on behalf of the whole of Earth's People/all things Good and Beautiful.  

White House Ruin is one classic example of a vanished culture (Anasazi). These talented architects disappeared without a successful written language, or descendents to tell their story. It is a lesson plainly visible in many places in the Desert Southwestern U. S. from which we must learn, or chance to follow.

White House Ruin Is one of several Indian Ruins within Canyon de Chelly National Monument Arizona, one of the most beautiful of all the canyons I've visited. The canyon has been the home of The Navajo People for some 300 years. One of Whom is my good friend Adam Teller of Antelope House who took me to these sites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_de_Chelly_National_Monument

Musa ''African Red '' Banana

I acquired this ornamental banana as a very healthy corm this past fall from Zone 9 Tropicals in Houston, Tx.. I overwintered it in a greenhouse during the very cold winter and put it in the ground where it will stay, in early spring here in zone 8b South Louisiana. I am advised it does well here, even though it freezes to the ground most winters, it returns to full form every summer.

 It's a promising specimen, appears true to name, and is one of those plants you'll want where you can see it's deep rich red often. It should reach maturity next summer at I'm thinking 10 feet high and 8 feet wide, as the grove becomes acclimated to its new environment. It is now about 7 feet high and 4 feet wide.

Caesalpinia Pulcherrima / Pride Of Barbados

Pride of Barbados, sometimes called Dwarf Poinciana or Peacock Flower, is surprisingly unknown to many long time gardeners.  I've seen it growing  throughout the Southern U.S. Gulf Coast region  as far west as Phoenix and Tuscon Arizona in city flower plantings, as pretty as pie in the Sonoran Desert heat, yet, it loves the wet weather here in the cooler rainy season of the Southeastern U. S... It's remarkably uncommon for a plant to tolerate both environments.

Though its been around a while, it's true value as a 1st class tropical plant is largely unrecognized. Possibly because it's a plant for larger yards at 4 to 6 feet in height 6 to 8 feet wide, but it also has the ability to overpower everything but the classiest creations of nature.

The red orange and yellow flowers grab the attention of human beings, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds  before any other color, across distances far past mans ability to identify what In the world it could be. This is an attribute very few subjects possess, and it is undeniably powerful. It's fern like leaf texture and habit, it's airy suggestion of peace and harmony are specifically wonderful. If you only get to grow 10 plants in your time on Earth, this should be one.

The plant pictured here is one I've grown for about 8 or 10 years in a hard and dry spot, in my Southwestern Louisiana zone 8b yard, in full sun, on the south trunk of a Long leaf Yellow pine tree, in acidic infertal sandy soil, where it's roots have survived 2 consecutive winter nights of 15 degrees F for 10 hours.

Seeds sprout easily for propagation purposes, but the plant is not invasive. It loves heat, pine needles around its base, ample rain but has endured drought, likes a little fertilizer but doesn't usually get any. It just sits there and looks like this from late June until mid-Septmber when seeds demand all Its energy, freezes to the ground in most winters here, and returns to full form every year to make us happy again. It is a living Prayer with healing capacity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesalpinia_pulcherrima

Moso Bamboo / Phyllostachys heterocycla pubescens

This is Moso Bamboo as it is most commonly called. This particular plant is a 2002 seedling I acquired from a fellow bamboo enthusiast, bamboo expert, and Nurseryman Gib Cooper of Gold Coast, Oregon ( Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery ).

 I'ts  been in the ground for about 10 years, has grown to 35 feet in height and 2 inches in diameter on a infertal Pine ridge in Southwest Louisiana, way out in a meadow in the woods where it gets absolutely no attention. I take people to see it every now and then, everyone loves it.

 In it's native environment in The Mountains of China, it can grow to an impressive 8 inches in diameter and 80 foot in height in it's man like  life cycle of 80 years, after which it flowers and then dies, sending it's hopes, dreams, and love into the future in unimaginable numbers of prayer-like seeds, each and every one possessing the power of oneness, to be of different shape, form, color, and behavior.

 Likened to men, what the power of many cannot do, the one has all power over. A sort of Benevolent Dictatorship is true.

 In the baron brown confusion of the dying bamboo forest, while the impatient man believes the world has ended, countless wise little seeds see an eternal beauty, an unbeknownst new garden in a distant time.

tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllostachys_edulis

Yosemite Valley

When the spirit of Beauty passes, the physics of time is altered in five seconds of magic. An ever-returning symphony plays, to an elusive summoners call.

  
In the presence of its glory men are forced to remember its sovereignty, in the purest form of question_ the instinctive fire of the crucible states it's case, 
   
followed by an awe inspired affirmation_ the light in which we men must all agree and admire. 

It is I believe, after a life of ponderance, a time within a realm. .

http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm 

Musa Velutina Banana

Musa Velutina is an ornamemtal banana that has  grown outside my Southwestern Louisiana zone 8b  kitchen window for 15 or 20 years, freezing to the ground most winters and returning to this form every summer. The mature grove is 6 foot high and almost as wide. It loves rainy weather or daily drip irrigation, inexpensive 13-13-13 fertilizer 2 or 3 times a year, temperatures from 57 to 90 degrees F. , but will tolerate more heat. Bananas love full sun early May to end of September, then get sleepy in this climate. Over all a most gratifying plant to grow here.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_velutina

Lake Louise, Victoria Glacier

Photography is a math equation of how to create joy in your life and that of others, a great learning experience, in a lifetime's walk down a long garden path.

 A child becomes a man, who's purpose is to study the world around him, and quickly learn his rightful role as subordinate to an infinitely wonderful teacher of art, math, science, ideas unknown and grand, and that accordingly, a formal respect is due.

For the man to be complete, to see God, he must become a child again, proficient at being little. These are exactly the things, for what the depths of your soul is looking through the viewfinder, I can assure you. Don't believe less. Remember as you ponder the frame, the greatest photographer of all, looks back.

Learning to see the subject takes many years, it takes sufficient tears, requires long suffering, a lifetime maybe, understanding life's hard lessons, the depths of many fields, sorrows of great loss, assumptions of difficult responsibility, hard failure's resolve, far ranging vistas outside the self, an absolute confidence in beauty and truth, a seat of your pants knowledge of the illusive golden light, the power of clouds for light reduction, and to define the vastness of the sky, count the distance perspective and provide a degree of hope that is new and mysterious.

Only one brief little picture so short, a sparkle on a distant sea. What could it say ? What should it ?

Lake Louise is fed by the melt-water of Mount Victoria's receding glacier. The blue green color of many Northern lakes is due to suspended rock dust ground by the force of gravity on rivers of ice with embedded boulders grinding down glacial paths.

In the far Northern U. S. and Canadian Rockies, during periods of drought, mountain forest fires caused by natural forces are always burning, creating a haze in the landscape. It's possible to see from one vantage point, several separate fires burning at once, mountains apart in different directions. There are no fires in this image, but the haze from them is definitely present. Everything white is clouds or glacial ice.

Canadian Rockies   Banff, Alberta Canada 

https://www.google.com/#q=banff+alberta 

Nymphea Wanvisa

Don't take your eye off the prize. Everything you will ever do in your life_ will be more trouble than you thought, cost more money than you figured, take far longer than you had hoped... If your plans are justifiable and your heart is true, you will succeed. If your heart is untrue, you will always loose.  


Created  2009 by waterlily hybridizer Dr. Nopchia Chansilpa of Thialand.


http://iwgs.org/wanvisa-earns-best-new-waterlily-2010/

Solar Calendar Pictograph

Young man,

If you cherish a special idea rightfully yours, hold it close to your heart. Keep it secret if you must. Nurture it, scrutinize it, purify it, educate it, keep it safe all your life. Until which time you will know_  and only then give it purpose, make it fly. Don't let them kill your dream.

______________________

Solar calender pictographs are few and far between in the rock art of the desert Southwestern U.S... Standard pigments used in pictographs include red iron oxide, charcoal, white clay, ground malachite, and azurite mixed with saliva or  vegetable extracts to make a paste.

Photo By Paula R.

These basic concoctions have endured millennium beneath alcoves and cliff overhangs protected from the elements, conveying their messages across time. 

These people were far more advanced in their understanding of the patterns of the Earth and its seasons than we. They understood the power of written words, and that men lived within them. They personally knew death, and life giving sustenance, thus called them by rightful name. They appreciated the simple design of life and fluently spoke its pure language.

Canyon Pintado National Historic District  -  Sun Dagger Site
Rangely, Colorado

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca%C3%B1on_Pintado

Musa Ruby Red Ornamental Banana

Ornamental Bananas are a joy. Most bloom all summer long, right up until frost. Others are grown for their fantastic leaf color, downright spectacles worthy of conversation.

Though they perform much better in the ground here in South Louisiana, they can be grown in pots in doors or out.

Small in stature, most are under 8 feet tall, half as wide, non invasive, and non edible. The small hand of bananas on this flower ( left ) will turn a ruby red color ( lower right ) in a few days.

Ornamental banana plants are no mess, easily trimmed or cut to the ground after freezing in the fall, which most will do during winters in zone 8b and cooler. They return to near full form  every year from the corm, to make you happy again darling.

Bananas love daily watering, full sun, mulch around base, and fertilizer 2 or 3 times a summer. However, they can do with less when your busy. In the Southeastern U. S. after established, their not fussy and can withstand pure neglect and rebound. I know this see. Huh.

The ornamental banana is a messenger poet. It has such the way with its few words of preciseness, a short recital in a summer's time, a tale of the expert witness of The High Court_  that beauty is complete in its smallest state.

.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_ornata

Magnolia Grandiflora Blossom

You will be my home,
the truth that I seek,
my ambitions, my peace, my rest.

I will know your heart,
honor you in your house,
where I wait for you all my days.

Search my soul,
cleans my thoughts.
Keep me humble,
so I will hear your voice.

Make me whole,
that I might see your face.

It's what the bee said.

Red Curcuma

What man can have,

can be learned in a season,
trust in the goodness of time.

The quiet-hearted spirits of the garden,
will protect you from heavy material things,
and the pride for which lusts, your pure heart.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curcuma_australasica


 




I've grown this plant for 15 or 20 years in various places in my yard here in zone 8b South Louisiana, where it is frozen to the ground most winters. It never has bloomed until this past record cold winter I thought would surly kill it. What can a man know?

There is this vastly powerful energy see_ that mysteriously overrules the most earnest attempts of the very men that seek it, and it's like God to them.

Tropical Waterlily Tanzanite

Well she's walking through the clouds,
with a circus mind that's running wild,
butterflies and zebras,
and moonbeams and fairy tales.
that's all she ever thinks about.
Riding with the wind.

When I'm sad she comes to me,
with a thousand smiles she gives to me free.
it's alright, she says it's alright,
take anything you want from me, anything.
Fly on little wing.
Jimi Hendrix

Nymphaea Tanzanite developed by Florida Aquatic Nurseries

Cedar Breaks National Monument

A lifetime is a high mountain
from which to look__
search your soul__
weigh your deeds__
find your heart__
across the years.

In this vista, the fleeting nature of time, impossible beauty of space, and the magical qualities of this human chance are all vividly evident for all to see, and exceedingly patient for those slow to understand, this view_  that we all must.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Breaks_National_Monument

http://www.nps.gov/cebr/index.htm 

Coastal Redwood Tree, Sequoia sempervirens

Young man,

Space, time, knowledge, travel, success, happiness, beauty, etc. happen or do not in the environment created for it, from within

a state of independent solitude,
a pure and uncorrupted quiet,
a gracious spring, a fertile soil,
a trusted seed.

Photo by Paula R.





Coastal Redwood Forest, Northern California

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_sempervirens

Bull Thistle

The versatility in nature graciously allows for the curved line,
architect of designs infinite in variety,
voices with stories forever to tell_
another season in an irrefutably beautiful language,
instilled promises of yet another chance to see,
the methodically forgiving kindred circle,
patient teacher in quiet whispering chant.

This is the way of the humble Earth,

says a mere weed that nobody wants.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle

Azalea Delaware Valley White

I don't have to wonder my duty,
it's an earnest attempt to see the beauty,
and understand the rules of this fleeting chance,

infinite consideration paid in advance.
 ________________________________________________

Delaware Valley White azalea is a small to medium, acid loving, single, profusely flowering, small leaved shrub to 4 foot in height and slightly wider. Because of its small leaves it's not an easy plant to keep attractive before and after blooming as are other azaleas, but in the third week of March in South Louisiana it will make you proud with more than its share of pure white single flowers. Azaleas do best in part shade on sandy acidic soil under Longleaf Yellow Pine Trees which have long tap roots resembling that of a human tooth. These deep rooted pines don't compete with shallow rooted azaleas for moisture, as they absorb water from deeper stratum of earth. Benefiting from the moisture retaining pine needle leaf shed twice a year which acidifies the  soil, the Azaleas likewise benefit the pines as a living mulch, and trap for air born organic matter and dust which feeds both plants. Groupings of both pines and azaleas are often done at the same time. Plant azaleas early spring and don't let them dry out the first season, this is the key to growing azaleas. After establishment Delaware Valley White and most other azaleas are drought tolerant in the Southeastern U.S..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azalea

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_palustris

Willow Oak, Quercus Phellos

The Willow Oak is a long lived (to 300 years) member of the red oak family native to the southeastern U.S. It grows in or near bottom lands and upland streams, usually preferring a sandy knoll where its roots are slightly elevated above permanently saturated soils. It grows to 90 foot here in Southwest Louisiana.

Dark Green Late September Leaves and Acorns

A deciduous tree losing 100% of its leaves (shaped like willow tree leaves) during winter  here, but no trouble to keep tidy because its leaves are thin, narrow, and decay quickly much like grass. A very nice alternative to the Live Oak if you have the room, as it becomes massive with time. The fall Willow Oak acorn crop is a valuable fall food source for squirrels, cattle, white tailed deer, and jays.

 The tree pictured is approx. 25' tall @ 9 years old, and a real joy to witness in the spring, as each tree varies in leaf color due to changes in soil, some in different shades of green, others orange  red. The willow oak is a quality tree that is easily distinguishable from look alike trees of lesser desirability.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_phellos

Tomb Of Michaelangelo

Oh humble apprentice of tireless question.

When you ask the purpose of life,
do you really expect to understand ?
Where you never intended to go, nor thought to look, you've found more than you could hope for.
Even the night is filled with sustenance of beautiful design_ all a gift to a child too young to comprehend_
a physically suffered eternal paradise, an awarded achievement of Heaven.

Basilica of Santa Croce   Florence, Italy

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Santa_Croce,_Florence

Nun's Orchid

The Nun's Orchid is a tropical plant suitable for an 8 to 12 inch in diameter, deep pot. If kept indoors by a window in winter, it will grow to approx. 40 inches tall at blooming. The foliage alone isn't much to look at, but while the world outside is frozen, it will bloom its heart out for nearly a month, reminding its keeper of its true character and quality as a houseplant. It looks best elevated on a table near light where it does successfully_ I'm pretty sure_  pray for an end to winter.

Painted Rocks Petroglyph Site, Gila Bend Arizona

Young man,

I want to give you a freedom exceedingly difficult to achieve in the age in which you live, in the limited time of a life, by your own means. This freedom requires you understand the world in which you live, the written history of mankind. To imagine the odds you must look into space. Get a telescope and excel in your math class. Realize a universe as infinitely small as it is big, ponder it to great lengths, and who's judge of where big becomes little, that science and religion are one and the same.

I'd like to make an assertion that there is inscribed in all things a universal language recognized by few. This universal language is all around us, in place now in the glyphic language of images.

The quantity and quality of readily available evident information stored in images is taken for granted, overlooked, and not taken seriously. It is now necessary to make an addendum to the learning process and expand the way we think to institute methods of higher learning, since we are learning machines and definitely have the capacity. Every vista we will ever see contains immeasurable amounts of information.

The capability of the human intellect to understand is vastly superior to the means currently available to learn. Great insufficiency exist in today's written languages rendering them obsolete in this age of information. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. This method of communication allows the masses to understand one another and the world to function, but is extremely basic. 26 letters are far too few. Complacency is a great danger.

Peace in the world demands that we better ourselves with a greater knowledge base. An intelligent species must abolish poverty, disease, and greedy little men, all of which profit from ignorance. We need be far better stewards of our wonderful planet, expand our compassion beyond our ambitions and close social groups, to encompass the whole of understanding, see the big beautiful picture.

 I want you to build a new alphabet. Yes you. You have been called.

That's what the rocks say.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_Rock_Petroglyph_Site

Alocasia Black Stem

An inquisitive spirit and a new plant, in the same space_ in the same time_ is a world forever young.

Temple of The Heart

Lessons to the beholder await, in These Mountains. Spirits of High Council litigate the sins of tyrants, disclose the secrets of humble seeds. Sovereign winds search the hearts of Kings. In vast vistas of mortality, quiet whispering voices forevermore silence the boasts of wee little men. 

Science, Nature, and Religion are restricted to bounds, but not so the free will of the heart.

Image Of Harvard Glacier, College Fjord, Prince William Sound / Alaska

Imaculate Conception Church - Ajo, Arizona

The Temple of The One God is symbolical of everything that is good. But I tell you cousin as you were born into the world, you were born into The Holiest of Alters from which you cannot remove your feet.

What you will hold dear, how you will come by your wealth, how you perceive your own person, respect the laws of fairness, you will do six days a week. This is the church of your own making_ and in this world a hand can not touch it_ an eye can not see it.

Landscape Photography

A thousand words in a click, who could imagine the longing  in the spirit that holds the camera... before this splendorous moment is forever gone from this Mountain... Is there enough time_ sufficient light_  pray another exposure in this thing Oh Lord.

If you are the least bit serious about photography, I know you are no stranger to this automatic prayer from the inner most room of the man, that pleads directly to the Highest Court. And you will  know the next verse_ ... Great Spirit give me speed, adjust the shutter as you would have it, and paint me the most beautiful sky.

One doesn't need a degree in photography to take good pictures, although it would definitely help. I know for sure, falling on your face may not be the best way to learn, but it sticks with you. All good photographs require one special quality, a good subject. If your frame doesn't evoke interest, you will have nothing to give. Good subjects are not always so recognizable to the novice. The art of seeing is natural to some souls, others have to work at it. But if you would so love the world, it will come.

Then there is the light.. Ah yes, the icing on the cake. If we weren't in the digital age, we would burn up some film learning to read the all important measure of light. The light is from where the magic comes, photography's beating heart, a true form of Religion that even the Holy books must agree with,  lest they be untrue.  It is the medium through which raw inspiration is conveyed. This quality of the photograph is indisputably wonderful. Fluent in its abilities to change at will. It appeals to the wounds and uncertainty of every heart, as a warm healing  profoundness... in that, a High Degree of Beauty may just overrule all the troubles of mankind.  By its undeniable powers of persuasion, its vast importance, those men who see The Light, are indescribably fortunate, sail on a part of the ocean, where few sail.

 Shadows skip and dance across the mountain tops, swords of pink and golden light proclaim what ever they wish, the evening star appears in a deep blue sky, of which moments are captured forever. Who knows, maybe you've got one of those kick butt once in a life time images, and you definitely will get them, if by no other means,  because you were there, and you took so many decent attempts that you could not help but get plumb lucky on one. Go for it cousin.

The good photographer is a die hard spirit with lots of hustle. The longer he goes and the harder he works, the better pictures he gets. He never gives in to the many difficulties that arise along the trip to the subject. Bad weather, sometimes unfavorable light requires that he wait for days, or cancel everything. Accept defeat and learn from it.

The digital age  has long since overwhelmed photography in general. In a National Park scenic overlook, one might see 100 pocket digital cameras to every film camera, 100 35mm cameras to every medium format camera, and if you see a large format camera, your lucky.  Its aggravated owner will be dodging questions from too many tourists who don't speak English so well.

The film camera still has the better image quality over digital, though the margin is shrinking. Due to the high price of new digital cameras for landscapes, photographers who appreciate image quality can enjoy their hobby through camera exchange vendors such as keh.com where reconditioned film and digital camera equipment  is available for sale or trade by knowledgeable, reputable dealers inexpensively.

Keep in mind that the bigger the film size, the better the image quality. A 35mm  film can be enlarged to 8 x 10, medium format film to 11 x 14, large format much larger. A film camera is a simple box that gathers light, no matter how many fancy buttons are on it, they have little to do with its basic function. One doesn't need to spend a fortune on hype. However "The Quality of The Ground Glass Lens " is very important, so study them.

The finest image quality in coffee table picture books such as Arizona Highways are usually exposures of 4 x 5 or larger film size, large format cameras. The detail in the farthest reaches of the frame, the depth of field, has been unmatched by digital technology, but brilliant minds are working on it.

A step smaller in film size is the medium format camera. It uses roll film one quarter the size of large format 4 x 5 sheet film. I've jammed  10 - 24 exposure rolls In tight blue jean pockets and walked for miles carrying a Mamiya 6 range finder Camera ( my favorite ) , that's as light as some 35mm cameras I have. The image quality of its shortest lens is very good.

Lastly but not leastly, the 35mm camera has been the work horse of most successful magazines. Its speed of operation and comfortable film size allows the photographer to take 5 times as many exposures as the same weight medium format camera. It's a game of odds where the sheer number of frames by a experienced photographer guarantees those images that commands the reader's attention, sells magazines.

Images are the purest form of communications. So practice seeing with your phone. Learn to frame. Take ten pics of an object an figure out why one is best.

A thought to remember, should you become frustrated with photographing man made things, turn to nature, go to your National Parks. Introduce your spirit to film and slide photography. So , OK bring that digital camera, it will help you learn. The combination of film and the Big country will vastly interest you.

Phoenix Silvestris

Phoenix sylvestris 6 years old  15'

Phoenix sylvesrtis 4 years old, 10 '

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_sylvestris

Phoenix sylvestris seeds