By Ted Grussing
… we believe that we live on a relatively quiet and stable planet, but nothing could be further from the truth … we are living in the in between years … a period of relative stability when earth looks like a finished piece of art rather than the work in progress piece of art that it really is. Our life spans are so short (not to us) that for the most part we believe that earth should just stay the same and when major blips be they floods, winds, earthquakes or whatever come along our seeming stability is rocked and we look for answers other than natural occurring change … in this photo we are looking at part of the San Francisco Volcanic Field. The first volcano to appear on the field is about fifty or so miles to the west of here and that is Bill Williams Mountain which erupted about 3.8 million years ago and in the lower mid image in this photo we have the newest addition to the field, Sunset Crater which erupted a mere 900 years or so ago.. Above and to the right of Sunset is O’Leary Peak and on the left side of the photo you have the northeastern side of the San Francisco Peaks sloping down and in the distance above it is Kendrick Peak. The slope coming down on the upper left is actually off Reeves Peak, one of the individual peaks that make up the San Francisco peaks.
A low level cloud bank covers a great deal of the volcanic field and goes all the way to the Grand Canyon and many smaller volcanic cones are shrouded by the clouds. it was a beautiful morning to be up there and see cloud falls such as the one active in Sunset Crater. You are looking at the east side of Sunset Crater from this vantage point and the collapsed portion of the rim is clearly visible … because of this, when viewed from the other side the top of the cone appears to be a heart shape … my favorite Valentine Day photo.
Next volcanic eruption in the field? Most likely sometime in the next thousand or so years … not so very far out there … except for us.
A tiny little planet has never seemed so huge … being little ourselves has its advantages. Have a beautiful day and enjoy the in between years …
Cheers
Ted
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
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