The Sea Turtle

The Sea TurtleBisti De Na Zin Wilderness, New Mexico The Bisti Badlands have become a constant in my travels. Any time I leave Texas heading west, I build a stop here into the route, sometimes on the way out, sometimes on the way back. After enough visits, you learn the icons, the formations everyone photographs, the places that show up on postcards and social feeds. Once those are behind you, the work becomes quieter. Slower. More curious. This formation caught my

The sky was replaced with a similar sky I photographed later under comparable conditions

Upper ridges ignite first while shadows linger below

Distances stretched

until the image matched what it felt like to stand there

the dunes are quieter and more austere

The rim feels raw and immediate

but it was applied here to represent the full progression of the evening as experienced from the rim

Looking south

But the first time you see it lying there under a night sky

Lost Mine Trail

The Strip becomes a landscape of light rather than noise

distinct in structure but unified by scale and rhythm