Off Loreto, Baja California Sur
"Through Eye and Lens – Images of a Day"
Sunrise over black islets; myriad reds, oranges, yellows, melding with dusky blues…a photographer’s palette.
Distant peaks layered, jagged; a desert peninsula ripped from continental plate, jolting and inching northwestward.
Crystal water smooth and level, like mercury on a mirror. But ripples here and ripples there; life abounds.
“Bochinche! ” A feeding frenzy. Pelicans, gulls, boobies plunging and crying. What prey and predator swirl for life beneath the surface?
Dolphins line abreast, score on score, moving with purpose. Turning, loping, leaping, now at our bow, our side, our stern. Newborns learning the interface of water and air.
A behemoth emerges, slowly arching. Was it black? Gray? Blue? The misty blow explodes, back-lighted against shadow-dark land, towering, then dissipating. “Blue whale!”
And soon, “Bryde’s whale!” And soon “Fin whale!” We rejoice in the house of the rorquals.
Small craft hang at anchor; Bahia Balandra. Sleek kayaks knife the buoyant water. Neoprene humans peek into submarine life. Hikers explore arroyos of cactus, shrub, bird, lizard.
Sun falling to the west. Low-light lenses focus; exposures adjusted and readjusted; angles measured and re-measured.
A day of shutters shuddering. Who will be judged? Who will capture the image?
Imprints of a desert sea will remain indelible on the brain and mind.
"Through Eye and Lens – Images of a Day"
Sunrise over black islets; myriad reds, oranges, yellows, melding with dusky blues…a photographer’s palette.
Distant peaks layered, jagged; a desert peninsula ripped from continental plate, jolting and inching northwestward.
Crystal water smooth and level, like mercury on a mirror. But ripples here and ripples there; life abounds.
“Bochinche! ” A feeding frenzy. Pelicans, gulls, boobies plunging and crying. What prey and predator swirl for life beneath the surface?
Dolphins line abreast, score on score, moving with purpose. Turning, loping, leaping, now at our bow, our side, our stern. Newborns learning the interface of water and air.
A behemoth emerges, slowly arching. Was it black? Gray? Blue? The misty blow explodes, back-lighted against shadow-dark land, towering, then dissipating. “Blue whale!”
And soon, “Bryde’s whale!” And soon “Fin whale!” We rejoice in the house of the rorquals.
Small craft hang at anchor; Bahia Balandra. Sleek kayaks knife the buoyant water. Neoprene humans peek into submarine life. Hikers explore arroyos of cactus, shrub, bird, lizard.
Sun falling to the west. Low-light lenses focus; exposures adjusted and readjusted; angles measured and re-measured.
A day of shutters shuddering. Who will be judged? Who will capture the image?
Imprints of a desert sea will remain indelible on the brain and mind.
