A Little Adventure: Photographic Inspiration

Award-winning photographer Craig Varjabedian has spent decades photographing the many moods of the magnificent and ever-changing landscape of New Mexico's White Sands National Monument. His photographs reveal snow-white dunes of gypsum, striking landforms, storms and stillness, panoramic vistas and breathtaking sunsets, intricate wind-blown patterns in the sand, ancient animal tracks, exquisite desert plants, and also the people who come to experience this place that is at once spectacular yet subtle. Varjabedian's evocative color images provide the reader with an almost palpable sense of this extraordinary place. These photographs are enriched by several essays written by Jeanetta Calhoun Mish, noted poet and author; Dennis Ditmanson, retired White Sands National Monument superintendent; Jim Eckles, retired Missile Range public affairs officer; and Craig Varjabedian, the photographer who shares his insights and experiences of photographing this inspiring landscape and offers tips on making better pictures of White Sands.

One of the most photographed subjects on earth, the Grand Canyon continues to inspire awe, admiration, and frustration for those who attempt to capture its majesty with a camera. Reaching back 125 years into the photographic record of the Canyon, this book artfully explores the experiences of the earliest photographers as well as today's most exceptional artists through intriguing narrative and exceptional photography.

This book should be required reading for all who believe New Mexico is nothing but plains, mesas, and cacti. It proves in spectacular fashion that the Land of Enchantment is very much a mountain state, with at least sixty summits 12,000 feet or higher. Photographer-author Mike Butterfield has spent forty years hiking these high mountains, and his magnificent images are paired here with the chronicle of his adventures. To help readers become acquainted with his beloved mountains, Butterfield divides the high peaks of northern New Mexico into their geographical regions, each with its unique geology, history, and plants and animals. Butterfield's primary focus, however, remains on the peaks, which have attracted generations of hikers, backpackers, climbers, hunters, and horsemen. To assist those visitors, Butterfield covers not only named summits but also the many individual points exceeding 12,000 feet. He includes valuable information about important trails and trailheads, access points, and, for car-bound visitors, places from which the mountains can be most favorably viewed.

An ethereal portrait of the natural landscape now entombed in the waters of Lake Powell.