'Arizona Rising’ by Bryan Shane
The word ‘breathtaking’ is always used to describe natural wonders, but when you’re a seasoned photographer you don’t expect to literally have your breath taken away every time you look through the lens. Yet there I was, losing my breath and my composure.
Ottawa, Canada (PRWEB) January 11, 2016
A reverence for nature. Elevated consciousness. Lofty goals. If every human being on the planet were possessed of these qualities, the term “war” would vanish from the vernacular. In ‘Arizona Rising’, it does. Author / photographer Bryan Shane takes the reader to a place where only Peace is spoken.
That state of harmony is not easily achieved. In few places, however, is it more readily accessed than in the state of Arizona in the American southwest. From lofty peaks to sunken valleys, Painted Desert to sinewy rivers, the pristine soul of the land is omnipresent, bare as the desert rock over which the sands of time shift like a silken blanket on a bed of sleeping angels.
To touch it is to be blessed; to see it through the eyes of the birds that ply its skies is to achieve hair’s breadth proximity. It follows the lead of the hawk and his winged confrères. It sees the world through a bird’s eyes. ‘Arizona Rising’ brings you up close and personal with the landscape.
How close? Close enough to dispel the notion that “close only counts in horseshoes”. One trip around the Horseshoe Bend [in the Colorado River] gets that axiom gone.
With a background in nature and wildlife photography, Shane was well-positioned to capture the most uplifting elements of the Navajo Nation experience. What he wasn’t fully prepared for was the sledgehammer impact of each visual.
“The word ‘breathtaking’ is always used to describe natural wonders, but when you’re a seasoned photographer you don’t expect to literally have your breath taken away every time you look through the lens,” he smiles. “Yet there I was, losing my breath and my composure on every single shot, like an awestruck kid.”
In the photographic community, a word more commonly used among professionals is “opportunity.” Hours, days and weeks are spent hiding in a thicket or perched on a mountaintop, waiting for that magic moment when the object of one’s pictorial pursuit emerges in plain view or the sun peers through the morning mist and hits the hillside at just the right angle. Yet in Arizona’s sanctified natural surroundings, says Shane, the word “opportunity” falls short.
“Opportunity” implies opportunism — being in the right place at the right time,” he opines. “In Arizona — in the sites we visited — ‘privilege’ more aptly describes what you feel. Every time I set up for a shot I felt that I was witnessing an act of creation. At times, I almost found myself questioning whether I had the right to press the shutter.”
Fortunately, Shane overcame his own objections long enough to hit that button. ‘Arizona Rising’ lofts the reader skyward over Sedona and leaves him peering into the depths of the Grand Canyon. In between, it has him traverse a Painted Desert, sift through the granules of Antelope Canyon, cling precariously to the sheer face of Spider Rock, and navigate many other natural wonders in between.
Throughout the journey, the reader is serenaded by the whispers of a Mother who never changes: always there, always aware, ever nurturing, ever vigilant.
Arizona Rising is published by eBookIt.com.
About The Author
Bryan Shane has spent the past two decades capturing images the world over. Landscapes and animals in their natural environment have been the primary focus of his lens. Using a 35mm digital SLR camera, he spends hours in the field photographing the natural world. A stroke suffered in 2011 only fuelled his passion for work, life, and photography. His career as a management consultant (with his wife and partner Patricia) continues unabated, as do his photographic endeavors. His work can be viewed at bryanshane.com and bryanshaneimages.blogspot.com.
Bryan and Patricia live in Ottawa, Canada with a variety of feline houseguests who permanently overstay their leave.
About eBookIt.com
Since 2010, eBookIt.com (based in Sudbury, Massachusetts) has helped thousands of authors and publishers get their books converted to ebook format, and distributed to all the major ebook retailers, including Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Apple iBookstore, Kobo, Sony Readerstore, Ingram Digital, and Google eBookstore.