Join the conversation
Subcribe to comment rss feedJim Hackley
Jim Hackley
Over the years photography has become my creative process that gets me outside. It has slowed me down and helped me appreciate things that I might have walked right by and never noticed before. I have found that getting out in nature is a energising/healing process for me and has helped me find some balance in this crazy, fast paced world we have created.
Many photographers have a local favourite place they like to go and sometimes we go to that place just to get out. One of my favourite locations to hike and photograph is an area called the Granite Dells (Prescott, AZ).
The Dells is a geological feature of exposed granite bedrock that is 1.4 billion years old and this area has some of nature's finest rock sculptures and natural art designs. For some reason I find myself connected to these wonderful rock formations as I am constantly drawn to them. Each time I go hiking in the Dells I marvel at the rock formations and how they were formed, I find amazing patterns in the granite and wonder how balanced boulders are still standing.
Even if the conditions are not right for photography it is still a treat just to scramble around the rock formations, explore slot canyons and look for new compositions for another time. The Dells seems to keep me going even when I do not feel like getting out and has become my local sanctuary, my exercise routine and a source for inspiration.
