Black & White Image by kenne
Red Rock, Sedona
Below the cliffs,
an old tree lies—
roots exposed,
its body weathered gray
by seasons of wind and sun.
It seems less fallen
than resting,
a figure stretched beneath
the iron-red slope,
its limbs now gone.
And yet,
in the stillness,
the tree remains—
not defeated,
but folded back
into the silence
that bore it.
Sedona Panorama by kenne
The thin layer in which life exists is both fragile and resilient;
— Eric Walsh
What? What? What? — Fred Imus Cap
“A full moon really affects me,” Fred told his brother Don.
“I get nervous and irritable. Does that ever happen to you?”
Only on days that end in Y.
For Christmas in 1999, Joy gave me a “coffee table” book, Two Guys Four Corners — Great Photographs, Great Times, and a Million Laughs by Don Imus and Fred Imus. The Imus brothers grew up on a cattle ranch in northern Arizona, a thirty-five-thousand-acre ranch between Kingmen and Seligman called the Willows. The main ranch house was on a dirt road fifty miles old, Route 66.
We first learned about Don Imus, a ‘shock joc’ nationally syndicated Imus In The Morning radio and TV program out of New York. His younger brother, Fred, also had a radio show and would frequently appear on the Imus program. Fred was the irascible brother of the far even more irascible Don Imus. He was also an entrepreneur, owning and operating the Auto Body Express in Santa Fe.
I didn’t grow up in the Southwest, but I fell in love with Arizona and the Four Corners when I finished my service in the Army in the late ’60s. If you love photography as much as I do, the Southwest provides a photo opportunity at every turn. The gift of the Imus brothers’ book set me on a path that would take me full circle back to Arizona in 2010. Since then, we have photographed almost all the venues in the Imus book.
Speaking of full circle, the Imas program was primarily a talk show. However, he occasionally played Americana music, and one of his favorite groups was The Mervicks. The lead singer is Raul Malo, whose voice is exceptional. They have a new album, Moon and Starts. This past Sunday, Raul, who is 58, was interviewed on NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, during which we learned that he has cancer.
Vermillion Cliffs National Monument — Image by kenne
The Wave In Coyote Buttes, Vermillion Cliffs National Monument (March 2012) — Image by kenne
Lake Mead at Hoover Dam (11/05/2020) Panorama by kenne
Lake Mead reached its lowest in July 2022. One year later, Mead’s elevation is inching back up. A combination
of historic winter snowpack and new federal agreements to pay cities, farmers, and tribes to conserve water
is expected to continue to raise Mead, according to the most recent federal data.
Arizona Side of the Colorado River — HDR Image by kenne
Laughlin, Nevada Side of the Colorado River — HDR Image by kenne
Laughlin, Nevada Side of the Colorado River — Video Clip by kenne
Lupines Along US 93 North of Wickenburg, Arizona (March 28, 2023) — Image by kenne
Black Mountains, Arizona Geological Contrasts — Image by kenne
Village of Elgin, Arizona, Wine Tasting Room (June 23, 2018) — Image by kenne
One day in June
we tosted raising
a glass with new
friends on the road
I quoted the poet
sounding effete:
“Oh, it was a brave
man who drink one.”
Feeling brave, we
proceeded to drink.
— kenne
Monsoon Weather Has Moved On — Santa Catalina Mountains Image by kenne
Coyote Buttes in Vermillion Cliffs National Monument — Panorama by kenne
-Ansel Adams.
Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay In The Grand Canyon (October 2021) — Image by kenne
Antelope Island On Lake Powell (June 26, 2014) — Image by kenne
The western United States is in a megadrought, and it’s getting worse. Currently, it is the driest it
has been in 1,200 years and is presently playing outlive. This image was taken in June of 2014 on Lake Powell
when the water level had already moved away, making it more a mountain than an island. Today the water levels
of both Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at record lows. Studies of soil moisture levels in the West that includes
California, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, most of Oregon and Idaho, much of New Mexico, western Colorado,
northern Mexico, and southeast corners of Montana and Texas — using modern measurements and tree rings
for estimates that go back to the year 800. (Source: Arizona Daly Star)
