Today I posted a few photographs I brought back from my recent trip to Greece. Most of them are photographs of stairs from Santorini. It became a surprise even for me when later I looked at the collection: I’m not sure where the theme of stairs came from. I guess it is the way these little villages in Santorini are built: perched on the high cliff above the sea, paths and stairs, dome shaped structures growing on each other. It feels natural as natural world: Santorini is one few places where you feel not aliened by perfect straight lines and forms of modern architecture.

I immediately turned to my bookshelf and found book of legendary Christopher Alexander “The Luminous Ground: The Nature of Order” and turned to the page which offered me an explanation:

Human beings have, in the past, recognized such places as numinous. They are places which carry the spirit. They are places which carry the soul. This language may or may not useful. But what I want to insist on, is only the one thing: some places, some things, are of such a nature that we feel more intensely related to them, we feel a relationship with them, a direct relationship between our self and that thing, that place. We feel it most strongly, and when we feel it we feel that we are connected with all things, with the universe.

I am fascinated with apes. They are like we are - humans and the same time they are not. Looking at them I always think what they think looking at me. That is thought to think about while picking from the nose…

Factory Butte just west of Hanksville along Hwy 24 is one of my favorite places in Southern Utah. I love this place to the point of obsession. There is something magical about it, at least for me. To other people it may mean nothing and they breeze through the desert at 65 mph without even giving a glance at Factory Butte rising in a distance.

That spring in 2003 was different than others I have been in Southern Utah. The wind was strong, mix of thunderclouds and blue sky was spectacular. The clouds were moving very fast with rain streaming from them and as quite often in desert it dried out before even reaching the ground. Ancient Indians called these clouds “rain god” and there are numerous rock art panels in Utah with this image.

It was late afternoon and I was trying to find a way so I could make an image of Factory Butte from behind. The picture I had in my mind is the butte glowing in a warm sunset light. I followed a trail which went north and then east of Factory Butte (I checked this trail again this spring in 2006 but unfortunately it was completely washed out by winter storms). Crossing a shallow stream a couple times the trail climbed uphill and abruptly ended at the abandoned well. I was east from the butte all right, but on the other side of the canyon and there was no way to get across. The wind gusts were rocking the car and setting up a tripod was out of the question.

Instead of sunset I found a picture far more exciting: thundercloud shadows and patches of light were quickly moving across the face of the butte. Being almost knocked over by the strong wind I made several compositions and finally made a series of handheld shots for multi-row panorama. And the light was gone.

Later at home I spent several days stitching together 10 frames which made this image. I still think it is far from perfection and I should redo it someday.