#landscapephotography #buckskingulch #utah

“May the favor of the Lord God be upon me; and establish the work of my hands upon me”.

This is a favorite verse of mine from the book of Psalms in the Bible. I repeat it frequently.

Levi and I used to speak it out loud when he worked with me. It was and remains always exciting to see the hand of the Lord working in my life and in the business.

Life certainly has been full of challenge for me for so many years. However, so has it been full of favor.

It’s all in how I choose to see things.

I was talking to Joelle on Tuesday and she was sharing with me how much joy she felt having spent the weekend with Levi and his lady friend, Libby, Elise, and Ed. Levi decided to drive down from Pensacola with Libby and surprise everyone and hang with them for the weekend.

They had, from what I hear, a magnificent time.

There is no greater joy for a father/husband than to hear of such things.

During this time, I was spending time with my a wonderful friend and cousin Todd. We really enjoyed doing Rob and Todd things.

I was able to relax and spend time with he and his wife for about 5 days.

Todd and I did a number of hikes in the wee hours of the mornings.

Like in my own life, Todd’s life is not without challenge.

One thing for certain. Time with him, time with my kids, time with my wife…all important.

Over the past days I have hiked the Wire Pass trailhead into Buckskin Gulch. The longest, tallest, slot canyon I believe in the world. If not the world, for sure here in the United States.

I did this as I had to wait for a day to hike the coveted Wave trail in Coyote Buttes.

I am going to post about that in a few days.

Both hikes were pure joy from a photographic standpoint.

As I wandered into the slots farther and farther, I found the people slowly trailing off behind me, until finally, I was alone in the depths of the canyon. Cool, dark, and calm describes the environment surrounding me.

I walked in quite peace, spending a little time just telling the Lord how unbelievably grateful I am for all he has done for me…and all he plans to do for me.

How wonderful it is that I can share these sights with others, even if only through what I see through the eye of a camera.

I simply want to share with you the jaw dropping beauty of what I photographed in the slots that day.

Joelle and I spent some time photographing the Antelope slots a few years back. This, however, was a whole different world. Just HUGE walls going up at times 400 feet or more.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

And let me leave you with this.

You aren’t getting any younger. Whoever you may be.

There’s a lot of life to live and a lot of things to see and experience. You won’t see it or do it however if you don’t make a conscious effort to discipline your heart and mind to stop believing all that work you do, all those things you attempt to gain are so important. When in the grand scheme if it all, they are not. You only have an empty cart at the end of life. Why not fill it full with beauty and wonder in a responsible manner?

I’ll leave you with a quote from Martin Luther’s writing again today.

“You won’t accomplish anything by striving and exhausting yourself”.

I’ve got to head back into the forest of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s far too hot for my taste in Kanab UT for sleeping tonight. :-)