Art: Red Rock Photo Contest

Rock art

By F. Andrew Taylor

You should expect a certain amount of red tape any time you get involved in federal government, even when it's as simple as going to see an art show. Actually, I don't have a real problem going through the metal detector; I understand that the lives of our public officials are fraught with peril. I enjoy the delicious irony of having my camera confiscated to go see a photography show--plus an added bonus, I found out where my son hid my Maglite.

It's hard to take a really good photo of Red Rock Canyon. The scope is too large, the colors too vivid to be believed. The wind-sculpted stone makes everything look like an old Roger Dean Yes album cover. On the other hand, all those factors make it hard to take a truly bad photo there.

There are probably 100 photos in this juried show highlighting the beauty and diversity of Red Rock. Some of the more striking shots show the less-seen Red Rock, when the rare snow settles into the nooks and crannies of the stone. It's obvious that some folks barely had to leave their cars to shoot their masterpieces. Others schlepped into the deep canyons and washes, succeeding in capturing an elusive hidden corner of the park.

A fair number of the works include the flora and fauna of Red Rock, which would no doubt surprise the bus tourists stopping for a five-minute stretch and a snapshot at the overlook. There are blooming flowers, tenacious yucca clinging in the crags and lots of burros, which, when all is said and done, look like every other picture of burros, but I understand the nagging urge to photograph them when you see them. Actually, some of the few action shots were of battling burros, which is fairly fearsome.

A few brave, patient and lucky souls captured rattlesnakes, tarantulas, bighorn sheep, lizards and wild horses on film. But the majority of the show consists of the strange, dramatic splendor that is the landscape of Red Rock Canyon. This show has a number of categories. I was particularly impressed by the children's photos, which held their own against the adults' work. The category I found most disappointing was the creative category. I've seen Photoshop before and there was very little here that didn't smack of it, but in a terribly uninteresting way. Now, if the person who took the picture of the two lizards making the beast with eight legs and two tails had submitted in the most creative category, he would have won hands down.