Back to Contribution page

The Guardian

The Guardian was recorded on July 4th 1994 with a 1969 Hasselblad with a chrome 80mm Zeiss lens stabilized with a Bogen monopod. I was helping to excavate a small pueblo at Gila National Monument and we took the day off to explore. I was up photographing this shelter and because of the crowds I could not get a clear shot of the architecture. So I waited, and I waited, and I waited. After about 30 minutes there was suddenly and opening where there was no one in the view. I fired off one shot and then cursed as I saw someone walk into my field of view.

"well at least I got one" I thought to myself.

And then I saw that this ranger was checking out a family scurrying down a ladder and as he stopped at that moment I fired off this single shot and within seconds the walkway bustling again with loads of people. But in that second I was able to record what is one of my all time favorite photographs from the 10,000+ I have taken.

Years later I hung this piece as one of the pivotal works in a gallery show I had called "Journey To The Kiva". The web fails to do just to just how captivating this print really is.