Full Moon Panoramic

Poulsen Peak, Squaw Valley Ski Resort, California

Camera: Hasselblad XPan

What makes it special: Every day we are surrounded by powerful moments that we see with our eyes and feel with our hearts. They are uniquely ours. How they impact us and how we translate them define our world.

The story:  "I will never forget the first time Tom Day led me up to Squaw Valley's Poulsen Peak to witness the full moon's effect on fresh snow. We skinned up to our perch over the valley to watch the light change and move. I marveled at the scope and the depth of light here in Squaw, and I still do to this day.

From our perspective, new life emerges on the mountain. There's a beehive of activity. Skiers, who didn't get enough that day, explore the transition from day to night and the artificial illumination of Mountain Run. Mountain groomers prepare the slopes for the next day. A broad spectrum of light sources, some fixed, some moving, bounce within the valley's walls. There is unpredictable movement as broad wavelengths fill our beautiful valley with magic.

Over the next seven years I find myself here again and again and again, repeatedly failing to capture the full emotion within a frame. This perspective defines the mystique of this valley, but limited by technology, I am unable to translate it into art. The purity of the space is undeniable, but honoring it remains illusive. This journey has been another in my pattern of unmistakably knowing but always failing. Nevertheless, I'm ever driven by the relentless conviction that I will translate what I see and feel so clearly; solving these visual equations is my mission.

Full Moon Panoramic defies technological limitation in that, in this case, I finally did capture lightning in a bottle, but it took forever. However, the facility to translate what we experience will expand as technology evolves. Recognizing the ever-changing boundaries and searching beyond them to communicate the unmistakable moments I experience always draws my focus. Finding original perspective, beyond the standard paradigms of the current technology, remains my quest."