The Mittens.

This afternoon, I stumbled upon a blog devoted to sharing photos. The description on the Round Robin Photo Challenges page states:

Welcome to the official information and update journal for the Round Robin Photo Challenges. This is where you will find all the details for each photo challenge, such as the subject, the link to blog or journal where each challenge is being hosted, and all updates to the players participation lists.

The current challenge can be found at “Round Robin Challenge: Landmarks:”

Again, let’s take an opportunity to show off our hometowns. I live in the Bay Area, so I have no real shortage of recognizable landmarks, so what I would do is try to show those landmarks in an interesting lighting circumstance, such as a sunset, or under special lighting conditions. But I want to see other places, and the landmarks that make those places so special. A beautifully designed building, an incredible bridge, or a monument of some sort, or maybe even an unusual road sign. It’s all good!

Unfortunately, there’s no landmark in my current home town that I want to show off. As the Mayor and Council continue to make decisions that destroy what was special about Wickenburg — cutting down tall trees bordering a park, allowing new housing developments where there were once horse trails, approving road construction that will destroy the downtown riverfront — I prefer to look away, to the places that remain unspoiled.

I get around a lot — probably a lot more than most folks. And I visit a lot of landmark locations in the Southwest. And I usually have a camera with me. So there were a lot of “stock” photos in my iPhoto library to choose from. Many of them represent places I wish I could spend even more time.

I chose The Mittens — or the Mitten Buttes — in Monument Valley. Although the Tribal Park overlook where I took this photo is in Arizona, the buttes themselves are in Utah. This isn’t a terribly special photo — it was taken from the ground at a viewpoint every tourist stops at. But I like the lighting of this shot. It was an October morning, with light coming from the southeast. I like the way it illuminates the rock in the foreground, giving it texture and color far more interesting than the famous monuments that stand beyond it.

So, for what it’s worth, this is my entry. I hope to be a regular participant.