Ah, the curvaceous Coronado Trail!! A bucket item for me. Not to be done in one day, however. So, with Jon and Phyllis Pardoll we (meaning Tom and I) took two days. We chose to drive up through Globe and the Salt River Canyon, spend the night in Springerville and then drive the Coronado Trail the next day. This trip will be covered in several posts over the next several days.
The best photo trips always include an unplanned side trip. We took care of that item right away by going to the Ray Mine which is about 15 miles south of Superior. There is an area where you can drive up and watch what is going on.
Before looking at these, know that my first reaction was WOW!! There is such an abundance of patterns, colors, textures, movement, huge enterprise, human activity on a grand scale. . . It is all there. But, there is a sense of loss, of damage to our environment, the beautiful mountains that surround you. . . Regardless of which feeling overpowers you the most at any given moment, consider going to see the mine in operation and also think about our dependence on metals, such as copper, in our everyday lives. You can start with your thinking about how much you rely on your cell phone.
A tip: If you want to give the viewer an idea of size perspective you can include a person in your image. Meet Jon Pardoll. Now, if you want to exagerate the perspective a bit you can capture the image with a fisheye lens (makes the foreground object bigger while making components further away even smaller). The point Tom is making is that this is a really BIG tire used by the hauling trucks. Thanks for playing along Jon!
I must really question the next image. Is this a photograph or a gorgeous watercolor?
From the viewing area, these immense trucks look like little ants! See the little (?) grader in between the huge trucks? Watch the video at the end to see just how this small guy moves about.
At some point I recognized an opportunity to see what a time-lapse movie would look like with the activity going on down in the pit. I only captured a very small one. But, it gives you the idea, in a very short time, of what goes on. I am going back to get more!!
We hope you enjoyed our images. Stay tuned. Up next is our drive through Salt River Canyon.