Quest To The West. Bryan Shane

      uest to the West

      A Photographic and Poetic Exploration of the American Southwest d Photographs: Bryan Shane ~ Poetry: Patricia Lafferty ~Design: Sholom Wargon

      Copyright 2014 Bryan Shane. All rights reserved. Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com ISBN 9781456623357 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means — including information storage and retrieval systems — without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. Cover Image: Golden Glow, Grand Canyon, South Rim

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      Foreword This is a journey into some of the world’s most beautiful and inspiring landscapes. In the fall of 2012, my wife Patricia and I left our Ottawa, Canada abode in a small motorhome to see and record photographically some of the grandeur of the American southwest. Quest To The West is a visual and poetic record of our first expedition to this area. Our first stop was Sault Sainte Marie in northern Ontario. A relaxing day trip aboard the Algoma Railroad gave us the opportunity to capture the pristine beauty of the rivers, lakes and granite rock formations of the Agawa Valley: the same rugged terrain, punctuated by fall colours, that inspired the Group Of Seven decades earlier. Our next stop was Badlands National Park in South Dakota. Our long drive across the US Midwest was punctuated by gale-force winds. We’d seen hoodoos before in Alberta, Canada near Drumheller, but were unprepared for the vast panorama of massive and sharply eroded buttes and hummocks. The breadth and depth of the spectacle left us speechless. From the Badlands we travelled to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. We arrived late in the season, just before the park was to close for the winter. We had only two short days to capture the lakes, canyons, rivers, and Yellowstone’s famous geothermal feature, Old Faithful. Close by, we also visited Grand Tetons National Park, bringing the major peaks of the Tetons Range and the northern sections of the Jackson Hole Valley into our crosshairs. Further along our route was Utah’s magical Bryce National Park. Its elevated rim afforded stunning views of a sea of red, orange and white pinnacles lining the valley floor. Neither the photos we’d seen of it previously nor our own preformed mental images of it did it justice.

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