East Mitten Butte

February Six Word Photo Story: Freestyle

From The Storm Comes The Light

Seeing is believing.

As I drive across the countryside, I tend to drift off into mental oblivion. For hours on end, traffic whips past, pavement passes under, scenery changes.

Then your mind jumps.

What’s that? I know that, I’ve SEEN THAT!

A familiar outline, a landscape known in the deep recesses of your head that emerges from primordial thoughts. Childhood books and random internet searches have prepared you for this moment.

Except they haven't.

My ride rolled fast but the landscape approached slowly. The buttes of the Navajo Nation’s Monument Valley stole my gaze from the road. When I arrived and approached the viewpoint, it felt unreal. These places in the world, when viewed with your own eyes, can then and only then begin to make sense. If they ever make sense at all.

Story and photos ©Ian Hanson. All rights reserved.