Top of the Mountain

Taos Mountain (detail)

This is a morning photo, and the light is different. See the shadows of the tall trees on the snow?

I will never tire of these. I just can’t get over how the telephoto lens can reach out across the valley and put me into a place like this, the west side of the the summit of Taos Mountain. Whenever we leave our old rented adobe for the Land of Closets & Less Mud (i.e. almost any other house), this vantage point will be lost, but perhaps I’ll find another. Maybe I’ll even take more day trips and find more strangeness to explore.

I have a friend who owns a mountain, though he’s never shown it to me. He’s talked of waiting for herds of elk to cross the road and hearing the heartbeat of a mouse inside a mossy log beating like a drum inside his brain. Looking at the photo above, I can imagine anything unfolding up there, far from everyday beliefs. That’s what pulls me to these places. The thrill of the unseen, the intimation of something so much more and terrible.

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John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on About page. For a complete list of all John’s writing, photography, NFTs, and social media links, please visit JHFARR.ART  

  • journeymanjim February 24, 2013, 3:32 PM

    My wife & I just got back from a spin around the Arroyo Secco area where winter still has a firm grasp. Forested mountains are amazing spaces. And you can see the forest for the trees if you know where to look.

    Great pics man! This has been our every day view from Taos for the last several months now.

    • JHF February 24, 2013, 9:46 PM

      Far out! Glad you dig the photos. You guys up in Seco, then? Lots closer than I am. I know I bitch a lot, but damn, I like it here.

      • journeymanjim February 25, 2013, 5:26 PM

        No, we’re downtown right now & looking around the surrounding area for a house to rent. Yeah, we really like it here too. But you could have a whole lot more to bitch about living in plenty of other places with far fewer photo ops.

        • JHF February 25, 2013, 6:26 PM

          No damn kidding!

          We’re looking for a house to rent, too. Don’t get me started, as the saying goes. I know it’s just me, though. With the right attitude, you can fall right into something.

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