Chimney Rock Panorama

Title: Chimney Rock Panorama - Ghost Ranch, New Mexico

Capture Date: September 15th, 2008 2:54 PM

Process: High-Resolution Digital Panorama

Artist’s Statement:

The vistas from almost any point in the high-desert of Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch are all breathtaking, but this particular point in space and time has held a place in my heart ever since I first experienced it. I had just returned to my homeland of New Mexico after years of working in the city of San Francisco. As soon as I could, I made a pilgrimage to Ghost Ranch, a place held dear in my heart from childhood summer camps spent within it’s canyons. 

As a child, my sisters and I would take sunset hikes in the hills above our house in Chimayó, I found a beautiful comfort in being immersed within the immense space of the New Mexico sky, surrounded by the sculpted forms of it’s geology, and walking over the bright colorful earth that reveals it's self anew with the erosion from each precious rainstorm. Sometimes we would watch the brilliant stars come out while philosophizing of our place in the universe. The vista from Chimney rock embodies all of this with an ineffable lightness, and I felt particularly blessed to be there on this day. 

The monsoon clouds were gathering in the afternoon providing shade and a light breeze for the hike up. After being in the city for so long, the desert air felt clean and light, and every breath smelt of piñon, indian paintbrush flowers, and the earth’s delight to feel the rain again. Standing on this ridge I was overwhelmed by childhood memories of being here, relishing all of the elements in such a grand theater, and the feeling of being welcomed home.

~ Amadeus Leitner