John Simmons
Sacred Place
Los Ranchos, New Mexico





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Sacred Place
Along the Rio Grande in the Albuquerque area and in view of Sandia Mountain, is a precious vestige of the natural world: the Bosque. Before humans arrived, the Rio Grande meandered through a many-mile-wide flood plain of a cottonwood tree forest. After a few hundred years of human inhabitance the present-day Bosque is only narrow strips of partly wooded flood plain along a straightened Rio Grande all constrained between levees a mile or so apart. Nevertheless, it is a place of recreation, reflection and enjoyment of nature for walkers, cyclists, joggers, equestrians, bird watchers, and all who frequent its trails. To me it is sacred. It reflects the joy and beauty of life and light of the natural world. Photographing the Bosque returns me to the many days of my youth exploring similar areas to satisfy my boundless curiosity about nature.
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My primary intent is to publish a book of these photographs along with brief verses or captions about each one (yet to be written). A second objective is for exhibition in local galleries. I expect the prints, matted and framed, would be appropriate to the gallery space. Some have already been exhibited local photography shows.