The above link (click arrow above-left) is a field recording of the May 9th thunderstorm which is a media companion to the previous post of my photo showing the ominous storm clouds that were gathering in the skies above Arivaca, Arizona on that day.
A rare spring storm struck Arivaca on Wednesday May 9th. I was working on my ‘cob’ studio when I noticed a dark gray sky to the east and monsoon-like thunderheads building to the east-southeast. When I started hearing thunder above my head, I packed my tools and headed-indoors. That’s when I noticed the unusual cloud formation above my head. So I grabbed my Panasonic LUMIX FZ-35 digital camera and took the accompanying photo to this post.
The subsequent storm lasted about 2-hours with plenty of lighting and roaring thunder. I received about 0.53” of rain at my place. The initial lighting started a brush fire at the Arivaca Cienega and wind from the micro-burst blew the roof of a structure and the RV Park.
That’s the nature of these type storms in Arivaca.
A dust storm signaling the beginning of the 2011 summer monsoon season rolls into Phoenix early Tuesday eveing July 5th. Time elapsed. Digital Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ35. Photographed by Bart Santello. Music: A PRODUCE.
“Photographs from New Mexico” (Bart Santello - 2009)
After I took this photo, it reminded me of an ambient-electronic musician I listen to; Jeff Grienke, who has a CD titled “Cities in Fog”. I took the photograph on a December morning in the Roosevelt section of downtown Phoenix.
Anasazi architecture is still with us. The Pueblo Bonito ruin of Chaco Canyon in Northwest New Mexico is just one of many buildings in this desolate canyon, steeped in both mysticism and an ancient engineering accomplishment. What did this geometry mean to them? The idea of a circular room in the human context symbolized the prefered space of a wise person. We can ponder why this is so. We still have some remaining achitecture to examine and speculate on their story. In order to gain an insight into their thinking of symbolic space, I am recreating Anasazi architecture in my natural building projects in Arivaca, using locally available materials such as stone, clay, sand and straw. I plan to use the circular room I’m constructing as my studio for digital filmmaking and post-production. I feel sure the environment will be calming and insiring. Yet at the sime time I plan to be attentive to the idea of the “circle” and the thinking behind the motivation of the Anasazi.
Link to…CobStudio
Scott Hellon of Point of View Pictures examining an edit to his feature film “Decision to Ask Why” at Psychotropic Film’s Phoenix ‘post’ studio downtown. Photo by Bart Santello
The adobe out-building got hammered last winter when an El Nino storm with 70 mph gusts and 5” of rain pummeled the west wall and collapsed it when a section of lime plaster fell off and exposed the adobe wall to the elements. After 6-months of every other weekend working to restore the out-building, I appreciate the level of effort required to reconstruct the damage, the lessons learned from it; and all the good friends that came through in a critical situation.
I was driving down the Arivaca Road at sunset a few nights back and Baboquivari Peak was looking good as the foreground to a beautiful early monsoon season sunset. So I pulled over and took this shot at 16x with my Panasonic Lumix FZ35 digital camera. I’m glad I did.
