Perspectives of One Fine Morning at the VLA.

Day two and still at it :-)

The VLA (Very Large Array) near Socorro, New Mexico (closer, actually, to the town of Magdalena, but few other than mineral collectors would know where that is) is one of---if not the---Earth's largest radio telescopes for making observations in deep space. It has been popularized to quite an extent in literature and film, perhaps most notably (recently) in the movie "Contact" starring Jodie Foster, and has a bit of a cult following, if you will. In fact, I know someone who officially changed his surname to "Socorro" in honor of this installation. "Normal" people might consider this as appropriate as he does, but for perhaps different reasons...the same reason actually, but there is, as there always is, a matter of perspective. Glass half full, half empty..."Thou Shalt Not Steal", but Robin Hood's OK by us...that sort of thing.

Perspective is also something I like playing with in photography. I was one of those people that smiled and nodded then the class was instructed to see the room from the position of standing on one's desk in Dead Poet's Society. The first kiss of the sun on this landscape is subtly evident once one's eyes are bored with the image's main focus and wander down the railroad track.

We spent Thanksgiving in Magdalena and were on our way home to California when the sun was threatening to pop up over the horizon as we neared the VLA. Sensing the imminent PO (photographic opportunity), I encouraged my wife to develop a lead foot for the accelerator, then at the crudely calculated distance away from the target zone, the brake pedal. I hopped out and ran for the fence...no time to mess with digging the tripod out...and nearly did a classic freeze your facial skin on the frosty metal as I propped the camera to get what I wanted. f16 required a 3rd of second...hence the less than razor sharp focus on the antenna and immediate surroundings. I was nonetheless pleased with what I could see at the time on the D-70's viewing screen, because the technical aspects often take second place to "being there". When I am truly "doing photography" I am not "taking pictures", I am using the camera to fully engage myself to what I am seeing. Much as donning headphones and closing one's eyes allows one to much better listen to---rather than just hear---the music, a camera (pardon the pun) focuses one's attention on what one can see through it. In manipulating the camera, I often achieve, at least in part, in recording not just what I see, but how I see it. I cannot drive by or stand in front of this facility without contemplating the enormity and distances of the universe. Those elements are, at least for me, captured in this image and I am reminded of those thoughts when I view this photograph.