honorable mention
Zac Henderson united states
title
Draped Stone
We have existed for 0.00015% of our planet’s lifetime. The Earth was alien before we developed abstract thought, and will be again after we are gone. Continents, oceans, mountain ranges, atmospheres, and a cornucopia of species have experienced their entire life cycles before we were able to walk upright. The impossibility of realizing geological timescales is wonderfully frustrating exercise. In capturing parts of the planet that appear as though they are not, the work observes, recognizes, and developed a relationship with the planet and its history even though we are locked in the present. .
The hoodoos of “Draped Stone” are one such example of an unfamiliar feature. The ghostly white Entrada Sandstone, formed between 180 and 140 million years ago, can form hoodoos, or towers, carved by ages of erosion with a protective, less erodible rock on top. These hoodoos have lost their protective caps, but are still less eroded than their surroundings.
I am taken with the textile like qualities of this rock. It is almost as if fabric were draped over boulders to protect them from the elements.. It is a strange thing for something so opposite to fabric to take on any sort of cloth-like appearance, yet here we are met with a most bizarre sort of muslin almost asking us to look underneath. Viewed another way, the rocks appear like a congregation of imposing spirits overseeing their private desert cloister.
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entry description
Draped Stone, 2021We have existed for 0.00015% of our planet’s lifetime. The Earth was alien before we developed abstract thought, and will be again after we are gone. Continents, oceans, mountain ranges, atmospheres, and a cornucopia of species have experienced their entire life cycles before we were able to walk upright. The impossibility of realizing geological timescales is wonderfully frustrating exercise. In capturing parts of the planet that appear as though they are not, the work observes, recognizes, and developed a relationship with the planet and its history even though we are locked in the present. .
The hoodoos of “Draped Stone” are one such example of an unfamiliar feature. The ghostly white Entrada Sandstone, formed between 180 and 140 million years ago, can form hoodoos, or towers, carved by ages of erosion with a protective, less erodible rock on top. These hoodoos have lost their protective caps, but are still less eroded than their surroundings.
I am taken with the textile like qualities of this rock. It is almost as if fabric were draped over boulders to protect them from the elements.. It is a strange thing for something so opposite to fabric to take on any sort of cloth-like appearance, yet here we are met with a most bizarre sort of muslin almost asking us to look underneath. Viewed another way, the rocks appear like a congregation of imposing spirits overseeing their private desert cloister.
about the photographer
Zac Henderson is an editorial and fine art photographer. His work is heavily influenced by natural history, science, consciousness, and our place in the cosmos. His personal work seeks to challenge perspectives of the planet and present our world as if it wasn’t.back to gallery