Dwarfed by Cataclysmic History – Wall Art

Description

We live in an epic place. Big, knotted trees, wild rivers,
snow-covered peaks and astonishing vistas seem to be around every corner
in this glorious state, but few places can make you feel so small as
you do standing riverside at Smith Rock.

The otherworldly and gravity-defying formations that make this
outcrop the best sport climbing destination outside Europe are actually
hardened ash, spewed out of a volcano when the land dome above it
collapsed into the 230-mile Crooked River Caldera. The scale and drama
of this cataclysmic event are captured in the rock, and that’s what Joe
was pondering when setting up this late-afternoon shot.

In it, a hiker’s scale is compared with that of the foreboding rock
wall that seems to stretch up forever, pockmarked by giant air bubbles
previously trapped in the compressed ash. The angle of the path offsets
the faults and textures of the rust-colored rock, and speaks to the
uphill journey she must still make as night approaches.