Guy Tal | Photographer, Author

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Shaft of light streams down the crevices of an eroded landscape.

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Time, light, and gravity in the desert.

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Gentle light in the blue desert.

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Watching the last of the sunlight in perfect silence, from the top of a large sand dune.

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Evening spotlight illuminates a large desert butte at the base of a remote mountain range.

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Late afternoon sunlight touches the peaks of large sand dunes.

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Chiaroscuro of light filtering through storm clouds, in a landscape of eroded ancient rocks.

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Ephemeral light traverses steep slopes of gray-blue clay, strewn with eroded sandstone boulders.

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The desert comes alive after profuse rainfall from monsoon thunderstorms.

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Sagebrush covered slopes glowing in late summer afternoon light.

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Light streaming through openings in storm clouds, strokes the curves of a sagebrush covered volcanic landscape.

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Golden light marks the end of a late autumn day on a high volcanic plateau.

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The canyon of a desert river illuminated by patches of light streaming through openings in storm clouds.

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Winter storm making its way down a deep desert canyon.

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"Like a ship moving into port, we of the desert come up into the night." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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"The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness." ~Vladimir Nabokov

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Light filtering through a thick monsoon storm cloud layer illuminates a canyon rim.

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Shafts of light piercing the cloud cover of a monsoon thunderstorm illuminatng desert cathedrals.

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Rock spires catching the last light of the day, separating them from a steep slope of rock.

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A beam of sunliught illuminates a small sagebrush shrub, and touches a single distant rock on the slope of a canyon beyond.

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The edge of a rock ledge catching the last of the winter's sun.

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Layers of colorful clay deposited in the Triassic period, glow in dappled light.

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Light filtering through clouds, meanders about the desert landscape, illuminating random parts of it.

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Chiaroscuro formed by cloud shadows and sunlight streaming through openings in the cloud cover, meandering over a large, dry, desert canyon.

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Sunlight pierces through a layer of clouds to illuminate spots in a canyon.

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Last light above the canyon of a desert river.

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Desert creek meanders through a remote canyon.

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Joshua Trees are so named because their human-like postures reminded some early Christian settlers of the prophet Joshua. I'm not sure whether people of other traditions had similar anthropomorphic ideas of these yuccas (not actually trees), but I can speak to the eerie feeling of camping among them, and being in their company in the twilight hours when my unconscious mind keeps seeing human figures all around me.

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The skeleton of a dead tree witnessing the arrival of evening on one side and the last light of the day on the other.

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The very last of the sunlight kisses the very tops of the cliffs as night falls over the desert. For some reason, in times like these is when I am most aware of the peace and silence and the absence of traces of humanity. These are also the moments I yearn for in other times.

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Small rocks form an other-worldly diorama. They are, of course, made of elements forged elsewhere in the universe, some by the violent explosion of giant stars; and some may yet become other stars and celestial bodies long after our solar system is gone.

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Although I did not plan for it, I found myself looking at this sheer cliff face, dozens of feet tall, at the exact time when an inches-thick layer of it caught the sunlight while the rest of the rock face was in shade. I suspect this only happens for a few days each year.

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The top of a nameless clay hill in a remote part of the desert, catching a shaft of light penetrating through a thick cloud layer. I will be very surprised if this hill has ever been visited, let alone photographed, by a human being.

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A bird-like shape emerges for just a few seconds on the desert floor as a winter storm passes through.

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This is a single exposure. I could describe what you are looking at, but I would rather not. I think the mystery is much more enjoyable.

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Sliver of morning sunlight paints a desert butte in golden hues before the storm clouds close in again.

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A patch of sunlight breaks the dreary monotony of a passing winter storm.

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In these high sagebrush plains, thunderstorms can be violent, but usually for short periods as storm cells wander around the landscapes. The light during such storms, on the other hand, can be profoundly peaceful and revitalizing.

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The steep slopes above the gorge of a desert river, show a green tint as ephemeral grasses sprout on a short-lived spring season.

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Grasses and mormon tea on the rim of a deep canyon, receiving the last light of the day.

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Last light on the rim of a deep canyon.

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Last light slowly fading from a small mound covered in desert plants.

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Sunrays piercing through thick thunderstorm clouds illuminate bits of the badlands.

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Streams of sunlight coming through breaks in storm clouds.

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Openings in storm cloud create spotlights over the badlands landscape and buttes.

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The skeleton of a long dead pinyon pine catching the last light of the day.

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Shaft of light shining onto a mat of soft grasses in a sheltered space behind a rincon (island of rock formed when a creek abandons its former path and switches to a new one).

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The ceiling of a sandstone alcove that thousands of years ago was home to a band of Archaic native people.

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Streaming cloud shadows flow over desert buttes as a monsoon storm approaches.

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Desert buttes glow in the last light on a hazy summer afternoon.

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Streaming cloud shadows flow over the desert landscape as a storm approaches.

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Shafts of light piercing through a cloud-laden stormy sky, caressing the slopes of a desert formation.

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Although seemingly solid to our short-lived perceptions, rocks move and flow, wave and splash.

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A river landing catches a ray of warm sunlight as a storm passes over the desert.

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Heavy cloud shadows and shafts of light reduce the desert scenery to simple shapes and colors.

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A rainbow appears over desert buttes in the light drizzle following the fury of a storm.

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The last shaft of light touches a desert butte before sunset, after a marvelous light show in the wake of a monsoon storm.

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Sunlight fades from the slope of a desert cliff.

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The profiles of ridges and buttes barely seen through the morning haze, colored gold by the early sun.

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The shadows of passing clouds float over the steep slopes of a desert mountain and its foothills.

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Low winter sunbeams caress the edges of the rim of a desert canyon.

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A rock profile and the tip of a cottonwood tree share a narrow beam of sunlight for a few moments each winter morning

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Last rays of light fade from a thin remnant of Jurassic sandstone perched atop colorful Triassic silt.

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Cottonwood tree branch adorned in new spring foliage, slowly fading into the evening light.

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Small desert plant receives its own ray of sunlight for a few minutes a day.

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Small chunk of sandstone illuminated by the last light.

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The last light of the day touches a small rock and brings out the texture of a sandstone slab.

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Small rock illuminated by the last of the day’s sunlight.

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Rock wren on a canyon's edge.

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“When I am among the many I live as the many do, and I do not think as I really think; after a time it always seems as though they want to banish me from myself and rob me of my soul - and I grow angry with everybody and fear everybody. I then require the desert, so as to grow good again.” —Friedrich Nietzsche

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Wild burro among creosote bushes in the last light of the day.