'PAST, PRESENT or FUTURE?’ WINS HONORABLE MENTION WINNER AWARD IN INTERNATIONAL COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
In this other-worldly landscape of the parched earth of NE Iceland, a fumarole vents volcanic vapor, while distant figures appear eerily shrouded in steam - all evoked within me images suggestive of earth’s Biblical past, desert-land present, and, if unchecked, climate-warming future. It was a curious scene for me in many ways. In such an an arid, forbidding landscape, volcanic hot gases and steam rise up from this and other volcanic vents in the seeming infertile Icelandic desert soil, dramatizing a dichotomy between what we see on the surface and the energy that can lie beneath. Why are those figures in the distance wandering among the steam and emitted volcanic gases in this forbidding geothermal field?
A fumarole is a hole or opening in the earth’s surface which vents hot volcanic gases and steam. Often found in geothermal fields near or on the sides of a volcano, which during an explosive eruption, gave birth to the fumarole by depositing hot ash and shattered rock over a surrounding wide area. The fumarole is a cousin to geysers and hot springs, as they are the result of ascending hot magmatic fluids mixing with near-surface ground water. If the heat source is not sufficient to boil water, a hot spring occurs, for example. If, on the other hand, the magmatic fluid super heats the groundwater and it rises to the surface, a fumarole is created that will vent a variety of gases and vapor or steam that you see in this image.
I am thrilled that the distinguished jury of the International Color Awards awarded, PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE? an Honorable Mention Winner Award in international fine art competition. It is from my OF THE EARTH portfolio, where you will find other landscapes of Mother Earth in her amazingly varied, often dramatic, sometimes homespun, but always awesome guises.
PAST, PRESENT OR FUTURE?