The Maricopa Wilderness and the AM Radio

On a hot summer day, I decided to head south to the Maricopa Wilderness to try and make a couple landscape photograph. On the picture hunt, I drove about 35 miles to the town of Maricopa and turned West onto a state route 238 heading toward Gila Bend. About 7 miles west of Maricopa, I turned onto a dirt road heading north, driving another five miles before taking another dirt road to the West. After about a mile or two, I reached a spot surrounded by granite mountains that opened up to a wide, scenic view of the desert.


This area is pretty remote, far from any paved roads or towns. Knowing it was a corridor for drug smugglers crossing from Mexico, I stayed aware of my surroundings as I set up my 8×10 large-format camera. Being out there alone with no cell service was a bit unsettling, so I turned on my truck’s radio. I couldn’t get an FM signal, but on the AM dial, I found A Prairie Home Companion, a radio variety show hosted by Garrison Keillor. It had folk and Americana music, along with light humor, which helped keep me relaxed.


The temperature that day was around 112°F, but the desert dryness made it more bearable. I set up my camera for a couple of compositions while enjoying the monsoon clouds rolling in from the Southwest. The dust stirred up by the wind added a lite atmosphere to the distant landscape.

I love how this experience has lasted in my memory all these years. For me this is how photography can be so rewarding to your mental health. The process of creating the isolation and the experience are forever embedded in my mind as something incredibly rewarding and personal. It really doesn’t matter if the photo’s makes it as a framed print on the wall it’s the experience that truly matters.


After returning to Phoenix, I processed the film and made a few silver gelatin prints. The photographs hold a personal significance to me because of the experience. Although, I do understand that others will view them differently. The viewer doesn’t have the foundation of the experience that I did. Ultimately, the connection someone feels to the photographs depends on their own interpretation. For me, sharing these images and telling their story is about inviting others to visualize the scene and create their own connection to the moment.