The medicine of ethereal light, for the long nights of winter

Some dates I don’t have to write down. One is whatever day it is in early spring that I get my first glimpse of a wild balsamroot bud about to burst open, like an exploding kernel of popcorn. From the inception of erupting balsamroot, spring in the inland Northwest unfolds, operatically, as green replaces brown, and yellows, purples, and cremes come into bloom, often in riots of color. All other things being equal, it’s a happier time to be here, all the more so if you’re a photographer.

On the back end, another date I don’t write down is November 1st, a day that (at least for me) brings an icy gust announcing the coming darkness of winter, with mats of fallen leaves damming the storm drains. The outdoor swimmer in me has to leave the water to avert hypothermia, the cook in me turns to soups, the writer to wistful messages like this one, and the photographer sulks, cleans the refrigerator and tries to catch up on his reading.

But.

There are antidotes and among them are the images that follow—the dances of solar light on the Ice Age-deposited cobbles and boulders strewn on the bed of the Spokane River. Honestly, they’re not just in the river. They’re all around us in Spokane. It’s just that most are hidden beneath a thin blanket of Holocene topsoil. In some places, the current of the river cleans both the grit and the algae—exposing the colors of the ancient mudstones, gneisses, schists, and granites that originate in the mountains of British Columbia, Idaho, and Montana. To be sure, there are lumps of home-grown, black basalt in the mix—but not as many as you’d expect. The epic imports of great flood cobbles dominate. Add sunlight and a camera and, voila!— an over-the-counter antidote to the long, dark nights ahead. (For purchase inquiries, send inquiries to me through the comment panel or at tjconnor56@gmail.com)

The Beautiful Wounds gallery images from 2022. Order inquiries– tjconnor56@gmail.com.

Upon Arrival, 30×50 paper/gatorboard, $430

Leaving Judith Pool, 16×20 metal, $320

Raindrops on Lupine, 20×30 metal, $600

Showtime, 16×20 metal, $320

Liquid Hoedown, 16×20 metal, $320

My Valentine, 16×24 metal, $384

Remind Me, 20×30 metal, $600

Hooded merganser in flight, 11×14 metal, $154

The Sky You and I Share, 24×36, paper on gatorboard, $300

The Ice Fan, 16×20 metal, $320

Devil’s Toenail, 16×24 metal, $384

Blue Darner Dragonfly, 16×20 metal, $320

Beyond Cellular Service, 16×20 metal, $320

Kings & Lupine, 24×36 paper on gatorboard, $265

The Feathers in February, 24×36 paper on gatorboard, $300

A Point of Defiance, 16×20 metal, $320

The Cosmos, 16×20 metal, $320

The Falls at Hawk Creek, 30×24 metal, $720

Heart of Dry Coulee, 24×48 paper on gatorboard, $500

Ramparts at Moses Coulee, 12×24 metal, $288

Golden Guys, 10×20 metal, $200

Footbridge to an Afterlife, 16×24 metal, $384

Ice Maze, 16×20 metal, $320

At the Turn, 16×24 metal, $384

Both Sides of the Falls, 24×36 paper on gatorboard, $300

Paint the Wall, 16×24 metal, $384

HU Ranch Coulee, 12×24 metal, $288

Preternaturally Orange, 16×20 metal, $320

Winter at Soda Lake, 12×24 metal, $288

As the Crow Flies, 16×24 metal, $384

Frenchman Falls & Stream, 16×20 metal, $320

Dance of the Shooting Stars, 12×18 metal, $220

Ice Age flood cobbles, 12×18 metal, $220

New Year’s Day, 24×30 metal, $720

String Theory, 20×30 metal, $600

Unreasonably Orange, 16×20 metal, $320

Storm Tracks, 10×20 metal, $200