"PARADISE LOST, " PETRIFIED FOREST NATIONAL PARK

Paradise Lost uses Milton's great poem to illustrate abstract images of the two hundred twenty five million year old logs. The trees fell during the late Triassic, the time of the first dinosaurs. I photographed the logs as abstract expressionist compositions out of respect for their great age and striking presence. The logs are now brittle quartz and rainbows of colors are half-hidden or hidden from the casual eye. Milton's great poem seemed a fitting tribute to these icons from the distant past.