The Baha’i Writings are abundant with ecstatically beautiful mystical passages.

“After journeying through the planes of pure contentment, the traveler cometh to THE VALLEY OF WONDERMENT and is tossed in the oceans of grandeur, and at every moment his wonder groweth. Now he seeth the shape of wealth as poverty itself, and the essence of freedom as sheer impotence.

“Now is he struck dumb with the beauty of the All-Glorious; again is he wearied out with his own life. How many a mystic tree hath this whirlwind of wonderment snatched by the roots, how many a soul hath it exhausted. For in this Valley the traveler is flung into confusion, albeit, in the eye of him who hath attained, such marvels are esteemed and well beloved. At every moment he beholdeth a wondrous world, a new creation, and goeth from astonishment to astonishment, and is lost in awe at the works of the Lord of Oneness.

“Indeed, O Brother, if we ponder each created thing, we shall witness a myriad perfect wisdoms and learn a myriad new and wondrous truths.”
Bahá’u’lláh, The Seven Valleys

I have added a new gallery page to my website with 32 newly scanned photographs. Unlike the other 11 pages this gallery includes a variety of subjects. Many of these photographs were exceptionally difficult to scan due to flood and heavy mildew damage. Several had large deep scratches on their surfaces. Click here for the story of the flood that destroyed 15 years of my work. A few images such as the sunrise photographs needed no retouching or “Photoshopping.” I was simply lucky enough one day to awaken early and look out my front door. Many of the images are either untitled or need better titles than they have now.

Sometimes I have a specific passage or concept from the Bahá’í writings in my mind when I go out to take photographs. More frequently the assigned titles are afterthoughts. I have also gone on picture taking sessions with just a musical passage in my mind.

The new Gallery navigation page includes the quote that I cited above from Bahá’u’lláh’s greatest mystical work, The Seven Valleys. The passage describes perfectly what I feel when I find images in nature and capture them on film.