Jason Robert O'Kennedy

@overarizona.bsky.social

454 Followers 124 Following

Arizona landscape photographer • Portraitures of Arizona's people, places, & things that make it unique with blurbs of its (forgotten) history. About: https://bit.ly/3ZgZKjR #largeformatphotography #black&white #landscapephotography #arizona

The Saguaro, giant of the desert, Stands sentinel, a watchful eye. For centuries he'd weathered storms, Drunk deep the rain from summer skies. But time, the sculptor, knows no rest, And slowly, surely, life departs. The verdant skin, once a vibrant green, Now hangs in tatters, worn and torn. The ribs, once hidden, now exposed, A skeletal dance beneath the sun. A silent homage to the earth, From which all life, its journey's begun. The Old One bows, a graceful arc, Returning dust unto the ground. A cycle endless, ever turning, Life giving way...
Titled: Muerte de un Saguaro No2 | (Sp.) Death of a Saguaro
Titled: Cerro de la Virgin Bajo la Luna Standing high above the desert floor at an elevation of 5,300 feet in the Huachuca Mountains, Our Lady of the Sierras is a 31-foot statue of Mary. From Our Lady’s high perch, she faces the sprawling San Pedro Valley several hundred feet below. Her arms are outstretched, with her right arm pointing to a 75-foot Celtic cross nearby while her left arm points to the Mexico-Arizona border just a few miles away.
Titled: Artenesales de Piedra The modern-day name Church Rock, was originally named, Artenesales de Piedra (Eur. Sp. Sculpted Rock). This terrain reference was used by the Mexican merchant and explorer Antonio Armijo famous for leading the first commercial caravan party between Abiquiú, Nuevo México and San Gabriel Mission, Alta California in 1829–1830. Armijo’s route, the southernmost and most direct, became known as the Armijo Route of the Old Spanish Trail.
Titled: Puerta del Cementerio This cemetery was in use during the the early 1800s, when the community was under the management of Franciscan friars. The first burial recorded here was by Father Ramon Líberos on October 1, 1822. Like the church, the walls that surround the cemetery were made of sun-dried adobe covered with lime plaster. There are fourteen niches in the cemetery walls which would have contained carved or painted depictions of the Stations of the Cross, a necessity for any Catholic church. A small door in the western wall (as shown in this image) was the only entrance to the otherwise fully enclosed space. Inside the cemetery there is an uncompleted, round structure, the mortuary chapel -- this was a place where family members could spend time with their deceased loved one before burial. (Source: Tumacácori National Park)
Titled: Retrato de un Mustengo Blanco The Salt River Wild Horses are a historic population of unbranded, unclaimed, wild and free-roaming horses that were born in the wild and merit protection within our National Forest. Back in 1890 these wild Iberian horses, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse, were referred to as “native animals”. To classify the free roaming horses as native, there would have to have been a minimum of 5 or 6 generations who knew about their existence (equal to 100+ years), proving they existed here since at least since 1790. (Source; Salt River Wildhorse Management Group)
Titled: La Misión de San Xavier del Bac Mission San Xavier del Bac, sometimes called The White Dove of the Desert, sits ten miles south of downtown Tucson on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation. Patronato San Xavier ( https://patronatosanxavier.org/ ), a nonsectarian nonprofit organization, has launched the ‘White Dove Campaign’ to restore the East Tower of San Xavier del Bac. It is a major project in the continued effort to restore and preserve the structural integrity of this 200-year old National Historic Landmark.
Titled: Aspen and Boulder Fort Valley, Arizona
Titled: Dilapidated DC3 Ephonage The now-abandoned Gila River Memorial Airport, which consists of a half-dozen large airplanes in various stages of decay, lies still in the middle of the desert in South-Western Chandler. Built in 1942, the airport once played host to aerial operations during World War II. Today, it has become a popular destination for daring taggers, photographers, videographers and adventurous Instagrammers. Note: A Gila River Reservation permit is required to visit this location.
Titled: Elvis Memorial Chapel The chapel was a movie prop that was built for the 1969 Elvis Presley western, Charro! - which was the only movie Elvis made in which he did not sing. Survivor of two fires, one in 1969 at the Apacheland Movie Studio, and one in 2004 where it was only one of two structures that survived the Valentine's Night blaze. At least 10 buildings were lost. The chapel was later donated to the museum by Sue and Ed Birminghamby and was taken down piece by piece, nail by nail, then reconstructed on the museum ground. Most of the building is original but the stained glass window is new. And, the steeple had to be replaced because not even Elvis could stop the bad guys from blowing it off! Today, it still serves as a wedding chapel as it did when it was first constructed at Apacheland.
Title: Cerro de Taca The name Picacho Peak is etymologically redundant: picacho means 'peak' in Spanish (Sorry folks; not from the anime character, Pikachu ;). In 1775 the peak was referred to as Cerro de Taca, or 'Taca Hill' by Father Francisco Garcés, using the Oʼodham name Tcacca or Taceo. It was also called Picacho del Tucson (Sp. 'Tucson Peak') in the past.
Titled: The Santa Cruz Bells rang here for the first time at the end of World War I on November 11, 1918, when Bishop Henry Granjon, after hearing about the surrender of Germany, ran to the church as it is still under construction, climbed the steps of the tower, and rang the bells to announce Armistice Day to the city of Tucson. The church, whose name means "Holy Cross", was dedicated just a few months later in February 1919.
Titled: Verde River Cascade | THE VERDE RIVER is the only perennial waterway remaining in Arizona. Though its flow is puny in many places, it is never dry. It drains more than 6600 square miles of Arizona's high Colorado Plateau and mid-level river basin region and records show that over an eighty-eight-year period of time it discharged 657 cubic feet per second near its mouth, making it second only to the Salt in annual intra-Arizona drainage. For many thousands of years its waters, a critical source of food, drink and shelter, have been a magnet for all animals, man included. Prehistoric people channeled the water to grow irrigated crops. Modern newcomers felt that they could do the same. And so they set about transforming nature by "taming" the "raging" floods and by "harnessing" the "fitful" streams and rivers, forgetting that Nature did not design Arizona to support farms and fountains, cities and subdivisions, smelters and swimming pools... (Source: A LOG OF THE VERDE: The "Taming" of an Arizona River - by James W. Byrkit)
Titled: Outcrop Located near Little Granite Mountain, Prescott, Arizona.
Mike Burns, born Hoomothya, was around eight years old in 1872 when the US military murdered his family and as many as seventy-six other Yavapai men, women, and children in the Skeleton Cave Massacre. One of only a few young survivors, he was adopted by an army captain and ended up serving as a scout in the US army. Born in the shadows of these very peaks, known as Four Peaks today, said his people called them: "Wee-ka-ja-hor", meaning, "Four notches or cuts, as with an axe."
Two distant, solemn souls share cracks of granite in silence unaware that the perfect rhythm of their hearts causes ripples on the lake Aspen leaves to shimmer changes the static disturbance of the atmosphere forever..
Cibecue Falls, AZ On August 30, 1881, United States military commanders ordered the arrest of Nochaydelklinne, a spiritual leader and dreamer, thought to be exciting unrest among Apaches residing along Cibecue Creek. Shortly after the malicious arrest, while the 6th Cavalry was nervously setting up camp on the creeks western bank, hundreds of Apaches surrounded the camp incensed Nochaydelklinne was seized without cause. Shots were fired and a battle ensued, resulting in the deaths of Apaches and soldiers; Eastern papers reported that "Indians Massacred 117 Soldiers" as "The Cibecue Masacre" - the final count was only six. Nochaydelklinne was shot point-blank by a soldier. Later, after finding Nochaydelklinne was miraculously still alive, another soldier decapitated him. After months of distrust, the Apache broke from the reservation to reoccupy their traditional lands. However, they were incessantly hunted by the army - killed or forced to return where they are still today. (Source; Keepers of Western Apache)