What if you could touch a sunset?

This was easily my favorite photo from our recent trip to Moab. While we were there, we photographed Arches National Park at all hours, from dawn to dusk. I walked all the backwoods trails in 108-degree temps, nearly cooking myself in the process. The funny thing is that this photo was the last image I took of the park before heading back home. We had spent days scouting where we wanted to take the perfect sunset shot, and the clouds were never quite right, or the light was not hitting the scene just the way we wanted it to. In the back of my mind, I knew it was just going to be a cool sunset shot, but not a great tactile print – boy was I wrong.

Once I have a final photo that I want to make a tactile print out of, I run it through our process which analyzes the light and the texture of the scene, converting them into separate layers, then writes it to the format that can be printed with a 3d printer. The result really needs to be felt to truly be appreciated – just like with any tactile artwork. We debuted this image for the first time at The National Federation of the Blind Colorado State Convention last month and it was a big hit. I love that the nuances in texture of this piece can easily be appreciated as you feel from the rock tower to the sky.

Each and every time I get to be with someone who sees a landscape through touch for the first time it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. As an artist, many of us want to make that one piece of work that really resonates with someone or affects someone in a profound way. Each time we have shown this work, we have been honored to experience that moment with our viewers and it feels awesome to be able to facilitate that through this work.

We have scheduled our last trip with the wonderful folks at Flight For Sight @FlightforSight for early December. Where are we headed? What will be photographed? Stay tuned!