Sandstone Vantage Point features Muench’s classic technique of “near/far” while also utilizing the positive and negative space in an intriguing way. Close to home for Cline Library Special Collections and Archives, this photograph was taken on the opposite side of the San Francisco Peaks from Flagstaff. The rocks in the foreground almost form a window, but do not quite touch. The sky above the mountains therefore bleeds into the larger sky.
The playfulness of scale in terms of the stacked rock forms and the mountains in the background is common to David Muench’s work. For Muench, nothing had to be exactly how one would expect from a landscape photographer. He approached his shots from strange angles and unique perspectives, manipulating natural forms rather than merely documenting the landscape.
Sandstone Vantage Point was featured as the back cover of Arizona Highway’s September 1978 issue. It was also included in the book David Muench’s Arizona: Cherish the Land, Walk in Beauty (1997).
Taken near the San Francisco Peaks, Arizona.