Raquela Moncada
I spent the first years of my life on my family ranch outside of Corrientes, Argentina. It was there I was introduced, in a big way, to nature and its daily surprises.
In 2007, I relocated to Taos, New Mexico, with my three teenage children in tow! I married my husband Mark that same year.
As a girl I watched my father (a great adventurer) taking pictures around the ranch and documenting his travels. He gave me my first, very rudimentary photography lessons: how to center an object, making sure the sun was behind me, etc.
Since then a number of different cameras have passed through my hands, and I eventually decided to give my romance with capturing those moments in time a serious opportunity to grow.
I have always had a love for the patterns of nature. On my long walks on the beach with my dog Rooster, I began to notice that with the help of wind, water and the force of the tide, Nature was gifting me an incredible show right at my feet. With camera in hand, and with some tenacity and a whole lot of luck, I was fortunate capture these ephemeral images.
Walking through the woods near my home in Taos, I again found fine examples of nature’s sculpting. It is within these forests that I began my study of tree bark. The infinite patterns and colors presented added significantly to my portfolio. A stoic tree, as it turns out, can be an equally fine palette for nature to present its talents.
The abstract subjects of my photography, like the sand patterns within the dunes and along the shore line, are elusive and more often than not, very short lived. Juxtaposed against the ephemeral sand are the endless patterns found in simple tree bark, taking sometimes hundreds of years to be created. For this reason there is a profound beauty in the lack of control over nature’s offerings. I have charged myself to keep working on this not very Western idea of surrendering to the results. Nature cannot only be an incredible artist, but also a great teacher!
Often I imagine a much older version of myself still climbing those dunes, walking a shoreline, or hiking through a sub-alpine forest, with alert eyes and my heart anticipating with excitement of what I might see next. Along with the excitement comes a calm from knowing that Nature will always provide its magical touch, and continue to offer those wonderful daily surprises I fell in love with as a little girl on the family ranch.