My fascination with the Sonoran Desert began when I first saw the Walt Disney documentary, "The Living Desert," as a boy growing up in the domesticated landscape of Iowa. Arizona was where the land and the sky humbled and simultaneously exalted humans. The desert may be harsh and unforgiving to people who don't respect its nature, but it is also the most beautiful place I know. It is where I feel most alive, especially when the temperature soars above 110° and the humidity drops into the single digits. Something happens to light in the hot, dry air of the desert. The wildness is revealed -- in monsoon storms, in the sweeping vistas of rock and cactus, in the creatures that struggle and adapt to survive here. There is a sublime magic to this place and that is what I try to capture in my photographs.