Sandia

David Muench has long been recognized as a master landscape photographer. He has photographed from North America to the ice of Antarctica, the timeless space of Mongolia, the marvels of Iceland, Patagonia, Morocco, Africa, Belarus, New Zealand, and Australia. Ruth Rudner is the author of many books about mountains, from the Alps to the Rockies, two of them collaborations with her husband, David Muench.

This quiet, reflective, and beautiful photo-essay is a love poem, a gentle evocation, and a heartfelt appreciation of Sandia Peak, a mountain the author and photographer have lived near and been nurtured by for many years."" - John Nichols, author of My Heart Belongs to Nature: A Memoir in Photographs and Prose ""It's high time a book such as this was written. Ruth Rudner does an exemplary job of bringing into focus the conflict and resolution of the nearly 270-year-long saga of the mountain held sacred by the original inhabitants of the Rio Grande Valley who regarded Sandia as their mountain and the more recent residents of the valley who consider the Sandia Mountains the soul of Albuquerque and a part of the fabric of their life. It is also a personal narrative and a good read. Add to that the incomparable images by David Muench. Anytime David Muench releases the shutter is cause for celebration! His photographs evoke the mood, personality, and beauty of the mountain known as Sandia."" - Mike Butterfield, author of New Mexico's High Peaks: A Photographic Celebration