Spring Rain

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Monument valley is normally a hot, dry, dusty place. A desert. You need to carry water as you trek across it lest they find your poor coyote chewed bones spread across the dunes. But in the Spring things can change dramatically as you see here. Storms come rolling in out of the Baja and dump a huge amount of water on land that is ill-equipped to hold it.

As the rain hits it begins to run off the land filling the arroyos and washes to capacity, picking up sand and small rocks, tearing along in a ferocious torrent until it begins to move the larger boulders and other debris along with it. A short distance away there is a famous slot canyon called Antelope canyon where you can see full-sized tree trunks lodged 50′ up in the crevices of the canyon walls, placed there by water from a storm just like this one raging through it.

This day the storm was one of the milder ones. There was rain but it didn’t last that long. There was runoff but it was manageable. Fog and low-lying clouds obscured the buttes and towers giving the observer a  very different picture of Monument Valley. No stagecoaches tearing along the road in front of the Mittens and Mitchell butte today. And if there was you wouldn’t have been able to see it as the visibility was practically zero down at ground level.

This was a day of looking at the valley from a distance. There was no admittance into the valley as the roads inside are made up of sand and clay and turn into a quagmire as soon as water touches them. Driving on them without four-wheel drive was next to impossible and pretty close to impossible with it, as the muck sticks to your tires and will soon fill up your wheel wells with a solid granite-like mixture you have to dig out with a small spade.

This condition doesn’t last very long because as soon as the sun comes out it dries everything up and the road returns to its near concrete-like state. This is a strangely beautiful time to view the valley, one not seen all that often. The mammoth rock formations appear out of the fog like huge ships passing by in the strange muted light, soundlessly, leaving no wake. Every sound carries across great distances. You can hear the final streams of water falling down the stream beds, rocks striking each other until they come to a new resting place. There seems to be a dearth of bird calls, the ravens quiet until the fog begins to thin and drift away. Then they call out in single note if you can call a ravens call a note, it’s more like a raspy croak, checking on each other to see how they fared through the storm.

The weather is changing despite the denials of some of our leaders and it is uncertain what the future will bring. There is a drought going on out on the west coast and since many of these desert storms begin there the question is will we see rain in the desert in the spring. I believe I’m just going to go and see for myself. Come on along if you want.

Monument Valley

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This is Monument valley at 6 in the morning. It is cold here even though it is late April. You need a heavy coat and gloves and if you have a bald head like some of us you need a hat. Preferably one of those Russian kind made out of polar bear-wolf hybrids with ear flaps you can tie around your belt loops so the wind doesn’t blow it off. We didn’t need the tie downs this day as there was no wind. You also need lots of determination to stand out here waiting for the sun to come up.

It seems twice as cold as it is when you’re waiting. Stamping your feet helps some. Shivering is good. But what really saves the day is a hot thermos of strong black tea. No sugar, no milk, black as my last wife’s heart, as they say around the campfire at divorce school. That’s what gets you through the waiting, that and the thought of how gorgeous it’s going to be in a few minutes.

Everyone has seen pictures of Monument valley’s butte’s and spires, the colossal towers and the long views down the valley from John Ford’s point. They are the reasons many people come here, but there are other smaller views that are just as captivating. This one for instance.

Back behind the Totem pole and Yei Bi Chei is a place that is off-limits to visitors unless you have a guide. My guide whose Navajo name loosely translates to “Looks In My Wallet”, no I’m kidding, it actually means “Reaches Into My Wallet”, no, wait, I’m kidding again, it actually means Ed, brought me to a perfect spot to watch the sun come up behind the Totem pole. Behind where we had set up the camera gear was this dune and overhead our timekeeper the moon moving across the sky, clearing it of any obstacles that may hinder the sun’s passage. Ed said he liked this spot not only for the view of the sunrise, but if the wind was blowing which it does with startling frequency here in the valley, it was a protected place. The way he said it, in that low Indian voice made it sound much wiser than it really was. That’s one of the reasons you need a guide, you’d never figure that out on your own.

Ed was an interesting guy in his own right. He has been a stuntman in the movies, riding horses, falling off of them, “you don’t need much training for that ” he said, an extra in many of them, a guide around the valley and a sought after one at that, as he photographs the valley himself and knows all the good spots. He also tends to have a store of helpful tips for the visiting photographer. “When you fall and roll down the dune try not to get sand up your nose” was one of his favorites. “Don’t touch that it’s poisonous” was another. He said this even if what you were touching was actually poisonous or not. All in all he was a good guide and we weren’t lost for very long anyway. “An Adventure” he said, “to  tell your grandchildren.” I don’t think we were lost, I just think he liked to see me carry 40 lbs. of gear through ankle-deep sand.

But the places we went were worth every moment of Ed’s wit. I remember this one the most because it seemed to be more about the desert than all the daytime shots of the monuments and far-reaching vistas put together. As there was no wind the silence was complete, except maybe for Ed’s wheezing, and the far off calling of a raven waking up, and the colors, the colors were something you had to experience. They began to form out of the darkness and became richer and more intense as the sky lightened. The deep nearly mahogany color of the sand against that impossibly blue sky. The yellow highlights on the Rabbit brush just becoming visible and of course the moon, impossibly white against the background of the heavens. This is why one becomes a photographer. For the image of course but also for the memories. And maybe for the chance of a brief visit with Ed. No, it’s the memories.

Going To Check The Mail

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We all have our morning routines. Sometimes it’s just opening the front door and picking up the newspaper, or walking out to the curb to see if the mails come yet. Some of us have to make the arduous trek down three flights of stairs balancing a steaming hot cup of tea to the office to check the messages that may have come in overnight. Or you might turn on the TV to catch CNN to see what major catastrophe has caught the world unaware while you were sleeping. Whatever it is it’s a good bet you do it every single morning.

Others less fortunate than us, who live in a different place, like maybe Monument Valley, have an entirely different routine. They might have gotten up with the sun and dressed quickly because it is cold here in the morning in this open place, after all the deep blue starlight has been falling on this land all night long and that makes the ground very cold. Hurrying to miss the morning rush hour they have to go out and catch their ride for the morning commute. Luckily traffic is light this morning so that’s a good start to the day.

It’s a couple of miles down to the road from the house, then 17 miles to the front gate out on hwy 163 where the mailboxes are. Before they put the boxes in they would have had to travel an extra 22 miles to Kayenta to get to the Post Office. There had better be at least a Sears catalog in there to make the trip worth while. By then it would almost be breakfast time and a stop at the Blue Coffee Pot restaurant for some frybread and coffee would be in order. Now since things have gotten fancy everywhere they can go to Burger King for a Sausage Breakfast Burrito, or even a Croisanwhich if they’re more adventurous. But when the fun was over they had the return trip back home to look at.

That usually took up most of the morning and after turning Roy out into the corral they still had sheep to shear, horses to brand, goats to milk, Hogan’s to repair, tourists to look at, the catalog to read and all kinds of other everyday stuff to do. Just speaking Navajo all day long is a chore. Just try saying ” Tó Dínéeshzheeʼ “ which is Dineh for Kayenta a couple of dozen times and you’ll see what I mean.

And of course their biggest and most important job was Scenery Inspection, making sure that nothing had changed overnight. That all the buttes and mesas and wide open spaces were still exactly where they were supposed to be. Nothing out-of-place and all is still right with the world, at least as far as The People see it.

I’m beginning to think my morning routine and my whole day for that matter, needs a little perking up. How about you, are you satisfied with your day.

Dark Days

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Summer is the time when we seem to have the most radical changes in our weather, especially as it concerns light. It can start out bright sun and clear skies and suddenly a storm will roll off the mountains and create huge towering clouds and everything goes dark. Then within moments the storm moves on and it’s sunny again. The trick is to be somewhere cool when all that changing is happening.

Fortunately that isn’t difficult around here. This place is so cool that just going to the dumpsters to dump the trash is neat. The place pictured above isn’t near the dumpsters however, I had to travel nearly five whole miles to be in the right spot for this shot. Yeah I know, epic journeys like that are the stuff of legend but when it’s an everyday occurrence you sort of just take it in stride. Coloradoans are an adventurous lot and when you’re a photographer to boot, well, there’s nothing we won’t do to get the shot. Even if means standing next to a busy highway with dangerous semi-trucks whizzing by blowing their horns because they think you’re parked too close to the roadway and you went and forgot your dumb sunglasses and there might be rattlesnakes somewhere nearby  and so on and so on. The risks are mind-boggling but we don’t care we’re bred for it. I must admit I’ve done even more riskier stuff to get the shot but those are stories for another time. And I can make up only so much of this stuff at one time, I mean with so many adventures under my belt it becomes difficult to remember them all.

With all the varied types of scenery we have it almost becomes a chore to decide where to shoot. This view is looking east, if you turn and look west you will see the foothills and towering mountains. To the south and slightly east the plains roll on forever and you can see straight ahead for two days. And that’s just the overview, as you look closer there are countless details that would take several lifetimes to photograph. Then add the seasons in the mix and you don’t know if you’ve been snakebit or struck by lightning because when it comes to making choices, you’re paralyzed. Now before I make this sound like it’s an impossible task I must confess that it’s not as difficult as I may make it sound, Jeez if you stumble and press the shutter right before your face smacks the pavement you’re going to get a great shot. It’s much more difficult to stay cool and suave looking while you’re working than it is to make magnificent photos. I mean you don’t want to look like some dweeb when you’re out here

So remember to look in your backyard when you want to take pictures, you might have a view out there just like this one that you haven’t noticed before. If you do grab your camera and get out there while the storms still here. There’s pictures to get took.

Colors, Patterns and Textures in the Southwest

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One of the incredible perks in having a job like mine is you get to see things like this on a regular basis. Sure there are many times where you don’t have the extraordinary light or the stupendous subject matter but then a lot of the time you do. And all you have to do is look at it and take it’s picture. How cool is that? Pretty damn cool actually. This is a shot of Navajo mountain from the Bryce area. What you don’t see in that picture is that it is a little after 6 in the morning early in the spring and it is very cold, like wearing two down jackets cold. At the time I took this it seemed much less glamorous than it does now looking at the end result. Now if that sounds like whining I don’t mean it to, there are just some facts of life about this job that aren’t apparent by looking at the photograph. Frozen fingers and numb toes aside this is a great job and I don’t ever want to stop doing it. I may wear three down coats next time however. And some gloves.

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Colors, Patterns and Textures is the name for this post and it has been the hardest to put together because of the difficulty in choosing images for it. This presentation could easily be several thousand pictures, if not more, long. The reason it isn’t is because I know that as much as you like looking at gorgeous images I’d lose you at about six hundred so I’ve decided to abbreviate this post and repeat it with different images every so often. This is a wall at Aztec Ruins National Monument built by the inhabitants when this place was occupied. Now whoever designed and built this wall knew what beauty was about. There is no architectural reason to use a row of the most beautiful blue colored rocks here but after seeing it could you have used anything else?

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The color of the sand, the texture, the play of shadows on the ripples of this small section of the dunes in Monument Valley is every bit as intriguing as the buttes, towers and monolithic rock formations that make up this world Heritage place.

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Simple patterns can be visually satisfying. This tree against an unadorned wall in Santa Fe has a zen-like attraction. The intense colors, while arresting in their contrast, can have a soothing effect and show that a small piece of the total view can be more rewarding than showing the whole picture (so to speak).

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While similar in composition to the image above, this scene also taken in Santa Fe, shows a more muted color palette. Same type of view but different light and time of day. You could stand in front of a composition like this for days and never take the same image twice.

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While walking through the dunes in Monument Valley after watching the sunrise you see all the details and patterns of this spectacular country begin to emerge. A desert newspaper recording the comings and goings of the creatures of the night. The tracks of a small mammal are crisscrossed with trails of insects and the morning light turns the color of the sand to a deep rich red. I take a lot of pictures but I think I take more of them here than any other place.

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You can begin to understand why artists like Georgia O’Keefe painted the subjects she did when you come across a pattern like this one momentarily displayed in the sand. I say momentarily because the next breeze to blow through here will erase this work of art in a heartbeat. That is unless you take a picture of it.

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Other patterns are created by man and will last for centuries. These petroglyphs are on a cliffside in Capitol Reef National Park.

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Texture plays a large part in my selection of things to shoot. Here the frozen sand has been turned to rock and although it looks like momentary waves in a sand dune it is here to stay. This is Antelope Canyon in Arizona and this dune is nearly a hundred feet under ground. The light comes from an opening in it’s ceiling that runs the length of the canyon.

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Waves of stone. How were they frozen in time? It certainly looks like that was what happened but this scene was slowly created over eons by the water that occasionally pours through this canyon. It is mind numbing to think of how long this must have taken. The result however is etched forever in my memory.