Sandstorm Over Monument Valley Story...

     Once a lowland basin, it took hundreds of millions of years to erode the Rocky Mountains and then deposit those layers progressively along these lands. Slowly the terrain became an uplift as these deposits and the ceaseless underground pressure gradually elevated the horizontal strata in rather uniform layers now reaching one to three miles above sea level. What once was a basin is now a plateau. The past 50 million years have allowed water and wind to further erode and shape the valley and the surface of the plateau, which reveals the long geologic history of Monument Valley in the Navajo Nation.

     The first time I drove into Monument Valley, it was sunrise. The silhouette of the nearest buttes against an intensely colorful, beautiful blue at the top, orange in the middle and red at the bottom sky is nearly impossible to imagine and to believe that what you are seeing is real. The 17 mile driving loop weaves its way past buttes of all sizes and shapes. Each butte has its own name based upon its unique shape such as the famous east and west “Mitten” buttes that look like a pair of mittens. The weather can change abruptly leading to a treasure trove of variation in the sky and lighting at sunrise, throughout the day and at sunset.

     Film director John Ford used Monument Valley as a location for many Westerns between 1939 and 1960. One filming location, featured often in his movies, is now known as John Ford’s Point - a promontory at the edge of a plateau overlooking a large area of uneven, undulating desert land with several peaks (buttes and mesas) in the distance.

     On my more recent pilgrimage to Monument Valley, while I was making arrangements to have a photo shoot with “Spirit,” the horse at John Ford’s Point, the winds kicked up. Everyone ducked their heads to avoid the sand getting in our eyes. When the wind softened, I turned to watch the storm make its way across the valley. I grabbed my camera and ran into a position that would create a framed landscape of the valley and the storm as it passed over the buttes in the distance. Between the wind and sand blasts I remained composed enough to capture the details of Monument Valley, the buttes, the mesas and the sandstorm skies!

     With stormy skies above, the contrast of light and dark is simply captivating, lending itself to the splendor of contrast
found in black, white and every shade of gray in between, in the style of the legendary photographer Ansel Adams. Not only witnessing this scene, but securing it through my camera lens to preserve and present it is an honor and a privilege.

     I have made friends with the Navajo people. The Navajo mean everything to these lands and these lands means everything to the Navajo. The “Spirit” of this land now lives in me and will be with me forever.