I have always wanted to shoot Monument Valley. The epitome of the wild west, conjures images of John Wayne riding horseback with Native Americans hot on his trail. When I left Canyonlands it was very cloudy and I was not sure that I would even venture into Monument Valley if I did not have a chance to get any good photos. My original plan was to camp in Monument Valley, but after talking to my camp neighbors at Canyonlands, I needed to come up with another plan. They had been there the day before and told me straight up…”you don’t want to camp there! It is just scratched out of a dirt field with no shelter and a pit toilet in the corner”. Oh yeah! That sounds like a great place to camp. They also said that you can get all the great shots without even going in.
When I arrived it was still very cloudy and now raining. I pulled off the highway to get the classic shot of the road stretching out straight towards the buttes made famous in movies such as Forrest Gump. While taking several shots a nice Australian bloke stopped and told me it only cost $5 to get in and was well worth it. He said the dirt road was pretty rough, but passenger cars could make it. He said after all Honda Civics were down there, mind you having a bit of trouble, but if you picked your line carefully you would have no problem. I was hesitant but decided to go on in, since who knows when I would be by this place again.
It was 2:30 pm and the native at the entrance said it would take an hour and a half to two hours to drive the loop. I thought, oh great that means 4-4:30 by the time I get out of here and I have no idea where I will camp for the night. I found the road to be easy being used to traveling Colorado’s backcountry.
My vision for shooting this scenery was to have primarily blue skies with some big puffy white clouds and didn’t think as cloudy as it was that I would end up with anything that great. On the contrary, the end result in my opinion is it only adds drama to this already dramatic scenery! But you be the judge.
After spending two hours making the loop I decided to push on through torrential thunderstorms to Page, AZ and get a hotel room for the night. After all, I was feeling pretty weary from a week on the road and yesterdays 11 mile hike.
Yeh, I agree. The clouds do add a sense of the forbidding. Also, in the photos it’s hard to get a sense of perspective on just how big the buttes are.
Dad, the buttes are about 1000′ tall give or take.
I love these new shots, I can just remember being there when younger, and it is amazing how much more they mean to me now that I’m older. It is funny how much I appreciate the beauty of the world that you are able to capture in your photography!! Makes me want to go along with you!!!
Wish you were here!