Late March a friend and I drove out to Monument Valley in Utah for a 3 day long photo trip. Its been a dream to visit the area for a very long time so I was excited to finally get out there and see this amazing place for myself. Driving from Los Angeles to southeastern corner of Utah took around 11 hours and we were treated to some amazing southwestern desert landscape along the way, as we got closer to our destination things started to get worrying, the closer we got the more the winds picked up and dust storms started appearing, by the time we reached Monument valley a full on storm was underway, not the ideal weather for photography, needless to say I was a little concerned. We checked into the Monument Valley hotel and I was treated to some ferocious sandstorm views from my balcony as you can see. The dust that blew up created a landscape that wouldn’t look out of place in a science fiction film, Tired and apprehensive about the weather situation I retired for the night.
The next morning we were up at 5am, our guide was picking us up early to get out into the valley for our first sunrise shoot. It was a bitterly cold March morning and thankfully the previous nights storms had passed, Ray our guide picked us up in his SUV and we headed out into the valley in total darkness. The road through the valley is fairly bumpy and uneven, SUV’s are recommended, while bouncing around in Rays car I could just make out the silhouette’s of the three most famous mittens through the window as we traversed the rocky road around them, those butte’s were to be the subject of a later sunrise, now we were heading deep into the valley and the further we progressed the more twilight was starting to illuminate the area and more of those giants I could see towering over us.
Our first stop was Totem pole, this structure is perhaps the most unique in the area, thousands of years of erosion by wind and inclement weather have left these monolithic artifacts towering over the valley, it is quite an incredible sight to see these sandstone formations standing there. One wonders how some of them are still standing so tall, and how many years before mother nature stakes her claim and topples them into the ground below. To see the sun rising behind totem pole and the other rocks there is a sight to behold, it is very easy to see how the Navajo people are so spiritual, if I lived here and was able to look out over this land every day I feel it would alter my beliefs completely. At the base of totem pole is some of the most orange crystalline sand I have ever seen, this made for some great shots with the rocks in the background as you can see, so many images present themselves to you here, its really a matter of just lining up the shot and keep clicking, for the whole sunrise it was just the three of us, the ambiance and lighting given off with a sunrise is so different from a sunset and thus made this part of our trip a truly magical experience.
With the sun now up and shining over the domain we packed up and moved on around the valley, it wasn’t long before we encountered some wild horses in which our guide stopped the car to let them pass by, I jumped out and managed to grab a few shots before they moved on, they wouldn’t let me get too close, so I did my best framing them up against the rocks and am fairly happy with the results. Moving on we drove around and stopped at a few other interesting rocks and areas with fascinating erosion before we stopped at another incredible lookout spot called John Ford point. Here, there is a guy on a horse, give him Ten Dollars and he rides out into the most Western~Cowboy~ Marlboro Man photo opportunity you will ever see.
With the morning photo trip out of the way we headed back to the hotel for lunch, and a couple of shots of the main mittens from the hotel, you can read more about what happened that day in part two coming very soon.
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