Monument Valley with Pinon Tree
Monument Valley, AZ 2013
My Navajo guide, Clifford, had taken many photographers into the valley and from them he learned the best places to shoot. We walked down the escarpment to a ledge with several dying pinon trees and he left me to it. I got it. Frame the mittens with the gnarled branches.
When I reviewed my photos, I wasn’t sure about the branches. There are so many of them. They could easily be distracting. How to solve that? You darken the branches and make sure the focal point, the mitten, stays higher on the gray scale. I must say this image is sharp. I used my Gitzo Monopod which has three legs that you can attach making it more steady. I used a small aperture, F16 or smaller. I’ve got detail in my whites and my blacks and a full grayscale. I’m happy with this photo.
Light and Dark
This is Flame House. I have so many shots of this that I’m ashamed to tell you how many. We were there a long time waiting for the sun to reflect off the canyon wall and give us some contrast. In the meantime, I tried shooting different angles. You never know which will turn out to be your best.
I chose one and worked on it in color. Near the finish I wasn’t happy and decided to start over but first wanted to give it one more chance in black and white. I liked this severely low key the best. Spooky! I’d never show this in photography class critique. We had to have all shades of the Zone System in our photos in those days. But now I can do what I want. I like the almost spiritual atmosphere created by the heavy blacks and stark whites. It’s as if the ancient Anasazi spirits still linger in the stone.
Contact Vaughn Hadenfeldt at www.faroutexpeditions.com Vaughn will show you Flame House and more.
You can ask for Clifford to take you on a photo tour of Monument Valley.
Contact: http://blacksmonumentvalleytours.com/