navajo nation

Stills in the slot canyon

In the heart of desert sandstone lay slot canyons carved by water as it courses down after sudden squalls. The sinuous walls of the canyon, etched by eons of wind and water, reveal intricate layers, like ancient manuscripts waiting to be deciphered. Wandering the multitude of canyons in Navajo Nation was a perfect opportunity to explore the delicate beauty hidden within rugged depths. A black and white treatment for these images helps focus on the patterns and details, rather than the muted colors that the canyon originally presented.

Navajo Nation
AZ USA

Sculptures of Sand

Sculpted by wind and time, the ancient sentinels of Monument Valley stand as testament to the rugged beauty of the desert southwest. Their stoic presence speaks of resilience, whispering tales of a time when dinosaurs roamed the land. The Navajo people revere these formations, considering them sacred places imbued with the spirits of their ancestors. Gazing upon these natural wonders, we are humbled by the enduring power of nature and the vastness of time.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
Navajo Nation USA

Chasms in the sandstone

In the red sandstone canyons of the Navajo Nation, there lies one replete with mysterious curves that bend and reflect the light in strange ways. Even mid-day sometimes never makes it down the canyon, but it highlights the striations that wind along the sinuous walls. Its a delightful photographic journey to walk down the canyon and immersing in the beautiful creation of water.

Navajo Nation
AZ USA

The Marching Elephants

I awaited in eerie darkness in the high desert on the border between Arizona and Utah. All around, I could sense the monolithic rock formations that dot this desert, but I could never really see them. The faint dawn light slowly crept across the sky westward, and added structure to the sensation.

As the darkness eased, I could see the nearest butte, looking like a marching elephant trundling westward. More time passed, and I could make out the details of the buttes further away. Nameless rock formations towered above the folds of desert landscape, and acquired a pink glow from the morning light. The land grew richer in detail until the first light of day struck the tips of these buttes.

This visit to the tribal park of the Navajo Nation was perhaps one my most memorable ones. I will never forget the vast Jon Waynesque landscapes I got to experience. And right now, the population of the Navajo nation are facing two major challenges: both the impact of lower tourism, and the high number of cases amongst the populate. It will be a while before normalcy returns to this sacred land

Monument Valley Tribal Park

UT USA

The Dancing Dame of the Sand


The object of art is to make eternal the desperately fleeting moment

The dancing dame of sand swirled and swayed with the light in the darkness of the canyon. It didn't last long - its fleeting motion dissipated in a blink of an eye, but just long enough to be frozen behind the lens of a camera. Thankfully, it didn't take much to reset and recreate the ephemeral vision once again.

Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park
AZ USA

The Canyon Walk

The canyon walk.jpg

The graceful red sandstone slot canyons of Antelope Canyon has always had a special draw, and a few years ago, I satiated my yearnings with a photography tour of these photogenic canyons. Photography the mid-day sun beams light up the canyon in a golden red glow is an experience like no other. So it saddened me to hear that photography tours have been stopped here. From a financial perspective, these photography tours paled in sales compared to the bread and butter tours that they run in the canyon, due to the smaller group size as well as interruption to the regular tours.

Antelope Canyon
AZ USA

The High Point

The high point on the landscape was a tall sandstone butte towering above the desert environs; the deep red twilight clouds amplified the ochre sandstone, turning it into a shade of vibrant pink. As I watched, the deep reds slowly turned to dark shades of twilight, signalling the end of a beautiful day in Monument Valley Tribal Park in the Southwest of USA

From the mystic slot canyons in Page, through the windy roads that twisted their way through the colorful desert terrain of northern Arizona, the entire trip was a feast for the visual senses, with the scenery and colors changing every mile. I can't wait to return to this colorful corner of the country this year.

Monument Valley Tribal Park

UT USA

A moment together

Most of the cameras, and almost all the eyes were pointed at the grandeur of nature ahead: the towering brick-red sandstone buttes rising from the rugged desert landscape with the vast sky above breaking out in deep red while the last vestiges of sunlight set the sandstone edifices ablaze. As a photographer, even my attention was directed in that direction, until it was not.

After multiple compositions of that photogenic spectacle, I turned my eyes west, looking back at the rim of the View Hotel at Monument Valley, where I caught a small group of friends standing on the edge and enjoying the evening, whilst the sky behind was taking on a breath-taking crimson coating. I stood in awe enjoying this superb silhouette of a rare perspective in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Monument Valley
AZ USA

 

Sunrise of the Ancients

The fingers of rock.jpg

The morning star hung low in the sky against a twilight backdrop, its orange and yellow hues slowly blending to an etheral blue. The sandstone pillars rose against this background like dark pillars, its silhouettes forming otherworldly shapes against this beautiful dawn.

I was transfixed by this scene, the sunrise of the ancients, that was playing out in front of me during the cold dawn of Monument Valley. With every passing minute, the light kept changing: the deep blacks transforming to a pale blue, the dark sandstone buttes becoming vibrant red, the muddy foreground taking on the desert yellows. I waited until the sun crested the horizon and the pillars, spreading light and warmth to the cold dark landscape all around me.

This is one such composition from that unique region of the desert southwest, a sunrise that is forever etched in my mind.

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
AZ USA

 

Sands of Time

It was a crowded jaded experience. I hardly imagined I would be able to capture the otherworldliness of the beautiful slot canyon. And yet, as the guide cleared the area, chanted some hymns and poured sand down the smooth sandstone ledge, it felt as though the sands of time had transported me back millenia. Back when the only masters of this desolate place were the wind and water which carved every curve and striation on the smooth walls.

My brain tried to juxtapose the ancient origins with the modern tourist clamor of the Upper Antelope slot canyons without much success. The mass of humanity on a hot summer day, replete with the smells wafting throughout and with the sounds bouncing and echoing all around, was overwhelming. And yet I knew that with the next thunderstorm, the natural forces of erosion would be masters again, carving this and many other beautiful canyons scattered through the desert southwest of the US

Antelope Canyon
AZ USA