Early Morning Shooting In Monument Valley’s Backcountry

Sunrise at Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei, Monument Valley - One must have a Navajo guide to gain access to this scene for photography.

There we were, a fellow photographer (also from Los Angeles) and myself, at 5:40 in the morning one day in April 2009, waiting in the lobby of Monument Valley’s View Hotel. The native Navajo music playing over the lobby’s speakers filled the empty hotel lobby, and my fellow photographer and myself talked about what to expect as were going to go out into Monument Valley’s backcountry for four hours of early morning shooting. Very few people have access to Monument Valley the way we were about to have access to it in just a few short minutes that morning.

It was still dark and cold outside. At exactly 6:00 a.m., the bright headlights from Tom Phillips’ 4×4 SUV appeared within view through the hotel lobby’s doors. The legendary Navajo guide, Tom Phillips, who had led some of the best photographers around into Monument Valley’s backcountry to photograph its splendor had arrived, and with a quick “let’s go” we were off.

As we descended into the valley, Tom spoke about the history of Monument Valley, and told stories about the valley and its people. In particular, he spoke about the famous Navajo Code Talkers, bilingual Navajo speakers recruited during World War II to aid in the transmission of secret tactical messages. We passed by several of Monument Valley’s famous buttes and rock formations, including the Three Sisters. Light from the still present moon was the only light source illiminating these formations in the darkness.

Tom knew where to take us to get the best photos that morning. He knew exactly where to be and at what time.

He stopped his SUV in what seemed like out in the middle of the desert. It was still extremely cold and windy outside when my fellow photographer and I unloaded our photo gear out of Tom’s SUV. Tom led us out much further away, and told us to set up our cameras and tripods in a clearing on the desert floor.

We were about to photograph Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei, at sunrise. According to Tom, we had only a few minutes to prepare for the sun to peak behind the rock formations. Time was of the essence.

iPhone shot of waiting for the sun to peak at Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei

The resulting shot was the one that appears at the beginning of this blog post. We snapped away, and meanwhile, Tom was already thinking about the next destination. He yelled at us as he packed up for the walk back to his SUV, “you’re wasting your time!” Time was again, of the essence. With that, my fellow photographer and I also packed up.

The next destination was around the backside of Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei, Monument Valley’s famous sand dunes. Upon arrival, Tom parked his SUV on high ground in the desert (so we could see it easily on the way back), and led us to a place where we could set up our tripods. There were many places to set up, and many different photo compositions were possible. I worked the area.

iPhone shot of setting up to photograph Monument Valley's sand dunes

I finally found a location and composition that I liked, and went for it.

Sand Dunes Near Totem Pole, Monument Valley

After the sand dunes, Tom took us to a number of different locations. The sun was very much out now, and it was not longer as cold as it had been earlier that morning. Ear of the Wind arch and some miscellaneous rocks with some petroglyphs were some of the highlights.

Ear of the Wind, Monument Valley

Monument Valley Petroglyph

Our four hours of early morning photography were drawing to a close. My fellow photographer was driving to Flagstaff that morning to catch a flight back to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, I still had two full days in Monument Valley. Tom Phillips and I discussed the possibility about taking me out at 3 p.m. that afternoon for some afternoon shooting. He mentioned that there was a possibility of a very strong sandstorm that afternoon, and we decided that it would be best to “play it by ear.” I was to meet him in the lobby of the View Hotel a 3 p.m. that afternoon and we would decide things from there. He made recommendations about other sights to photograph in the area between now and 3 p.m. that afternoon. I took notes. He dropped us off at the View Hotel, and I enjoyed a fabulous breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant. It was a very productive morning of shooting.

Tip: Most of the interesting parts of Monument Valley (ancient ruins, petroglyphs, beautiful arches, etc…) are restricted to the general public, and you need a Navajo guide to access them.  I came here to do only photography, so I charted Tom Phillips, who is well known, very knowledgeable, and has worked with many of the finest photographers around. While Tom works with photographers, and is typically well-booked, there are many guides available at the Visitor Center booth. More information is also available inside the Visitor Center and at the front desk of the View Hotel. Please be sure to tip your guide well. Invest in a guide to get the most out of your Monument Valley experience.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Early Morning in Monument Valley's Backcountry

Disclaimer: Monument Valley is a very rich place in terms of things to see and do. My blog postings related to Monument Valley are not intended to be a substitute for one’s own thorough travel research, but rather a “travelogue” of my experience with visiting and photographing Monument Valley, in order to provide some ideas and insights to others. Many ways to experience Monument Valley exist.

I have made some High Dynamic Range (HDR) images of some of the scenes that I encountered during my recent visit to Grand Teton National Park. Currently they can only be found on my Flickr account. Results using HDR as a tool have always been hit or miss for me. I find that it works for some landscape scenes and not so well for others. As a result, I am rolling these images out as “test” images, and have decided to refrain from including them in my permanent galleries for the time being.

Oxbow Bend, Autumn 2009 - October 1

Grand Teton National Park is a beautiful place to visit and photograph anytime of the year, but in autumn, in particular, the park comes alive with colors. The cottonwoods and aspen start to change color, and the park turns into a carpet of orange, yellow, green, and sometimes, even red, indicating that winter is just right around the corner. Wildlife is also out and about at this time of the year, as many species take part in the annual mating season, and some get ready for the upcoming harsh winter season.

I just returned from Grand Teton National Park, where I got to see and photograph the fall foliage and some remarkable wildlife. Traditionally, the peak for the fall colors in the park has come around the last week of September, with many veterans claiming that the “exact” peak date in the past has been September 30. I will say that I was in Grand Teton NP from September 27 to October 2, and the colors were well, alive, and stunningly beautiful during my trip.

I flew into Jackson Hole Airport on Sunday, September 27, 2009, and after landing and settling in, regained my bearings in the park. I started my serious shooting first thing Monday morning, Sept. 28. On that morning, I arrived at Oxbow Bend about a full one hour before first light. It was so dark, that I needed a headlamp and flashlight to see. Oxbow Bend was a circus of photographers. There were the professionals and the amateurs, but also the workshop groups, whose instructors lead their students in photographing the fall colors in Grand Teton NP every year. Before sunrise, everybody was busy establishing their exact position, and it was very tight quarters. You could see the light coming from all the photographers’ headlamps. It looked like light coming from fireflies. They were lined up with their tripods all along the road looking over Oxbow Bend. They were also down below the road, up along the little hill that is along Oxbow Bend. Photographers in every nook and cranny – behind every tree, behind every bush, hidden behind the tall brush, etc… You get the idea – all vying for that unique shot. I personally went down the hill, and found what seemed like a quiet, secluded spot along the shore of the bend, only to learn that a photographer was also working right above me!

Oxbow Bend Sunrise Reflections, Autumn - September 28

During my trip, I was hitting all of the standard main photography spots, and even some new out-of-the-way locations, and photographers were all over the place… literally. Many of my images, especially the ones taken in the northern part of the Teton Range, were affected by the Bearpaw Bay Fire burning near the western shore of Jackson Lake.

From about Sunday, Sept. 27 through Tuesday, Sept. 29, the weather was pretty good – sunny skies and some clouds. It turned cloudy and even rainy a little on Wednesday, Sept. 30, and an early season snowstorm dumped fresh snow on the park that night.

The following morning, Thursday morning, October 1, I awoke early around 4:30 a.m. to find a clear starry night from my motel in Jackson. I thought sunrise would be fantastic! With a fresh coating of snow and clear skies, I was sure to get a unique shot of the Teton range. I arrived early at Schwabacher Landing, and a fellow photographer and I established our positions along the last of the beaver ponds way before sunrise. By sunrise, everything was in place – snow on the ground and on the trees, a nice ray of sunlight illuminating the scene. However, I was still disappointed as the clouds were still covering the Cathedral Group. They did not let up until later that day. In spite of the not-so-perfect scene before us, we were still able to get some great images that morning. Plus, Schwabacher Landing’s resident beaver was out and about, going back and forth collecting materials for a repair to his beaver dam. This provided for some unique shots.

I visited Schwabacher Landing about three times during my visit, and on all of my visits, I had a chance to photograph a Great Blue Heron that was hanging out in one of the center beaver ponds. This experience was amazing and warrants its own blog posting, so stay tuned.

Great Blue Heron, Schwabacher Landing

That Thursday, October 1, actually turned out to be a great day for photography, and despite hearing some complaints about some imperfections in the scenery (clouds obscuring some of the main Teton peaks, imperfect light, etc…), I am sure that many masterpieces were created that day. There was sunlight, and just enough clouds to provide for some dramatic skies. Some of the snow from the previous overnight snowstorm was still visible, and this provided for some unique autumn shots that hint at a little bit of winter.

Morning at Schwabacher Landing, Autumn - October 1

If I were to pick one timeframe where the best of the fall colors (or “peak”) could be seen in the park, it would have to be somewhere between the afternoon on September 30 to October 1. On these two days, the weather in the park transitioned, and it became significantly colder (even down to 18ºF overnight), and this brought out the colors in the trees more. As a result, without being a naturalist, I am placing the date for the “peak” of the 2009 fall colors right around October 1. From eye-balling it, it just seemed that the colors were more alive and vibrant on that day. It happened very suddenly, and if you had blinked or taken the day off, you probably would have missed it, but I think the peak was somewhere in there.

A conversation with a ranger seemed to confirm this. In addition, she added that for the fall 2009, the cottonwoods in the park did very poorly this season, and the aspen did very well. Every season is different. Some seasons are good for autumn foliage, and some are not. Some seasons the aspen do well, and the cottonwoods do poorly, and some seasons the opposite is true.

Autumn in Grand Teton National Park

I have begun processing the images that I took from my trip, and I hope that you enjoy looking through them. I am posting them on my Flickr site (link to set), as well as on my Web site (link to album), almost simultaneously. The Flickr site gives you an opportunity to comment on my photos, while my Web site allows you to see the full-resolution originals. More will be posted in the upcoming couple of weeks.

Note: Originally I had planned to also visit the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park. In light of the roads heading into the northern part of the park being closed (one closed for road construction, and another closed due to the Arnica Fire), I decided to cancel my excursion to Lamar Valley and save it for a future trip.

Bison in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley - Summer 2009

I‘ll be in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks this week.  The primary focuses of this trip are on the fall colors at Grand Teton National Park, and on the wildlife of the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.

In Grand Teton National Park, I’ll be hitting all of the usual photographer’s spots: Schwabacher Landing, Oxbow Bend, Snake River Overlook, Mormon Row, etc… In addition, I’ll also be visiting some new locations – locations that I did not visit during my last trip to the Tetons, and some locations where groves of aspen trees and cottonwood trees are predominantly present. The peak of the fall colors traditionally occurs around the middle to end of September, and attracts all sorts of photographers. Based on what I’ve been told about previous years, I expect it to be a zoo of photographers (particularly at dawn in many of the key locations).

In Yellowstone National Park, my focus will be on the Lamar Valley’s extraordinary wildlife. The beautiful, expansive, and remote valley is considered by many the prime wildlife viewing location in the United States, outside of Alaska. It is my hope that the cooler autumn temperatures see many of the park’s wildlife move to lower elevations where they can be more easily seen as they prepare for the upcoming harsh winter in Yellowstone. I will be staying a lot closer to the Lamar Valley on this trip, so it will be much easier for me to gain access to the Valley at dawn and stay late for the best wildlife viewing opportunities. To take advantage of photographing wildlife, I will be taking a rented Canon EF 500mm f/4.0 L IS USM Lens up with me.  In addition, I may catch whatever is remaining of the fall elk rut (mating season), or the wildlife in the Hayden Valley.

Another miscellaneous focus of my trip will be on landscape photography, and in particular, testing my new graduated neutral density filters.

Blogging during my trip will be very minimal (if any at all). I’ll be posting Twitter updates as cell phone reception permits. As always, all photos shared during this time will be ones taken with my iPhone. Upon my return, I will begin processing the photos that I took and posting them on Flickr gradually.

Grand Teton Autumn Links:

http://www.kapplemultimedia.com/tetons-flash.htm

http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/fallcolor.htm

Yellowstone Lamar Valley Wildlife Links:

http://www.utahoutdoors.com/pages/yellowstone%20elk.htm

http://www.ylwstone.com/lamar.html