Monument Valley, UT

Probably the most photographed landmark in Utah. I wish to share my own.

Thanks for your visit.

Hi Lester,

  Beautiful scene with amazing colors & details.  Take care, Patsy

A really beautiful landscape shot, Lester!

Hi,  Lester,  Yes, this is certainly an icon of the American West.  Add a few cowboys in a chase, and you have a Western movie of yesteryear.  I tinkered with this a bit to try to reduce the harshness of the light.  Not sure I helped it any, may have created too much of vignette on the top left.  What do you think?    Larry

Love the clouds that presented themselves to you for this iconic image. I think a crop to just above those clouds gives more emphasis to the rock formations and would also resolve the vignetting problem that Larry encountered.

Wonderful landscape! 

Alf 

I'm reminiscing the scene from Once Upon a Time in The West when the gorgeous Claudia Cardinale & the whacky coach driver descend into Monument Valley past the West & East Mittens and Merrick's Butte...  so beautiful!  But only a few seconds of film!

I don't feel anything special about this shot, however.  The light is harsh and the three buttes are just "there"-- like a snapshot (as if you were just passing through at the wrong time of day).

I often like to include three elements in a landscape.  Sure, you have three big rocks(!), but what I mean is a fore-, a mid-, and a background element.  You have a strong midground (the rocks), but the clouds are weak and the inclusion of a foreground element may have helped with sense of scale and more importantly drawing the viewer through the scene.

Having said all this, I have been to Monument Valley a few times and have stayed overnight in the motel, and so I realize that the viewpoints here are limited!

Regards, Jeff   

Patsy,

Always a pleasure to read nice words from you. Thanks!

Ruud,

My first time to shoot the American West. Thanks!

Larry & Alf,

Thank you both for pertinent observations. The circular polariser must have overemphasised the darker sky which is truly quite noticeable as you observed.

Jeff,

Shooting at mid-afternoon truly may not have been the ideal time to shoot this area. Thanks for your remarks.

Regards to everybody.

LESTER 

Fantastic! 

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