Tumultuous Skies

Most of the times I have crossed through or visited the Navajo Nation, the skies have been of the classic Arizona “blue-forever” kind with nary a cloud to be spotted (except for maybe a few cumulus hovering over the San Francisco Peaks or Navajo Mountain).

For me, it is the sky–and the filtered and varied light it generally tends to produce–that really make an image interesting. When I look back at my favorites, the one common denominator of my landscapes seems to be a stormy or unsettled sky.

I guess I like the dynamism that is introduced (vice the static feeling of a plain sky). I also think, as I press the shutter, that the scene is one that will never, ever, be repeated in exactly the same way…just one of an infinite number of combinations of the elements.

So…I was quite happy as I crossed over Navajo Land last week as the heavens exploded with vapor in all its myriad forms.

For those who have traveled by this spot just above Kayenta, who hasn’t been compelled to stop for a photo op?

Agathla View. Near Kayenta, Navajo Nation, Arizona, 2016

With most of the landscape in shadow, a beam of light illuminates the massive volcanic plug of Shiprock, a landmark of great importance in Navajo history and religion. It actually lies in the state of New Mexico and I captured this image from the very southwestern corner of Colorado near the Four Corners site:

Shiprock Horizon. Navajo Nation, Arizona, 2016

This one is my favorite of the three–although some may criticize so much black in the middle of the image which widely separates the desert landscape from the clouds above. Whatever. I like it anyway. I believe this mesa, on the edge of the Navajo reservation, is part of Ute Mountain tribal lands:

Storm Over West Ute Mesa. Near Cortez, Colorado, 2016