Old proofs with negatives....Plus update.

  Looking through negative boxes peruse 5X7 contact proofs....

Climber's Cave, Shiprock.  A solitary place.

East Face, Shiprock.

Canyon de Chelly.  I've shot this shape since 1974 and never quite gotten the feeling of the powdery light color of the rock while pulling the negative space just right.  Tricky.  Might get another chance.  On the wall to the right past White House Ruin.  You can walk down.  In the mid-70s the wash hadn't channeled and you had to wade across a wide, braided stream if you came in the wet times.  This shape was up in some greasewood.  A fire burned through in the 80s and cactus filled a couple of acres in front of it.  Now it's fenced and posted and full of cactus.  They can't even graze it.  The first time I took a 4X5 Sinar down here in 1976, I shot from White House 300 yards all the way down the wall to the right to where it ends.

North Road, Shiprock.  Looking south from top of Pathfinder.  You just can't get up enough out here.

North Road, Shiprock.  Looking North from top of rented Pathfinder.

Sorting shapes in mud hills South of Nazlini.  I think this is Okeefe's famous painting spot.

Spent a lot of intentional time looking into rock walls at Canyon de Chelly the last few trips.

Rainclouds, Canyon de Chelly.  How many times have I pulled the guide over and set up on this wall over the past decade....

Shiprock.

South Dike, Shiprock.

South Dike, Shiprock.  Just after 1:30 when the sun has crossed over into the West.

South Dike, Shiprock.

Shiprock, West View.

Morning Shadow, West side, Shiprock.

Cottonwood, Canyon del Muerto.  Just before Blue Bull Cave area.  Love those big old trees.

North East Dike, Shiprock.

Shiprock shadows.  Gotta be careful with these tones.  Delicate.

Shadow from Hermit's Cave on the North end of the North Buttress.  Hermit's cave isn't habitable due to slanty floor, but it's a neat place to sit out of the wind.  This is looking West at the end of the morning shadow.  Tough hike with a lot of loose shale to get up.  Work.  Camera looking over a drop-off that is pretty sporty.

Salt Cave, Shiprock.  Rare place.  

Slab off White Tower.  You can walk right under this flake.  A little rare for this formation.  Not many people ever come this far around the rock.  Precarious doesn't begin to describe my tripod and camera position.  I have two tripod legs on one boulder and one on another.  The camera is so elevated that I can't see more than a glimpse.  I got it composed, then elevated the central column past where I could see what was on the ground glass.  Nuts, though for 50 yards you can just stroll along along the base of the cliff while trying not to be surprised by a snake.

Little Necks, Shiprock.  Got up on a VERY difficult rarely-visited House-sized boulder top. 

Rockwork, Climber's Cave, Shiprock.  Climbers cave is by far the biggest shelter.  It had to have ritual significance.  Certainly does to me.  Cave is sealed off by waterfall briefly in big storms.  Spent several nights in here over the years....once behind a waterfall.  Bats, owls, bugs, packrats.  Look at first photo on top of this series to get a peek the other way.

Dike and Shadow, Shiprock.  This image is inside an image about eight images scrolling up, from another day and a different angle.

West Dike, Shiprock.

South Dike from West Hill, Shiprock. Standard Shiprock.  Poltergeisted here twice but they have left me alone the last few years.  There's a cairn the big birds like to sit on.  I always add a rock and make sure the perch is steady.  I don't know what's in the cairn, if anything.  Lizards.  

  There are another 30 I could have iphoned.  Didn't start until I was in the last few boxes.  I remember each scene vividly as soon as I look at the proof, but hadn't thought about some of them in years.  Helps to get a little distance.

  There's more than a whole show or a book, just waiting to be printed.

UPDATE:

  This is the box of CDC negs from an AIR at Hubbell last year.  I got into the canyons four half or 3/4 days.  Pure heaven.  Went early and late.  Up the Del Muerto side three times and up the de Chelly side once.  Got to look at the same things more than once.  I'd decided I was going to look closely at the walls, not worry about the ruins and see what else showed up.

  Shot these this morning while texting them to a friend and having a little discussion about the canyon. iphone-d with a pair of cropping bars cut out of that white piece of cardboard they give you inside a box of 8X10 film.

These off the Del Muerto side:

That's a visual little thing on the right middle edge...

Hope to be walking along under that overhanging curve in a few weeks.  Get another look.

Canyon de Chelly side:

These are the one's I didn't look at very long after getting home and processing and proofing.  Going back and thinking about hits and misses ought to yield something.  Much fun.