Shiprock, morning shadow and West Dike.

One of my favorite views after spending the night on a nice ledge and being run into the climber's cave by an evening thunderstorm. Trapped behind a waterfall I finally just went to sleep. Was up early for the series that contains this negative. 5X7 Deardorff.

Shiprock, Moonset.

A view with the Moon setting in the early morning light. Shiprock looked very metallic.

If you click on the "Shiprock" link below this post, you get all the Shiprock images.

Space to work.

I need to spend a couple of days working this wall. It's tough going- when you get close you are looking up at it from a severe slope. Difficult footing most places. From a distance the long lenses flatten it too much. Gotta be able to isolate some significant abstracts. I shot a couple with my 450 but didn't have time to really work it on this trip. It has good light several hours a day.

This is in color, by the way.

Shiprock.

I've got several notable shadow photos from Shiprock. We drove up on this one and I shot several negatives from the top of the 4-Runner. Can't wait to proof them. This is a digital file from beside the car.

Film, besides being a different palette of tones, won't be polarized. I think I stayed with a very light yellow. The sky tone was pretty delicate and I didn't want to screw it up.

Afternoon shadow, Shiprock, NM.

  Afternoon shadow, Shiprock, NM.

  Shadow from the pulpit on the East side.  I shared the pulpit with a healthy-looking snake.

South Dike, Shiprock, New Mexico

  South Dike, Shiprock, New Mexico

  Shiprock is a very serious place and no part of it is more serious than the south side.  The energy pulses everywhere but is the most disdainful of human presence here.  I'm careful and reverential around Shiprock but I've had equipment destroyed on the south side...in daylight.   You dare not sleep here.  Poltergeists would shake you out of your sleeping bag and drive away in your car.

  The South dike, looking like a buried dragon.  I'm not sure it isn't.  Overhead, behind and up the face is a malevolent dark rock formation that looks like iron ore.  Copied from a little palladium contact.  Makes a tremendous silver gelatin print as well.

Evening Shadow, Shiprock

  Evening Shadow, Shiprock.

 When I go to Shiprock I usually fly to Albuquerque and rent an SUV, then drive up and sleep in the car at Shiprock and work staying gone five or six days.  Takes a day or so to get into the groove. 

 A view from the North buttress on a quiet afternoon.

  This is a hell of a climb.  Not for the stumblefooted or careless.  Loose sliding shale and sand, snakes.  Cardiac level as well.  And that's the easy route.

Evening shadow and powerplant, Shiprock, NM.

  Evening shadow, powerplant, Shiprock NM.

  I was watching the ever-lengthening evening shadow and scrambling for a better viewpoint.  I ran out of room backed into a fold in the east wall when I saw the shadow bend into the atmosphere.  At that moment the power plant fired up.  It looked like someone had nuked Farmington.

  There wasn't anything I could do about it, so I shot the other side of the filmholder.

  The rock in the left foreground is the Pulpit.

  19X22 digital print or silver gelatin image on 20X24 paper.  Edition of 40.  1,200. 

Morning shadow, West Dike.

  Morning shadow, West Dike.

 I spent a freezing night at the radius of the West dike with the hope of this image.  Shiprock isn't a park or national land.  It is part of the Navajo Indian Nation Reservation.  You travel at your own risk.  Nobody has invited you.   I move my vehicle before dusk and pick a place where I can't be easily seen and remain watchful.  While the West dike isn't as prone to poltergeists and energy shifts like the South side, it still is a powerful place, even in clear morning air.

  Platinum contact print, (5X7 image) or silver gelatin image on 20X24 paper.  Edition of 40.  1,200.00.

Desert Shapes, Shiprock, NM.

  Desert shapes, Shiprock, NM.

  Another view from the North buttress.  The dike seemed to move across the desert as the light changed under the clouds.  Never twice the same.

  Pladium contact print (5X7 image) or silver gelatin print on 20X24 paper.  Edition of 40. 1,200.00

Afternoon shadow from the North buttress.

  Afternoon shadow from the North buttress.

  View looking East toward the town of Shiprock.  There was a stiff wind coming over the buttress from the West so I had to drop below the crest where it was nearly still.  A haunted and beautiful place for a person used to being inside the forest of the Blackfork watershed.

  Quite a hump with the 5X7 and tripod.  I wasn't sure it was possible until I had done it.  Easier the next time but always a little amazed to be able to get up.  I cached a gallon of water in the blocks at the top.  The blocks were full of little lines of quartz crystals, but my interest was in the show going on below on the desert floor.

  Platinum contact print (5X7 image) or silver gelatin image on 20X24 paper.  Edition of 40.  1,200.00