[LargeFormat] For folks in the American southwest

[Clive Warren]

At 6:47 pm -0500 31/1/03, Jim Hemenway wrote:
>Hi Folks:
>
>Can anyone tell me when is the best time, photographically speaking, to
>visit Monument Valley.

Jim,

I was looking forward to reading some posts on this thread!! In the 
absence of any replies yet......

It seems a little strange for someone based in the UK to give advice 
on visiting a place in the US, but here goes anyway.

Avoid all holiday breaks - there will be too many people milling 
around unless you have a serious ND filter strapped to the front of 
your lenses. I can guarantee that the people will be exactly where 
you don't want them to be in your shots and when they move, others 
will appear to take their place.

Between the end of May and the beginning of September you'll find it 
uncomfortably hot - you may find it uncomfortably hot anyway!  It can 
be a challenging environment.

If it is breezy (it does happen) then sand will get everywhere and 
the blown sand is very fine indeed. On one occasion I simply found it 
impossible to keep the uv filter clean enough to take a shot - but 
there again you may like the diffused effect.....

You will be reliant on Navajo transport to take you to your shooting 
positions in the Valley. As you may know, you will need to buy a 
permit and then hire a "guide" who will take you into the area in a 
4x4. A recent post from Bill Proud to the f32.net Discussion Forum at 
http://www.f32.net/cgi-local/discus/show.cgi?16/874 showed a photo 
taken in the area and pointed out that there is new building activity 
for homes in the area that are visible from the monuments.

So, I would recommend April/May this year!

Cheers,
        Clive