I've been to Monument Valley six or seven times over the last 30 years and it has never failed to impress me.  There is something magical, if not outright spiritual, about the place. It was never more apparent than the one time I flew my plane in and landed at the small airport near by.  I came in from the North (Lake  Mead) and arrived at an altitude a couple of hundred feet above the tallest "monuments."  The scale of the place was never more apparent.  Unfortunately, I was at the controls, and, as you might imagine, had no time for photos.  

On another visit, just before sunrise, we climbed over a ridge at North Windows and found a native "guide" sipping his morning coffee.  We exchanged greetings; setup our equipment a short ways away.  Shortly, another guide came by holding a small handmade flute.  The first guide picked it up and promptly began playing "native" music as my friend Mike and I took images of a beautiful sunrise. It went on for quite some time...  An unexpected concert in the most beautiful spot.  It was a moment that couldn't be imagined!

The previous afternoon we got caught in the middle of a fine talcum-powder-like, red dust storm so thick the visibility on the road was zero!  Climbing over that same ridge, I took this photo which appeared in a magazine appropriately called Cowboys and Indians... really!  

1\ 320s, at f\8 || E.Comp:-4 \ 6 || 24mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: AUTO || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Xon: 2007:09:09 17:28:18

And, not much later, I captured the sunset from the same spot:

(C)ADAM FELDE NaturalLightImages

This is the first view of the valley when arriving from the South:

And, here is a small, rather ordinary view of a tiny part of the valley.  It was taken from the parking area at North Window as an after-thought:

1\ 60s, at f\8 || E.Comp:-6 \ 6 || 78mm || WB: AUTO 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: AUTO || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Xon: 2007:09:09 18:18:55

But, just in front and to the left of the glowing monument face in the image above is a much smaller monument called "Totem Pole". It is almost lost in the shot above but here it is up close:

Monument Valley is a place of immense scale with magnificent panoramas in almost every direction.  Below is an 180 degree sweep of the view from Artist's Point comprised of 8 "regular" images.

After taking that I zoomed in and shot this three-image panorama:

But my all time favorite was this one... and I get to see it every morning as I head downstairs for my first cup of coffee!  It is 40 inches wide; printed on canvas:

1\ 500s, at f\8 || E.Comp:-4 \ 6 || 52mm || WB: SUNNY 0. || ISO: 200 || Tone: AUTO || Sharp: NORMAL || Camera: NIKON D2Xon: 2007:09:10 07:43:19

I have a couple of things on my bucket list to do at Monument Valley.  One is to watch and photograph a sunrise from Hunt's Mesa.  Unfortunately, it's a hike up and overnight stay so I don't know if I'll be able to check that one off.  The other item, though, is to take an Ultralight Sunrise/Sunset flight in and amongst the monuments ... of course, with camera in hand!

If you are ever within 200 miles of Monument Valley, you owe yourself a trip.  

Thanks for looking.

Adam