Honeymoon in Monument Valley, Utah

This will be the last one unless you want to see a few more!

Thanks Mark,

I'll try and see if I can get the timelapses of the sunrise and sunset on line too.

ATB

Peter (Dooley)

Hi guys,
here's another B&W shot.
Bit of info, I watched the John Ford / Monument Valley docu on the Fort Apache Blu ray before my wedding/honeymoon and was intrigued about the technique they used to get the sky and clouds so dramatic in the film.
I've 'borrowed' this nugget of info to get the skies in my BW pics to hopefully have a vintage John Ford feel!

Colour sunrise to contrast the black and white!

Quote from chester7777

Dooley,
You may of mentioned this, where did you stay while at Monument Valley?

Chester

Hi Chester,
We stayed at The View Hotel, aptly named, Monument Valley. All the rooms overlook 'The Mittens' and the sunrise shots were taken from our balcony.
Great base to set out and explore too; we did a huge amount of driving around and discovered some amazing places.
Truly a fantastic trip! I've been back a week and am missing being there so much.

Regards,

Peter

Quote from Romy

Great! But you are a professional?

I'm an amateur and I appreciate the purity of your technique ...

Hi Romy,
Thanks for the compliment. No, not a professional at all. I'm an art director by trade so I guess some of it rubs off on my photography!
ATB
Peter

Quote from ethanedwards

Great to know that Peter,
if and when I get there, that sounds like a good place,
and from the web-site it looks just the ticket

The View Hotel

Hi Keith,
It's a lovely place. Very low key, nothing over the top, but that suits the locale perfectly: how could you compete with that scenery! I have some pics of the hotel too! Can I post those here?
It is run pretty much 100% by locals from the Navajo nation who were all very friendly.
The one thing I will mention is they stop serving evening meals at 8.30pm, which for someone from the UK was a shock! We got caught out the day we went Mustang trekking around Monument Valley, lovely guide, again a local from the Navajo nation, but after 4 hours in the saddle, we got back ravenous and ended up eating Cheetos in our room! The meal the next evening more than made up for it. I had the 'Duke steak' which was wonderful.
ATB
Peter

Quote from chester7777

That hotel looks like just the kind of place one would want to stay at when visiting Monument Valley. Duke stayed at Goulding's Lodge, most of the times he visited. Which, at the time may well been the only hotel in town.
How far from Goulding's is the View? Did you visit Goulding's during your stay?
Did you find much of John Wayne's or John Ford's history displayed around Monument Valley?

Chester

Hi Chester,

Gouldings in less than 5 miles from The View Hotel. In fact it's a straight road for 4 miles from The View, you arrive at a crossroad and Goulding's Lodge is less than a mile on the other side.
We had thought of staying there but The View actually has the uninterrupted views, unsurprisingly, from every room.
I will load pictures of The View and Goulding's later.
Looks like you guys are going to see most of my holiday snaps!

ATB
Peter (Dooley)

Standing pretty much where Martha Edwards opens the door from the opening scene of The Searchers.

Quote from chester7777

Dooley,
Just curious, was the hotel, or Monument Valley in general, seem very crowded this time of he year? And from your pictures, the weather was behaving?

Chester

Hi Chester,

The hotel I would say was approx 70% full, but to be honest you don't really notice apart from at breakfast and in the evening as most people go off exploring. The only other place to stay which is really in the thick of it is Goulding's, the Hotel not the lodge!, but if you want to see the mittens etc. you have to go to The View anyway, and pay to enter the 'park', whereas guests at The View don't have to pay.

Other things to note: you cannot go wandering around Monument Valley without a guide and 'the loop', which you can do by car, is a track and so, so bumpy it'll rattle the teeth out of your head! Best bet is going around on horseback, it also feels fantastic in such an iconic location.

The weather was great the first couple of days then it started off pretty overcast in the morning but the sun burnt away the clouds by early afternoon.

Hope that helps!

ATB

Peter (Dooley)

Quote from chester7777

Wow, the weather was behaving ! Beautiful !

Is there still any things reminiscent of the Searchers filming still around?

Chester

Hi Chester,

No, not really but the locations are so integral to the film that if, like me, you know the film scene by scene you'll be able to immerse yourself by standing pretty much where film history was made.