A new slide show of my recent black-and-white work is now available at my gallery site Joanne Mason Photography: Slide Show. The slide show features high-resolution full-screen (click the fullscreen icon in upper right corner) images. (While you’re there, enjoy the rest of Joanne Mason Photography! And leave a comment in the guestbook!)
Posted in Architectural, Flowers, Gallery, Landscape, Nature, Photography, Uncategorized
Tagged architecturals, Arizona, Black and White Photography, Canyon de Chelly, descanso gardens, Fine Art, fine art photography, Flowers, gardens, Getty Center, Grand Canyon, Joanne Mason Photography, landscapes, Los Angeles, Photography, slideshow
Spider Rock. February 2012. Nikon D200. 17-55mm Nikkor f/2.8, at 17mm. ISO 800. 1/1000 sec at f/9.5. Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.
Another image of Spider Rock – in color – is in Landscapes of the American Southwest. Another black-and-white image of Spider Rock has been posted here as well. This is a different image and completely re-edited. I think I much prefer the black-and-white versions of this, which do a better job of bringing out the texture in the land. The black-and-white also seems to me to heighten the sense of remoteness and mystery.
Spider Rock figures prominently in the creation stories of several Native American peoples. For the Navajo, Spider Rock is the birthplace of the great Spider Woman, mother of the race and thus a sacred place in Navajo culture. It is said that Spider Woman also taught the Navajo to weave. This, Spider Rock, in Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, is a spectacular and moving place.
Posted in Landscape, Photography
Tagged Arizona, Black and White Photography, Canyon de Chelly, Navajo, Navajo culture, Photography, spider rock
Yesterday’s post of the Grand Canyon at Sunset has been one of the most popular images I’ve posted. Here is a slide show including that image and about 25 more Grand Canyon images and a few other Arizona and New Mexico landscapes. Click the image for the slide show. (Click icon in upper right of slide show to go full-screen.)
Click Image for Slide Show
Posted in Landscape, Nature, Photography
Tagged Arizona, Canyon de Chelly, Grand Canyon, grand canyon images, Landscape, New Mexico, Photography, slideshow
Spider Rock II. Nikon D200. Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8. 23mm (Equiv 34mm). ISO 800. 1/1000 sec at f/8. Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.
This image of Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona has been completely reprocessed, with the HDR redone and also processed to black and white. The HDR is a new process, done with a single image (technically, DRE or dynamic range enhancement). I like the black and white treatment as well which I think ends up sharper than the color. A few other tricks applied in post as well. Spider Rock is such a stunning scene, it’s probably possible to do many different treatments of it. See previous post for background on the Navajo and Spider Mother (and compare the earlier version with this one).
Afternoon Sun. Canyon de Chelly. Nikon D200. Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8. 45mm (Equiv 67mm). ISO 800. 1/1000 at f/13. Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.
The Southwest is a landscape of drama and intensity, and at the same time warmth and a kind of softness. This is no more evident than when the late afternoon sun is shining across the land. This scene is atop the plateau leading to the rim of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, the Canyon in the distance. The sun shining on the near clouds makes us tend to overloook what might be a storm forming on the horizon.
Posted in Landscape, Photography
Tagged afternoon, afternoon sun, Canyon de Chelly, clouds, Landscape, Photography, southwestern US, sun, warm afternoon landscape
Old Tree. Nikon D200. Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8. 48 mm (Equiv 72 mm). ISO 800. HDR composite of 5 images. Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.
I like trees, especially woody gnarly old trees. This one was on the rim near Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. This is on the Waputki plains, the flatland in northern Arizona and west of the Navajo Reservation where once resided early pueblo peoples.
Posted in Landscape, Photography
Tagged Canyon de Chelly, gnarly, old tree, old trees, Photography, tree
Canyon de Chelly. Nikon D200. Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8.22 mm (Equiv 33 mm). ISO 800. HDR Composite of 3 images. Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.
Canyon de Chelly (“Shay”) is a national park within the Navajo Reservation in northeastern Arizona. (Spider Rock is in Canyon de Chelly.) Parts of Canyon de Chelly are nearly as spectacular as the Grand Canyon. Unlike other regions in northern Arizona, Canyon de Chelly has abundant water. It has been one of the longest continuously inhabited lands occupied by the indigenous peoples of the Southwest, including the ancient Anasazi pueblo peoples who lived in the area as early as over 1,000 years BCE.
Canyon de Chelly. Nikon D200. Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8. 44 mm (Equiv 66 mm). ISO 800. HDR Composite of 3 images. Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.
Today Canyon de Chelly is unique within the US national park system as it is completely located within Navajo tribal lands. The park is a partnership of the park service and the Navajo Nation.
In the 1930′s, the park service commissioned American photographer Ansel Adams to document the American national parks in photography. In connection with this project, Adams visited Canyon de Chelly. A 1995 book includes the Canyon de Chelly images and others, Ansel Adams: The National Park Service Photographs
On my recent trip through Arizona and New Mexico, I visited Canyon de Chelly and there met a Navajo silver artist, Gary Henry (whose silver jewelry was spectacular) and whose family still resides within the Canyon. One of Adams’ best-known works from the national park series, “Navajo Woman and Child,” featured his mother and brother.
I find Canyon de Chelly almost more important and meaningful than the Grand Canyon because it is a living culture and more than just a monument. I’ll be planning a summer jeep trip into the Canyon for more photography.
Posted in Landscape, Photography
Tagged Anasazi, Arizona, canyon, Canyon de Chelly, HDR, Navajo, Navajo culture, Photography
