Mitten Shadow

John M had posted about the Mitten's shadow in Monument Valley occurring earlier this week. I had no previous knowledge of this occurrence, so I made the drive up to see the shadow and full moon. Thanks John for posting that info.

This was taken Sunday evening with a thin cloud cover to the west. Our calculations on the location of the rising moon were off, so we saw the moon too far to the south. Monday evening's event did not occur as the clouds blocked the sunlight. .

52mm f/18 1/8sec ISO200

Nice composition, along with those rich, muted colors.
Good to see that the day before the event, the shadow is perfect, whereas the day after it's moved enough to be noticeable.
You might consider burning the shadow down just a bit to make it more visible.
Glad you were able to make it. Flagstaff is an outstanding hub for Colorado Plateau photography!

John's suggestion is a good one (no surprise there!). Bummer about the muted light, but it's still a really cool image, even w/o following John's advice.

Oh man, bummer the clouds covered the light. This shot still turned out well.

A day out photographing, always beats a day in the office. Sound slike you had fun and that's what counts.

I like the comp here, shame about the muted sunset. I was there the the evening before and was fortunate enough to get clear skies, though a few clouds would have been nice I can't complain. I can see a difference from your shadow's position compared ot mine, which was a little more against the left edge but still on the mitten. Amazing the difference in just one day.

Here is another when the sun peeked through the cloudy haze more from a different position. The shadow is more pronounced, but it is not as centered and the rock is lost as a foreground element.

That Sunday evening, there were about 6 who hiked around the West Mitten to get between the two and hopefully get a capture more similar to the AZ Highways cover shot. I only saw one image on a guy's LCD. Wonder if others were able to get the rising moon closer to the East Mitten, as the image I saw had a lot of separation. I stayed near the campground as I thought the inclusion of the West Mitten was essential being the source of the shadow.

Thanks you for your comments. I will try burning the shadow of the first image.

Edited to add that I see I may have some sensor dust.

Great light in the second image. Very intense.

Nice images regardless of the lighting.

There are signs that say you cannot go off the road. I am curious, did those who went hiking have a guide? Or do they not really enforce the stay on the road rule?

Doug I like them both but the second shot is Awesome!! It really jumps out.

Rodney,
There is a designated trail starting at the "campground" that loops around the West Mitten that they took.