Photography

EARTH’S EXOTIC GEOLOGY
A portfolio by Gary Ladd

Fractured sandstone forms a rocky concourse below Dominguez Butte near Lake Powell’s Padre Bay. >

 

 

Nearly all of the Earth’s landscapes—as if in modesty—are clothed in soil, trees, shrubs and grasses. Hidden beneath this layer of life, however, are the planet’s foundations: bones of solid stone. In much of northern Arizona and southern Utah, the land wears only the sheerest of negligees of living matter.

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Just shy of 6 a.m. on a November morning, the pre-dawn temperature hovers barely above freezing. The stars are achingly bright in the rich, black-velvet sky. A sliver of moon hangs over the spectacular buttes of Monument Valley on the Arizona-Utah border. As our jeeps caravan down the sandy road, a soft gold creeps along the horizon to the east. The "Mittens" rock formations become half-seen giants against the glow.

An hour later, after a jostling ride through sandy washes and rocky trails, we are parked near the "Totem Poles" with film loaded andcameras mounted on tripods. The sun crests the horizon too suddenly. The rock formations glow yellow and orange; the sand dunes become a rippling river of color, light and shadow. For what seems only seconds, we all concentrate on capturing the moment: shutters snap, film changes hands. The light changes as day announces itself. Time to pack up and head for another location.

Our Navajo guides on this trip are award-winning photographer LeRoy DeJolie and Leroy Teeasyatoh. Teeasyatoh has operated Sacred Monument Tours for 12 years. In the early days, he says, he operated with three horses and two "raggedy old" saddles (he rode bareback), waiting along the road for potential customers. He says that those three horses got him everything he has now: his home, corral, jeeps and more horses and saddles. Today, he operates a tour company in Monument Valley, offering tours for a few hours or overnight. "Just tell me what you need," Teeasyatoh says, "and I can arrange it."

LeRoy DeJolie discovered his passion for photography during high school in urban Los Angeles, but it wasn't until he was back living on the Navajo reservation that he began to shoot the stunning landscapes for which he is known today. "There's a big difference between having to work, rather than wanting to work," DeJolie notes. Keeping his livelihood-he earns his living as a steelworker-separate from his photography helps to keep it fresh.

His passion, both for photography and Dinetah (the Land of the Navajo), is what inspires him to share his knowledge with others. "He is very generous with his information and is able to take us in to hidden and unique sites, which makes his workshops an outstanding opportunity," notes a workshop participant Wendel Swanson.

DeJolie leads about a dozen expeditions per year into various parts of the Navajo Nation, both by himself and with Arizona Highways Magazine. This year's planned destinations include Kaibeto Plateau, the Colorado Plateau, Antelope Canyon, Monument Valley, Hunt's Mesa and Canyon de Chelly, among others. A special new adventure, "LeRoy's Secret Places," will take photo buffs to special locations that DeJolie has found and photographed over the years. In addition, he is putting together a photography clinic for Native Americans at Lake Powell in August.

When DeJolie talks about his land, his throat tightens with emotion. "As far as I'm concerned, Hunt's Mesa is the center of the earth. It's also the center of my heart." Monument Valley is only one of the many spectacular Native places to visit in the Four Corners area, where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona meet.