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The mittens are two buttes in Monument Valley that are called the mittens because, well, they look like mittens. The mitten on the left of this screen is called creatively the Left Mitten, and the right one is called the Right Mitten. These are huge structures, 1000 feet high, almost a mile apart. One has to keep walking away from the parking lot of Monument Valley for about 2 miles before the mittens switch places.
It was around 5:00 in the morning, just before sunrise, in late May 2005. I was looking for the slick rocks that Ansel Adams used in the foreground of his famous interpretation of the Mittens. As most photographers do, this is one iconic photo that Ansel Adams has done, and that every photographer who has been there has their own interpretation of it.
However, the sun was rising quickly, and looking forward to have my own interpretation shot of the mittens, I decided to forego the slick rock as a foreground, and focus instead on the sun. I closed the aperture to ensure that the first rays of sunshine will create a starburst. The foreground is simply the desert, backlit by the rising sun.
The palette of colors of the sun and sky is very similar to the one used by Navajo artists. Deep saturated orange/brown, gradually fading into a cool tone of violet pink.
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