As many of you know, I love Canyon de Chelly (pronounced Shay).  There are many locations I love, but this one gives me a special feeling that I cannot put into words..  I can’t wait to return next year when we’ll have six days total in Monument Valley and Canyon de Chelly and the area around it.

After Going the Extra Mile, we’re back to Same Place — Different View from Canyon de Chelly and Navajoland, 2010 Edition. We’ve picked four locations for this one — the site of one of the many Anasazi ruins in the canyon, a trading post, the badlands, and one of the overlooks at Canyon de Chelly to contrast and compare how our students treated a location or scene.

This part of the southwest is a treasure trove of Anasazi ruins. One cannot come here and not visit these ancient structures in all their majesty, hugging cliff-side ledges that were once not so far off the canyon floor. I don’t think these three examples were made more than ten feet from one another.

Jim, fairly new to black and white, took a classic scene and converted it to make it an even more dramatic photograph.

On the other hand, Roger did the classic thing and turned around, then made this color image of a tree and cliff.

George, with a long-time love of black-and-white photography, chose different framing and processing of the classic scene for his photo.

It’s a reminder to all that when one subject is compelling, don’t forget what is around you in another direction.

One day, we visited one of the old trading posts. Several found some interesting things to photograph in an old barn. I would guess that these were all made within 15 feet of one another.

This arrangement of old articles caught Arlene’s eye, and she used the beautiful light to give her photo an old-world feel.

Roger loves signs and used this one tucked into the angled ladder to make a pleasing composition.

By simplifying his composition, George really brought out the contrasting textures of this rusty bit against the old boards.

Badlands, while seemingly desolate, can produce some amazing photographs, if one really looks for shapes and patterns. Our group, having gotten out of the cars with the deer-in-the-headlights look, rose to the challenge. In all three photos, the little plant tuffets make the photos more interesting and help lead your eye around the scene.

Arlene found this meandering “path” with tenacious plants glowing in the late-afternoon light.

Further down, Jim found this back-and-forth folding of hills embracing the narrow wash.

George was also intrigued by the shapes and found a gentler hill that drifted off into a flat area.

In the last series, everyone was standing no more than 20 feet apart. Some were more comfortable cliffside, while others preferred the safety of a wall or ample space between them and the long drop. It was late, late afternoon, and the light was quickly disappearing.

Roger liked the whimsy of the visitors shadows against the near cliff. I suspect a couple of those people are from our group.

Not five feet away, Arlene looked over the wall and twisted her camera to capture these interesting rock shapes just below.

Jim found this scene almost in the opposite direction and worked to compose a pleasing arrangements of the boulders.

For more of images from this workshop group, go to the student gallery page.

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