The Photograph
I am pleased to announce the release of the sixteenth Alain Briot Print of the Month Collection photograph: Snowstorm at Spiderock, Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

As with any and all purchases made from my web site this Alain Briot Print of the Month Collection photograph comes with a "Take one month to Decide" 100% money back guarantee. Additional details on this unique warranty are available here.

The Image
This photograph was created when I lived in Chinle, at the mouth of Canyon de Chelly, on the Navajo reservation. A snowstorm had fell over the canyon the night before, and continued on in the morning. In the Southwest, especially in this period of drought (Arizona is on the 9th month of a drought), snow is uncommon, especially heavy snowstorms. I knew the opportunity was unique and could not be missed. I immediately got in my truck and drove towards Spiderock knowing that this location, being at the highest elevation in Canyon de Chelly, was getting the most snow.

The drive there was treacherous. The snow had frozen on the road during the night. The road had not been plowed and would not be plowed. It would get better when the snow melted. My truck did not have four wheel drive and I had to be extremely cautious. I nearly lost control on several occasions.

At Spiderock I set off to photograph in conditions which were nearly blizzard-like. I had to wait between gusts of wind-loaded snow to see what I was photographing. The snow was wet and heavy and clung to my clothing, soaking it.

The difficulty I had seeing Spiderock and Canyon de Chelly made me realize that on film it would be even harder to see the subject. With this awareness in mind I started looking for a foreground subject which would add contrast to the scene. I tried using different shrubs, trees and rock, but each of these elements was below me, and therefore could only fill the bottom part of the image. The sky remained empty and white.

I finally remembered a dead pine tree which I had often contemplated using as a foreground element but had not used so far. In this snowstorm it proved to be perfect. I placed myself and my camera so the tree would be above Spiderock, both framing it and filling the sky with its branches. I had to crawl in the snow to get low enough to create this composition.

I loved the resulting image so much that I returned to Spiderock and composed other photographs with this same tree. However, none has the balance, the softness and the intensity of my original vision. In 2000, during one more visit to Spiderock, I noticed the tree was gone. It had either fallen into Canyon de Chelly or had been hauled away to warm a Navajo Hogan. Either way my photograph was now a historical image, one that neither myself or anyone else could duplicate.