Monument Valley is one of the most famous landscapes in the United States, and is usually the one location that springs to mind when you think of the arid and “wild” west. That’s thanks to the many movies that have used Monument Valley as a backdrop, including ‘Back to the Future’, and also the Eagles rock band who used the landscape as an album cover. Why is it so iconic, though? The towering sandstone buttes pierce the landscape in such a way that it is almost difficult to believe that they are natural phenomena. I have visited Monument Valley twice now, and plan to again. There are just endless opportunities for breathtaking desert photography, and I just love the eerie feeling of emptiness in the region. It’s a landscape that’s not welcoming to the casual tourist, given the terrain and the climate, but that seems to be to be part of the joy of Monument Valley.
