Little Painted Desert, Navajo Country The Little Painted Desert is a Navajo County Park approached from a non-descript dirt road leading to a few dilapidated picnic tables and miscellaneous structures adorned with graffiti. Until you reach the end of the road, you have no hint of the beauty you're about to see. I had the place to myself, and that remained true the whole evening.

I had arrived about an hour and a half before sunset to scout the location and since you were free to hike into the hills and ravines, well, say no more! It was cold and a bit breezy, especially for April, and after I chose my location, I returned to my rental car to thaw out.  As the sun started dropping, the wind picked up. I saw the colors starting to reveal and so moved to a slightly different spot and set up. At that point, the wind was roaring and kicking up fine grit sand. I used my body to shield the camera, but even with a very heavy tripod I was sure I needed to time my exposures between the heavy gusts. Since my eyes were tearing up from the wind and I was using a remote release, I had minimal opportunity to check the results until back in the car. I did, in fact lose some shots to slight camera vibration from the high winds, but I got the result I wanted.