Sand dunes

It's one thing to ask a photographer to shoot fall leaves in the San Francisco Peaks or along a back road in the Escudilla Mountains. Photographers line up for those assignments. Finding somebody to shoot sand dunes on the Navajo Nation is a little more difficult. It's hot, it's dusty and there aren't many amenities. Nevertheless, Robert McDonald rose to the occasion. BY ROBERT MCDONALDLight and shadows play on the ripples and planes of Little Capitan Valley dunes on the Navajo Nation near Kayenta (pages 26-27). To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

RIPPLE EFFECT PASTEL COAT AFTERBURN

Following sunrise, blazing summersolstice sunlight reveals the sharp edge delineating the valley's flat eastward and undulating westward faces (right). To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

LAVENDER BLACK

As shadows lengthen toward day's end (left), Chaistla Butte and Poras Dikes spike against the distant slopes of Black Mesa. To order a print of this photograph, see page 1.

SUN BLOCK

Comb Ridge buttresses Little Capitan Valley to the northeast (above), blocking the sun's direct light on the dunes at dawn most of the year until its azimuth moves far enough north for about three weeks each June.

SACRED MOMENT

Summer monsoon clouds darken the sky over sacred daturas (above) standing their sandy ground in the Little Capitan Valley dunes, an area about 1 square mile on the Navajo Nation.

HAUNTING MELODY

The stuff of myths and legends, the sound of moans, groans and drones may sometimes be heard in the dunes (left), caused by friction between sand and moisture (or lack of it) that leaves scientists puzzled.

To order a print of this photograph, see page 1. All