We stayed at The View Hotel in Monument Valley, with a balcony that looked directly over the Mittens. At sunrise, I stepped outside with my camera as the first light touched the sandstone spires. The West Mitten glowed against the pale desert sky, its shape instantly recognizable yet different in every shift of light.

This image is a close-up, isolating one formation rather than the wide desert panorama. In focusing on the West Mitten, the details emerge—the texture of the sandstone, the soft light of the morning, and the quiet power of a landscape shaped over millennia.

Photographing from the balcony felt surreal, as though the desert was offering up its beauty with no effort at all—just the patience to rise with the sun.