The Break Up

There are a number of very special locations in Monument Valley, but so much depends on the time of day and the position of the sun.

It therefore takes time to location scout as there is only one place a day that can be explored at 5pm or 6pm. The grandeur of the place is intoxicating - it is an artist’s dream and it pays to take one’s time.

Access to this particular look out point on the Utah side required consent from the Navajo Indians, but the red tape is worth it because it offers the quintessential Wild West view. We were shooting right on the edge of the cliff - have a look at the behind the scenes video we produced for the shoot.

There were easy parts to getting this image - the light we knew would be at its most dramatic around 5.30pm and getting the Chevy in place just required a good off road driver - anyone really other than me.

The hard part was to capture any brief moments of true interaction between Josie Canseco and the wolf. I have worked with this wolf - Crocket - before and he can be quite chilled, but getting them to face each other - as if in a deep and intense conversation was a tough brief for Crocket’s handler. Then again all we needed for the killer vignette was one second of luck and eventually, as the light started to fade, we got it.

Josie is a world class Victoria’s Secret model and it shows. To play that role next to a wolf in the front seats of a car with a 2000 feet drop behind you is not a normal day’s work. Luckily neither Josie nor the wolf put the car into reverse.

~ David Yarrow