Antelope Canyon

On the second day of our northern Arizona voyage, we awakened in Page located in the north central part of the state, just south of the Utah border. Our prime destination for the day was Antelope Canyon, the best known slot canyon in the US Southwest.

Antelope Canyon was formed by erosion of Navajo Sandstone, primarily due to flash flooding and secondarily due to wind. Rainwater, especially during monsoon season, runs into the extensive basin above the slot canyon sections, picking up speed and sand as it rushes into the narrow passageways. Over time the passageways are eroded away, making the corridors deeper and smoothing hard edges in such a way as to form characteristic ‘flowing’ shapes in the rock.

Flooding in the canyon still occurs. A flood occurred on October 30, 2006 that lasted 36 hours, and caused the Tribal Park Authorities to close Lower Antelope Canyon for five months.

Upper Antelope Canyon is called Tsé bighánílíní, “the place where water runs through rocks” by the Navajo. It is the most frequently visited by tourists, due to two considerations. First, its entrance and entire length are at ground level, requiring no climbing. Second, beams (shafts of direct sunlight radiating down from openings in the top of the canyon) are much more common in the Upper than in Lower Antelope Canyon. Beams occur most often in the summer months, as they require the sun to be high in the sky. Light beams start to peek into the canyon March 15 and disappear October 7 each year.

The lower canyon has great appeal for photographers, for the fascinating shapes and the wonderful, natural light that infiltrates through the narrow opening at the top of the canyon. When approaching upper Antelope Canyon, there is no obvious clue as to its location. The trail seems to end at the base of a red sandstone plateau about 20 yards high; the entrance is a narrow curved slit in the cliffs only a few feet wide. Once inside, the temperature drops as much as 20 degrees as the visitor enters one of the most beautiful of all natural formations. The sunlight filtering down the curved sandstone walls makes magical, constantly changing patterns and shadows in many subtle shades of color. Some sections of the canyon are wide and bright, while others are narrower and more cave-like, with no light reaching the sandy floor. After only 150 yards or so, the canyon becomes suddenly much shallower near the top of the plateau. It may take only 3 or 4 minutes to walk through, but the canyon is well worth the journey required to get there. Pictures taken here adorn camera shops and photographic manuals throughout the world. (Information on the canyon courtesy of Wikipedia.)

I’ve chosen to display today’s photos in a slideshow. Simply click right to advance, left to back up.

The varying  light levels and the severe contrasts pose a challenge. It is very difficult to use a tripod due to the large, moving crowds who show no regard for those taking the time to compose a photograph. It is best to “go with the flow” and take handheld, snapshots to snatch those intervals where someone is not obstructing your view. I found the best technique is to use a fairly large aperture, f4.5. This increases the speed of light capture but does sacrifice some “depth of field” which in this case, is not a serious concern. I also set the camera sensitivity high, using “Auto ISO” to vary it according to the light available. Doing so, I was able to maintain the shutter speed between 1/20 and 1/40 sec. Not fast, but fast enough to avoid serious “camera shake”. With considerable variation in light throughout the canyon, the ISO setting varied between 320 and 3200 to achieve the shutter speeds I needed. I was able to moderate the severity of the contrasts by using luminosity masks in Photoshop to balance highlights and shadows.

I would really cherish the opportunity to visit this amazing photo site in the absence of the jostling crowds to get some well planned, properly set-up pictures. Not likely to happen, given the commercial imperatives of the tour operator but I’m thinking about it!