In September 2002, I returned to Lower Antelope Canyon with a friend from Las Vegas, Richard. It would be his first time here, and I had my tripod with me this time, hoping to get some photos good enough to enlarge and frame. The previous day, I had introduced him to canyoneering, but assured him that today would be an easy day. We left Zion National Park, and after stopping at Glen Canyon Dam and Page, reached Antelope Canyon. After paying our entrance fee, we were guided to the entrance by one of the Navajos. On the way, we saw the memorial marker to the tourists who were killed by a flash flood in the canyon a few years back. Apparently, they were told to leave the canyon because of the flash flood danger so they exited, and, upon seeing clear skies, went back down again. Don't know how true that is, but Richard and I put a lot more faith on the Navajos than we did on the clear skies. They said the weather's fine, so down we went!

Given all the pictures of Antelope Canyon that are available, one would think that Antelope Canyon is huge. It's not. Lower Antelope Canyon is only a quarter-mile or so in length. However, there are enough twists and turns, ups and downs, ladders, and amazing views to make it seem much longer. We spent about four hours. At first, I wasn't sure if the light is right, but a few photos later I am convinced! While there, we met a Polish couple with an envious assortment of camera gear. They had arrived when it first opened and had already filled several rolls by the time we arrived. We chatted a little, learning that he was working in New Orleans and they had spent six weeks touring the Southwest. Oh was I envious!!! However, they both agreed that this was the highlight of their trip.

Personally, I think you need to spend some time simply soaking it up. We saw a few people who were in and out in about 20 or 30 minutes. If you do that, you miss the magic! Antelope Canyon reminds me of a cathedral - soaring columns reaching up, light pouring in from beautifully framed openings. In particular, I can't help comparing it to the Bryn Athyn Cathedral, not too far from where I grew up. The Cathedral has stained glass windows on either side of the altar that tinge the whole area with a beautiful blue light. The image is still burned in my mind - I've been to many of the great cathedrals in Europe, but none of them had the light that this one did. Wish I could offer a good picture, but photography is not permitted in the Cathedral. I can only offer you this low-res photo from the New Church's web site. If you enjoy the Romanesque and Gothic churches of Europe, you'll probably enjoy this one. If you're like my one sister, though, don't even think about visiting!

As we go further back into the canyon, it opens up in spots but in others gets real close...so close that at one point my boot momentarily gets stuck in a V formed by the walls. In another, it opens up wide to the sky, washing out the colors and making us hurry on to the beckoning shade. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end but in this case it's sudden. The ladder is about six feet long. The floor is another 20 feet down. Just a week before, a flash flood washed away the bottom of the ladder, leaving a muddy gray pool. The Navajos were waiting for the pool to dry up before installing a new ladder. Fortunately, the remaining section was the least scenic part on my last trip.

Going back yields more views. One in particular (the second picture on the previous page) first has me sitting back in awe, then going crazy trying to get the right shot. I couldn't fit my tripod in the narrow space, so I had to do the multiple exposure, hope-one-turns-out routine.

We exited Antelope Canyon with regret. The colors, the haunting curves, the verticalness of the place inspired us and whetted our appetite for more!

Photography tips: On both of my trips to Antelope Canyon, I used my digital camera, a Kodak DC4800. I have an SLR, but I haven't used it since I bought the digital. I made the switch to digital because of the ease in sharing photos via e-mail with friends. An advantage I didn't appreciate until Antelope Canyon, though, is the ability to immediately see the results of your photo. As I mentioned previously, the SLR photographers were bracketing their shots. They would take a shot, then increase or decrease the f/stop several times, hoping a shot would turn out. For me, if a shot didn't look good, I just deleted it and took another. (If you remember to bring a big memory card and not leave yours back in Vegas, you could just keep all the photos and pick the best out once your down!) I kept 88 photos, with about 25 of them now on my screensaver and a half dozen framed. On my first trip, since I didn't have a tripod, I pretty much let the camera handle all the settings. When I could brace the camera against the rock, then I played with the settings. On my second trip, I made sure I packed my tripod, and the results were much better. (See the photo above that looks like a stormtrooper's helmet from Star Wars - that was from my first trip sans tripod and you can see the camera movement.)

I locked in the shutter speed and ISO speed, saw what the depth of field was and modified my settings. It took several shots until I got the settings right. Even then, I still ended up bracketing what I thought were the better shots. I tried flash, but ended up deleting the pictures because the flash overpowered the colors in the rock. My shutter speeds were anywhere from .1 - 8 seconds (I generally used 4 - 6). Anything above 8 seconds was too bright. SLR photographers were using shutter speeds of 20 to 45 seconds and bracketing all shots. Some of them told me to keep the direct sunlight out of the photo, as it would turn white due to overexposure (assuming you focus on the lower part of the canyon walls, well away from the sky). They were right, but the rocks framing the sky became a beautiful, almost translucent yellow. I would therefore change their advice and make it minimize the amount of sky in your photo . I'd also underexpose the pictures slightly - that brought out the color, while too much light washed it out.