You might be thinking, "Oh no, not another Antelope Canyon gallery!". I don't blame you. There doesn't seem to be a shortage of these things on Pbase.
I took these images in Upper Antelope Canyon in April 2009 on a Saturday. I found my style of photography to be different in Upper Antelope Canyon than in Lower Antelope Canyon. In the lower canyon I tended to focus on color and abstract surfaces up close. Images in the lower canyon tended to result in framing that would incorporate small areas of canyon surface. In the upper portion of Antelope Canyon I focused on the bigger picture. Images tended to be much wider so that photos incorporated the floor through to the top of the canyon. To illustrate this point, almost all of my Lower Antelope Canyon photos were taken with a 24-105mm L lens while the Upper Canyon was taken exclusively with my 10-22mm lens. Of course the upper canyon also allowed me the opportunity to photograph the famous light shafts as well. Those shafts explain the greater popularity of the upper part of the canyon over the lower. Still, they are both exceptional.
I'm probably not going to make it back to Upper Antelope Canyon anytime soon. It has gotten to be a pretty big tourist attraction. Even though Upper Antelope Canyon is only about 200 yards in length there must have been over 100 people in there. Walking through the canyon reminded me of standing in line at Disneyland. The photos on this page do not betray this crowding because the tour guides would patrol traffic to make sure that certain areas would remain clear for short periods of time. You might find yourself with only a few seconds or a minute to get the shot before it would become too difficult to capture once the crowds started flowing again. Tour guides would routinely yell to each other and sometimes to the customer to try to keep things flowing. Needless to say, it wasn't the most peaceful way to spend a day. Fortunately, the last half hour of the photo tour I was on was much better than the first 1 1/2 hours. By that time the regular tours start to exit the canyon. Compared to the upper part of the canyon, Lower Antelope Canyon was pretty peaceful when I visited in 2007.
All images were taken with a 10-22mm lens with a Digital Rebel XT.
Thank you Sherry! These places are fun to visit and fun to photograph.
Sherry Van Sickle
21-Dec-2015 15:30
Absolutely brilliant photos. I envy you all the places you've been. I have been to a few on your list, but none of my photos come close to the quality of yours.
