SGirimont Photography Blog: The Stories Behind the Images

Antelope Canyon, just outside Page, Arizona on the Navaho Reservation, is one of the most amazing places on the planet. Divided into two sections known as the Upper and Lower Antelope Canyons, it should be on everyone’s “to see before I die” list.

Created by water over centuries, the sandstone of the area has worn away to form what is known as a “slot canyon” with narrow, steep walls. Unfortunately, because everyone who sees it (like me) says it should be on everyone’s “to see before I die” list, it seems like everyone tries to see it. On the same day.

When we were in Upper Antelope Canyon, there must have been well over 100 people trying to walk around each other in spaces barely 5 feet wide in places. Some areas open up to cathedral-like “rooms” (well, they feel “cathedral-like” after squeezing between narrow spaces for a while), but much of the canyon is narrow and really can’t support that many people at one time. At one point I joked that the canyon wasn’t formed by water after all, but by the backs of tourists rubbing against the sandstone. The reason the canyon gets packed is that there are only about 2 hours in any given day when the sun is in just the right position to send light shining down into the canyon. Everyone trying to see the canyon before they die, tries to be there in that same two-hour period of time.

Consequently, the vast majority of the images I made in the canyon were taken with the camera pointing up, over the heads of the horde of people widening the canyon with their backs. 

Upper Antelope Canyon is generally shaped like a pyramid in that it is narrow up top and wider at the bottom. This means the light comes through a narrow slot and casts deep shadows throughout the canyon. Consequently, the contrast range is rather high in Upper Antelope Canyon, making the use of a tripod and multiple exposures to capture the full tonal range a must.

And to those tourists who were using a flash from their dinky point-and-shoot cameras, ruining many of my shots 25 seconds into a 30-second exposure: may your memory cards get mysteriously wiped clean before you get home. When you visit, turn off the flash!