Antelope Canyon Visit

[joe_mahoney1]

I am planning a Photo tour of Lower and Upper Antelope Canyons in early May.

Should I reserve a Photo tour in advance or can i just drive up to the Gate,

pay and take the Navajo bus? I like to have the freedom to change days of

visit so, if i am not tied to a tour, i would prefer it. Also, i am thinking of

doing the lower in the morning and upper mid day, and hate to drive back to

town to join a tour at mid day. any recommendations? should reserve a tour?

[jdrose]

The closer you are to mid day the better the light will be in the canyon. Very narrow, tall walls.

 

There are a number of guides in Page and they take you out there in big pick-up trucks not buses.

 

You might give this lady a call; Roger passed a few years back, but his wife still runs it. She is my neighbor.

 

May is definitely a busy time but they almost always have room for walk-ins. Call her up and see what she thinks.

 

JD, Page, Arizona

 

http://www.antelopecanyon.com/

[sattler123]

My experience has been that for the lower canyon you do not even need a guide. just drive up to the Canyon, park your car, pay the entrance fee and walk into the canyon with a group and a guide. The guide will not hazzle you if you chose to stay back - I spent as much as three hours in the lower canyon without anybody bothering me.

 

The upper canyon is a different story, as it is very crowded. I actually prefer the lower canyon - beautiful colors and texture - and you can spend as much time in there as you want.

[david_wu6]

I read somewhere that because of a flood which killed a few tourists (later 90's?) it's now reuqired for tourists to take a tour.

 

JD, Could you confirm?

[jdrose]

It was in 1998. Everyone but the tour guide perished. Many of the bodies were never found. Upper Antelope has required tour guides for years.

 

Lower antelope now requires a guide, however, the family that owns Lower Antelope is a bit more relaxed about it.

[peter_lawrence]

I think the flash flood the two of you are referring to occurred in 1997, on August 12,

1997 to be precise.<br>

<br>

<a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?

res=9A07EED7173FF937A2575BC0A961958260">New York Times article on the flash

flood</a><br><br>

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0002jb">photo.net

Nature Forum thread about the flash flood</a><br><br>

[william_bean]

Ditto what a lot of folks have said. I was in Lower Antelope on August 1, 1997 and got out just before a tremendous rainstorm. 11 days later 12 souls got washed away and drowned. Bottom line: If there's rain anywhere within 20 miles don't go in Lower Antelope. That being said, I was last there in 2005 and though things may have changed, at that time you just paid your fee and got turned loose in Lower Antelope Canyon. There was a time limit of 2 hours.

 

Like others have said, I much prefer Lower Antelope. In my mind it's more photogenic and the crowds are much smaller. If you want to photograph a slot canyon, go to Lower. If you want to see the iconic canyon that's featured in movies and tv commercials go to Upper but be prepared to be elbow to elbow.

 

In either case, mid day is preferable.

[jdrose]

1997. I forgot it was so long ago. I remember it like yesterday. It was big news around here for quite a while.

 

Thanks for the correction on the year.

[jdrose]

The article is incorrect about one thing. The stone is not limestone it is sandstone. It carves much differently.

 

Here are some shots I took in 2002 with a Sony FD73.

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00FmEu

[pvp]

Holy .... !

[josephwalsh]

I've been there several times, the last being May 2005.

I much prefer Lower. Just drive up, pay and go in. No crowds. You'll be on a tripod waiting for people to wander out of the scene...sometimes that never happens in Upper.

As far as subject matter, they seem equal to me. No reason to go to both.

[joe_mahoney1]

Thanks for all the inputs. Amazing flood pictures, now we know why the walls are so smooth!

[joe_mahoney1]

Maybe I can ask another question. I know i can't change lenses in the slots due to dust. So, with a Canon 40D (1.6x Crop) should I use my 10-22mm or 17-40mm lens?

[gary_anthes]

A more detailed account of the tragedy, and one that is truly chilling, is at http://climb-utah.com/Powell/flash_antelope.htm. The bit about the kids left behind in the motel is a heart-breaker. But the point for me is that this isn't just some rare geological anomaly of Antelope Canyon. There are many, many canyons in the Southwest where you can die in a flash flood with no warning.

[bill_schmidt]

OK, here's one vote for going on a tour. I went with a company based in Page (nearest town). I booked a PHOTO tour, not the regular shorter tour for just sight-seers. All the participants were serious photographers, with tripods, who mostly knew what they were doing. The tour lasted two hours in Upper Antelope Canyon and, most importantly, the guide was very contentious about keeping other tourists, on other tours, out of our way. The non-photographers on the other tours had no idea what we strange people were doing, standing next to our tripods, staring off into space, but the guide did and he shepherded all of them away from our shots. No flashes going off in the middle of bracketed 30 second exposures.It worked great and was worth the little extra money it cost.

[david_wu6]

I didn't realize it is that dark (30 second exposure, even 10s each of bracketed shoots).

 

Since the light beam is so strong, should a flash be used to fill some dark area?

[Carl Stone]

"There are many, many canyons in the Southwest where you can die in a flash flood with no

warning."

 

Dangerous and deadly yes, but with no warning, no. It isn't too difficult to get a weather

report, and during monsoon season it's not prudent to put yourself in a situation that can be

avoided. In over 25 years of serving the entire state, and the reservations, I've never been

caught in a flash flood. If there is any chance of one, stay out of places where they occur.

[JohnMWright]

When I was there (May 2005), I found the 17-40 perfect for my 20D, but take the 10-22 as well just in case. And a tripod.

 

You should reserve in advance. I got lucky but almost missed the noon tour.

 

Have a great time, it is a wonderful place!

[bill_schmidt]

Regarding flash - no one on the tour I was on, that's zero out of about 10 people, used flash. You surely will be smacked upside the head if you fire off a flash while someone next to you is in the middle of a 10s exposure! Most were contemplating merging two or more images to achieve a simulation (a la HDR) of a wider dynamic range. Personally, I shot 3 of each composition 0, +1 and -1 and some could have benefited from 5 exposures, each differing by a stop. Shot raw to boot and still could've used the five sometimes!

[Carl Stone]

I'm with you about not using flash to screw up some other persons images. But, I think that

HDR is largely over rated. Below is another opinion on HDR, one out of the mainstream, and

one that makes a lot of sense.

 

http://tracyvalleau.com/blog/

[bill_schmidt]

I went to the Canyon before HDR was available so I just merged the images (mostly two) the old fashioned (!) way. Most came out quite well but I could have used a -2 or -3 on some.

[david_wu6]

For a photo tour, IF the group is small, like Bill's, why couldn't the group or the tour guide make an arrangement for each to take turn of shooting with flash? For example, reserve the last 10-20 minutes (one or two minutes per person) for shooting of a favorite scene with flash. Wouldn't the light compensation made during shooting be better than done with PS?

 

I am just curious (fully understand the impact of one's flash to other's long exposure shooting) and planed to shoot -1.5, 0, +1.5 (w/o flash!) for manual blending.

[bill_schmidt]

Well, if the group is about 10 people and each is bracketing three shots (my metered exposures were in the range of about 30s) there wasn't a whole lot of time to do flash exposures as well! And, to be frank, few people anticipated using flash so didn't bring them.

 

Also, the shoot is very "linear": people start at one end, compose and shoot, and then move on. Not too much backtracking to re-shoot. But flash would make some shots easier, as long as the flash coverage was very wide.