Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Separated by just 4 miles from Upper Antelope Canyon, on the other side of Highway 98, lies the Lower Antelope Canyon.  This one doesn't require any pre-booked tours, one can just walk to the trail head, buy tickets and you'll be taken in a group by a Navajo guide.  If you happen to visit Upper Antelope Canyon before Lower, remember not to throw the receipt since it can get you a discount on your tickets to Lower Antelope Canyon.  Unlike Upper Antelope tour where in the group members are tightly bound to the guide, this one's quite lenient.  Lower Antelope Canyon is brighter, bigger, narrower than Upper and is quite different it terms of formations.  The trail at some point gets really narrow that you need to twist and turn to get through.  Unlike Upper where the whole trail is at the same level, here you reach different depths of the canyon by man made stairs. In terms of photography, the tips are pretty much the same as before...wide angle and tripod are a must, set to auto white-balance, telephoto and flash are a no-no.  Enjoy the pictures...

Upper Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Upper Antelope Canyon, located just about 5 miles from the nearest town Page, Arizona, is the first slot canyon that I ever visited and the experience was a memorable one. A slot canyon is formed by a thin fissure in the rock which gradually widens and deepens by the flow of water for thousands of years.  I was enthralled by the play of light inside these claustrophobic canyon -  the sunlight entering the canyon through the narrow crevasse on the ceiling creates incredible effects inside the canyon.  It illuminates the walls vividly with varying shades of red - orange - yellow - violet - purple and also at a specific hour of the day creates light shafts which is delight to photographers.

These canyons can't be explored by ourselves, it's controlled by the Navajo indigenous people and a guided tour is the only means by which one can get here.  We booked our tour at Overland Canyon Tours in Page, AZ.  There are two sorts of tour - a photography one and a regular one.  The photography tour is an hour longer than the regular one, double the price and is usually guided by photographers.  They would show you the typical shots, they would take you to the light shafts at the right time and they would control the crowd so you can click the pictures without worries.  A requirement for taking photography tour is that you gotta own an SLR, which is a good thing.  No photographs could be shot without tripod for it's dark inside the canyon and changing the lens is not advised for its very dusty.  Flash and telephoto lens won't help either.

Below are some of the pictures I shot.