I just returned from my first workshop, given by Alain Briot in Page, Arizona. I can't say enough about the workshop. It was an intense few days, and I learned a lot. Although it was really about shooting, and my shooting improved considerably, I'm also now going to have to re-edit and re-print a number of what I previously thought were good prints. If I can find the time & money I'll return in the fall for the Fine Art Summit (
www.beautiful-landscape.com/Workshop-Summit-06.html).
Antelope Canyon was the primary reason I chose this particular workshop, and it didn't disappoint. We visited both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon. Both are just a few miles outside of Page, AZ. The "upper" and "lower" I believe refer to the fact that the former is essentially above ground - you walk straight in to it - and the latter is below ground - you climb down in to it.
Upper Antelope Canyon is much busier, and I felt it was less photogenic. In two hours of shooting I came away with one really good shot. Many tourists with point-and-shoot cameras are walking through, so the longish exposures (several seconds at ISO 100 & f/8) sometimes have ghosts walking through them or get blown out by someone's flash, so you have to re-shoot. But it was a good training exercise.
Lower Antelope Canyon is MUCH tighter. You climb down through a crevice that I had to take my backpack off to fit through (a CamelBak Peak Bagger into which I slip a photo backpack interior). You will NEED a sturdy tripod with flexible legs, and something quick to set up and pack away because in several locations I had no choice but to pack it up to get through to the next section. I used a Gitzo 1348 with a Really Right Stuff 40mm ballhead. My Canon 5D has the RRS L-plate, which I found very useful since I frequently switched between portrait and landscape orientation. Much of the lower canyon is considerably darker, too: 30 second exposures at ISO 100 and f/8 were very common, even though it was late morning to noon. But the photographs are beautiful. The colors you've seen aren't manipulations, they come right out of the camera that way. But in the darkness your eyes can just barely see the blues, if at all. Nobody with me could see it, and I could just barely make it out. I have several excellent photographs from Lower Antelope Canyon after three hours of shooting.
I'll be back to Lower Antelope Canyon, no doubt. It's one of those places you just can't capture in one trip, even if you had a week or two. Oh, and spring was an ideal time. The temperatures are moderate (Page is in the desert), and they get very little rain in the spring. Late summer you definitely want to avoid because that's when they get their rain, and you don't want to be anywhere in or near a slot canyon with rain in the area - they're carved out by rain water.
Previously I've stayed in Page only briefly or passed through on my way to places like the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, sometimes photographing Horseshoe Bend along the way. But now I think of Page as a destination, not a stopover. What a wonderful weekend!
