Slot Canyons Workshop
May 2002

In May 2002 I had the privilege of attending a photography workshop put on by the Friends of Arizona Highways.  For more information on them follow the link.  We spent 4 days based in Page, Arizona with LeRoy DeJolie.  LeRoy is a Navajo who grew up in the area and does beautiful landscape and Native American photography.  Follow the link to his web site.  We not only learned a lot about photography and the wonderful photographic opportunities in the area, but we got to appreciate the land from LeRoy's point of view.  It was a great trip.  I would highly recommend him and the Friends.  We had 15 photographers from many different experience levels and backgrounds as well as Robyn and Jonathan, our escorts from Friends who made the trip run as smoothly as possible.  Both of them are very knowledgeable photographers as well. Fuji Film helps sponsor the Friends trips so they sent a representative, Dennis, who was also a great resource. I came away with so many images I liked that I couldn't fit them all in one normal sized gallery.  Follow the links below to the sub-galleries.

Bronica ETRSi, Zenzanon PE 45-90mm

Window in Lower Antelope Canyon

We not only visited slot canyons on this trip, but many of the nearby interesting locations.

 

Upper Antelope Canyon is just east of Page, Arizona.  It is on Navajo land.  To enter you either pay a fee at the gate or you can have a tour company drop you off and pick you up later.  The tour company option lets you spend more time in the canyon.  This canyon is very narrow at the top.  This lets in just a bit of light.  Many of my exposures were one to two minutes in length.  It gets crowded at times, though people are generally good at staying out of your pictures if you let them know.

 

These areas are in Southern Utah.  The first is a formation called the Toadstool.  It is just off Highway 89 on the way to Kanab.  The second is an area of white sandstone and shale that is extremely fragile.  It needs to be protected to prevent damage.

 

Lower Antelope Canyon is wider at the top, but more narrow at the bottom.  This allows for more light in the canyon.  It also makes it better to photograph here when the light is not directly overhead.  We went to Lower Antelope on two different days.  It was nice to have some film processed in Page so we could learn from our first trip.  Lower Antelope is also on Navajo land.  You pay a fee at the gate, but unlike Upper Antelope you can stay in the canyon as long as you like.  In order to improve access the Navajo family that runs the operation has installed steel ladders.  They have also installed a number of chain ladders that can be thrown down into the canyon to let people climb up in case of flooding.

For all of my images from this trip see the Image Catalog under Slot Canyons 02.