Antelope Canyon

11th May 2009

More PICTURES :)

My another small wish among those of my millions of little wishes ... to photograph Antelope Canyon with these precious sunrays ... It happened to be very easy I must say ... that's all I can tell you at this moment.

Situated in Arizona, Antelope Canyon is accessible only through the guided tours. The guided tours are available from Page. We cannot explore by ourselves taking our own sweet time. We will have an hour or two hours and half depending on the type of the tour we take ! So, I had booked for a photography tour, morning time and so I had two-and-a-half hours. I had seen this slot canyon in the pictures on Flickr and other image galleries. I was exhaustingly enthusiastic about this photo-tour. My idea of visiting places is to enjoy, feel and be satisfied with my visit there, not to cover so much in one day running around everywhere, clicking some artless photos in a hurry, without enjoying anything in the process. So, I had a very relaxed schedule, right time allotted for photo-shoot.


To reach the mouth of the canyon we have to ride a desert vehicle. It had 8 high rising wheels on that an open truck, with secure railings for us to hold while seated. After all of us boarded the truck roared into life and once we were in the permit area the strange looking truck moved with a considerable speed and force, made its way through the desert of red sand. It was a wonderful ride along the way to see were the red rocks ... We entered the canyon and I was so disappointed to see a canyon filled with people. But, then these guides are clever ... they co-ordinate the groups very well that everybody gets a chance to shoot people free pictures.

So, at every photo-point we set up our camera and people were moved away so that we could take pictures. At the first such point, I set up my camera wondering what is it ? As the faint beam of sunlight entered and slowly grew stronger, I was so excited, after few minutes it fainted away. Words in black and white cannot explain my emotion at that time, I was so happy that I witnesed it. I took pictures over and over and each picture looked more beautiful. I was the only one in that group of professional photographers (which I am not) who is short and had a super wide angle lens. I was always placed in the front row and it made me feel good.


I took some time to feel the place, I looked so small in the whole setting, I walked in the narrow slots with the canyon walls raising so high beside me, seeing it at all angles, I felt really attached to this place. The place is so photogenic ... so cool ... and I wished I had more time to spend here ... In two-and-a-half hours I barely got the taste of it … it was time to go back … I had a last sight of it and were heading back on that strange looking truck … the 10 minutes of desert safari was fun … got some free suntan also … I will go back there very soon …