Lower Antelope Canyon Page, Arizona When people ask where my favorite place to travel is they’re often surprised when I don’t answer “abroad” and instead tell them the Southwest might be my favorite place to visit. Every time I head to Utah and Arizona I’m just blown away. Antelope Canyon is one of those amazing places that leaves you speechless every time you visit. I’ve visited this slot canyon several times yet there’s always something new to see and explore. I’ve wanted to get this shot for quite some time but just never made time for it until this trip. With some time to kill on a cloudless morning, Willie, Breezy and I meandered the slot canyon for an hour by ourselves before the place became overrun with tourists. The rock formation on the left is known as “Lady in the Wind”. Can you spot her head, torso, and flowing hair? Standing underneath her, looking up at the sky creates quite the dramatic scene. I’ve photographed the Lady twice before from different angles and of the three I love them all for different reasons. Warning: We were in for a bit of a shock when we arrived. As we waited for the canyon to open we noticed that there were 2 new, fancy, buildings at the entrance. It turns out that a new, and quite awful, company opened shop at Lower Antelope Canyon called “Lower Antelope Canyon Tours.” They are not the original tour company and they may even be operating illegally. They led us false information (for example: they claimed that the photography tour had to be a guided tour that started 1.5 hours after the canyon opened, well after the light would become harsh and horrible and that un-guided tours are no longer allowed). We went over to the original, Ken’s Tours, and were able to head into Lower Antelope Canyon unguided. We had the whole place to ourselves for almost an hour. After that is when things went downhill — it became so crowded I couldn’t even move. When I reached the end and wanted to turn back my only option was to climb up, out of the canyon, walk to the beginning from above, then climb back in to nab a few more shots. Lets hope they don’t over commercialize Lower Antelope and turn it into the zoo that Upper Antelope is. Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S: 24mm, f/11, 1 sec, ISO 100 Exposure and focus stacked for increased dynamic range and depth.
Perfect StormTunnels Beach, from Helicopter Kauai, Hawaii One of the things I was most looking forward to was taking a helicopter tour of the island. I had heard amazing things about this and we spent a while trying to figure out the best company to go with. In the end we went with Jack Harter Helicopters (the guys that started it on Kauai) and we had a fabulous experience. When I got off the 'copter someone mentioned "that is the biggest smile I've ever seen" when they looked at me! Below is the Tunnels Beach area. You can see the outer reef, in the area where the awes are crashing in the bottom center. Tunnels Beach is directly above the "w" shape of the coral reef. Off to the right of Tunnels Beach is the Ha'ena Beach Park. To the left of Tunnels is Kepuhi Beach, and further left, in the very corner, is Wainiha Beach Park (looks like a small bay). Above the beaches you may see a couple homes, some of which are built on stilts due to the fact that hurricanes can cause the water level to rise quite considerably! Even further above you'll notice the Kauai mountains, most specifically Mt. Wai'ale'ale, which is shrouded in clouds. This is the wettest spot on earth! The summit averages more than 426 inches of rain per year (in 1982 it got a record 683 inches of rain!). Due to the geography of the island, the steep cliffs cause the moisture-laden air to rise rapidly (3,000+ ft in less than ½ a mile) which causes the clouds to drop a large portion of its rain in one spot.
Hoodoo Forest Pariah Toadstools, Arizona It’s a little bit crazy to think how much I’ve learned about a small area around Page, Arizona in the last 3 years. My first visit was in 2011 and I knew so little that the only places Willie and I photographed were Horseshoe Bend and Antelope Canyon before we high-tailed it out to shoot other places. “There’s not much else around” we thought. It always amazes me how I drove by so many stunning scenes without even noticing! Take the Hoodoo Forest, here, for example. It’s not far from the road. It’s not a hard hike. Heck, it’s not even far from a few really well known spots, yet, most people don’t even know it’s here! The place is a bit creepy at first. You get to the edge of a cliff, look down, see the hoodoo’s and think “there is no way I can get there.” With some bravery you find yourself standing in front of these amazing rock formations! Lesson learned: cairn the way down so you can get yourself back up. It’s not so easy when the sun has gone down and it’s almost dark! Willie and I almost didn’t make it down here in time for sunset. In fact, it took us so long to figure out how to get here that we were running around like crazy chickens trying to find good compositions. I loved the way that this spot showcased a number of the hoodoo’s and how they all seemed to face Turret Rock (I’m naming this guy cuz he’s so awesome). I needed the 14mm lens to fit it all in! Nikon D800 w/Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 IF ED UMC: 14mm, f/11, 1/13 sec, ISO 100
