Back From The USA

Hopefully a different take on the much photographed Antelope Canyon.

Well I just got back from a fantastic family holiday in the USA…. Yup thats right not photographic holiday but family holiday.    Normally every year I go over for a big conference in the U.S. and then tack on a week of photography at the end of it to go and shoot one of the incredible National Parks in the South West.  However this year I decided to share the parks with my family.  So there was no sunrise shoots, or sunset shoots or even night shoots.  Most of the time I only pulled my camera out to shoot family shots.   Did a ton of hiking of some truly amazing trails (anybody hiked Angel’s Landing in Zion)?  Spectacular!

I did manage to snap a few shots of Antelope Canyon while visiting there with my family.  But what a zoo it was!  I couldn’t believe it.  The canyon was packed, I think they have lifted the restrictions to how many tours can go throgh upper Antelope at one time, and it was literally a zoo.  I did go with a very good photo guide called Gabriel who knew exactly when to be in different parts of the canyon to get some different effects.  This shot was one example of this.  He took us to this little compartment and explained to us that there would be a pencil thin beam of light that would come into this chamber and would last only for a few minutes.   We all set up  and pointed our cameras in the said direction and waited.  Sure enough, to the minute the beam of light appeared.  Thats what I call “local knowledge”.

Afterwards I spoke with my guide about the type of light painting and night photography that I do and it turns out that there is one guide in Antelope who is also interested in night photography and will let me into Antelope at night to do some light painting.  So as it turns out my conference next year is in Las Vegas,  so I’m going to plan my expedition around night shots of Antelope, The Wave and Bryce Canyon.

Got a few photographic projects and tutorials lined up, so you’ll see more activity from me now that I’m back.

Happy shooting

Brent