Where’s my $6.5 million? Antelope Canyon, Page, AZ

[theantiquetiger]

Really lovely AT - what an experience just to shoot there.

The actual shooting was kind of anti-climatic. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. If I dropped my camera and it accidentally fired, the image would have been good.

That was the big thing about the $6.5M image. You cannot do anything without the tour guide. They throw the dirt to create the “ghost”, they hold back the crowd as you get your shot, and basically, without the guide, you won’t even get a shot because it is on Navajo territory, and no one is allowed there without a guide.

The general tour contains 100 people or so. If it wasn’t for the guide, you would not get the shot because of all the people.

The guy with the $6.5M image, he never gave credit to the guide, nor mentioned the tour company, and turns out he sold it to his brother. The guide dogged the crap out of him when I mentioned it.

[Marko]

Huh - I did not know that inside story.....and i bought a catalog of Lik's work years ago.. where he wrote about the image....and did not mention the help of any guides (If I recall correctly).

Given all this, does it need to be on my bucket list?

[theantiquetiger]

Given all this, does it need to be on my bucket list?

I would say yes, just because of experience. The canyon is small, maybe 100 meters long, but because of the formations, there are millions of shots, and no two will be the same. This was Upper Antelope Canyon. There is also Lower Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell, Glenn River Dam, and Horseshoe Bend, all with in 5 minutes of each other. Within two hours of Page, you could spend a week nonstop behind the lens.

[Runmonty]

Yeah Peter Lik is somewhat controversial (there have a been a few threads on this forum discussing his work and business practices)

I must say though that his shot was the first one that I can recall seeing of this canyon (but I have seen plenty since), and it is pretty impressive.

Not blowing sunshine mate, but yours in the other thread are among some of the better ones I have seen.

Well done

[Marko]

I would say yes, just because of experience. The canyon is small, maybe 100 meters long, but because of the formations, there are millions of shots, and no two will be the same. This was Upper Antelope Canyon. There is also Lower Antelope Canyon, Lake Powell, Glenn River Dam, and Horseshoe Bend, all with in 5 minutes of each other. Within two hours of Page, you could spend a week nonstop behind the lens.

Cool - Would you describe the costs a bit.... was it 100 people to 1 guide? Did people hire private guides? Is the shooting atmosphere in the slot canyon mayhem? Did you get 5 minutes to shoot the 'ghost' image...or was there time to linger?
Within those 2 hours of page...are there private areas to shoot...or is every desirable area swarming with other photographers?

Thx!

[theantiquetiger]

Cool - Would you describe the costs a bit.... was it 100 people to 1 guide? Did people hire private guides? Is the shooting atmosphere in the slot canyon mayhem? Did you get 5 minutes to shoot the 'ghost' image...or was there time to linger?
Within those 2 hours of page...are there private areas to shoot...or is every desirable area swarming with other photographers?

Thx!

There are two types of tours going on at the same time, general tours (50-100 ppl) and photography tours (groups of 4-12 ppl). Each group has a guide and they work with each other. As the photography group sets up to take their shots, the guides hold up the general groups, keeping them out of that chamber for about 5 minutes. One thing about it, the guides know when the sun rays are coming through, making sure you are there for the rays. Some rays only last for 5-10 minutes.
They treat the general tours like crap and the photography tours like royalty. The photography tour was $160 a person for 2 hours, and the general tours are something like $50 a person for an hour tour. The company I did the tour with (Navajo Antelope Canyon Tours) only does five photographers at a time. My tour was only four people at that time. Another tour company had up to 12 people and they were full. I’m guessing that tour maybe a little cheaper but I wouldn’t do it because those photographers were stacked on top of each other.

The Horseshoe Bend is a general admission, $10 a car, and can get pretty crowded. It’s about 1km hike to it, half of it being up hill in sand.

Like I said, there is also Lake Powell, a regular canyon, and a working power dam, all great places to shoot.

If you drive south of Page, you follow Colorado River, with more places to shoot than you could shake a stick at.

Two hours east of Page is Monument Valley. It’s the place where Forrest Gump finished his cross country runs. It’s actually in Utah.

I took this about 40 miles east of Page, AZ, and it was just a road side pull off that had a trail. We were the only ones there.

[Marko]

Thank for all that extra info AT!