In the depths of Antelope Canyon

Antelope Canyon – Canyon X

I have a million photos and a millions words to express how much I loved photographing Canyon X, which is a less-travelled (and equally epic) section of the famous Antelope Canyon in Arizona.

While planning our recent road trip through the U.S. I knew that the one place I desperately wanted a little extra time in was this gorgeous red-rock slot canyon, which spreads throughout Navajo land, and which you can only access through guided tours. We chose Taadidiin Tours and opted for the photography tour, because let’s be real, I was not going to fight swarms of tourists for the shots I wanted. Paul, myself, and 6 other photographers hopped into a jeep and drove down red dusty roads to get to the access point. After a quick (and steep) walk down to the mouth of the canyon and were set loose to capture whatever each of us wanted.

Because we were on vacation I wasn’t armed with a ton of gear (you know, winding down from wedding season and all) but my 24mm did the trick. As the sun bounced around on the red rock we were shown every wave and bump in the rock that glowed bright orange-red in the sunshine and turned purple and blue in the shade. Every 20 minutes the light seemed to change and I felt like I had to keep going back to the same spots to re-photograph it. Needless to say, it was really hard to just pick a few photos to show.

One thing you can’t tell from the photos is that this canyon is roughly 120 feet deep. Shortly before we arrived in Arizona there had been flash floods that filled the canyon floors with water and shut them down for over a week. Thankfully the canyon had mostly dried up by the time we got there and to this day I can still smell the warm sandstone when I look at these photos.