![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower10_5921.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
Within “The Corkscrew”–Lower Canyon<\/strong><\/p>\n The ticket office is a crumbling wooden cabin at the end of a dusty square. On the right, you can sit on a couple of roofed benches for shelter from the hot sun as you wait for the guide who will lead your group through the canyon. Antelope Canyon is located in northern Arizona and is a source of tourism business for the Navajo Nation. It is divided into the upper canyon\u2014referred to as \u201cThe Crack\u201d and the lower canyon\u2014referred to as \u201cThe Corkscrew\u201d, since the main road cuts the canyon in two. The upper is within reach only onboard a special sport utility the Navajos have equipped to drive tourists around; the lower is right behind the ticket office. The old Navajo woman selling tickets catches sight of my photo equipment and asks me whether I need a \u201cPhotographer Pass.\u201d The pass costs $40 just to visit the lower canyon, although I\u2019ll be able to stay as long as I want. I accept and find myself with a yellow note bearing the writing \u201cphoto\u201d tucked into a plastic badge that I hang around my neck.<\/p>\n The tourist groups enter the canyon hourly. They disappear, swallowed by a tight cleft opening in the ground. Our guide is a tall, bulky Navajo man who gathers our group and gives us our first advice. While he\u2019s talking, towering above our heads, I can\u2019t help wondering if he will be able to slip into that tight cleft. Nevertheless, he steps forward before us and easily snakes his way down into the ground, pausing while his head is still visible to turn and invite us to follow after him before he disappears among the rocks.<\/p>\n To go down to the level of the canyon, you must climb down a metal ladder. The group climbs down a bit less than ten meters (30 plus feet), and we discover that we are enveloped in color. The walls are indeed within our reach–just a bit more than a single meter (3 plus feet) away. There are only a very few spots where we can keep our arms wide open. The light sliding in from above echoes against the walls and grows brighter and brighter with each step. The farther down we climb, the more we are surrounded by an intense and involving orange hue. The rocky walls look like fabric. The lines scratched by the rain and the wind have drawn their soft folds so that they seem to follow us along the half mile of the whole path.<\/p>\n I lag behind the group to begin looking around. I feel an urge to start shooting everything and anything by instinct, since the whole of it is, indeed, thrilling. But I must keep control to choose and understand what my canyon<\/em> will be, to capture the visions of my instinct, not my eyes. To get a good depth-of-field, I close the diaphragm; the shutter speed becomes slow–six or eight seconds sometimes. I must use the tripod together with the \u201cmirror-up\u201d setting because vibrations may deprive the rocky drawings of their brightness by clicking.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s very difficult to place the tripod in such a tight place. I need to use different lengths for the feet of the tripod and, above all, to lean the feet of the tripod against the rock very carefully so as not to scratch it. I use rubber protective devices. Another item of equipment that\u2019s necessary to shoot Antelope Canyon is a cable release, or even better, a remote shutter release so I won\u2019t touch the camera, avoiding further vibrations.<\/p>\n A peculiar feature of Antelope Canyon is the \u201clight wells\u201d: beams of light slipping down from the apertures as far as the ground. They can be seen only in given periods of the year or in the middle of the day. They confer a peculiar emphasis to your snapshots. If you happen to visit during another period of the year or time of day, you can simulate the effect by throwing a fistful of sand in the air. The dust floating up around for just a few seconds will make the light beams visible. Tip: Throw the sand in the air far from your camera.<\/em><\/p>\n Another consideration you should keep in mind in such a peculiar condition of light is that the closer you get to an upper framing, the more the light will \u201cburn\u201d the rocks. You should take care to keep yourself within the exposition range\u2014about five stops–the position your photo detector allows you. No doubt, an external spot exposure meter can be useful.<\/p>\n My group is far ahead by now and I can hear the voices of another group that will reach me shortly. I stop in the first corner, take a look around, and wait to be lapped by them before I return to shooting. I remain in the canyon for three hours before I walk back to the metal ladder to climb up to the surface.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “The Crack”–Upper Canyon<\/strong><\/p>\n I jump into my car and drive to the square of the upper canyon. The surroundings appear the same–a crumbling wooden cabin where I can buy tickets and roofed benches where tourists sit to wait. All around there are many sport utilities parked–pick-ups with two rows of seats for tourists. I buy a ticket to visit the upper canyon–this time without a \u201cphotographer pass.\u201d The cost is $25 for everybody.<\/p>\n Our guide, a young Navajo girl, has us sit in one of the sport utilities and drives us to our destination on a wide sandy path, crossing through two steep rocky walls. From time to time, we can see apertures around us where people are arranging ladders. Perhaps they are in other canyons that tourists will be able to visit shortly. We finally reach the entrance of the upper canyon. This time there are no ladders to climb down. The canyon is on the same level as the path, and the walls surrounding it rise about ten meters from the sand. Other sport utility vehicles are parked around the entrance–one for each group visiting the canyon.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n This passage is much wider than the lower\u2014sometimes as much as four meters wide. It is much easier to set up a tripod, although it is much more difficult to shoot around the tourists. In the lower canyon, I had to step forward, queuing up until the path cleared. Here, the space allows me to stop and admire the light tricks and the rocky shapes. It\u2019s easier to find other tourists within my frame. The colors are different, too. The distance between the rocky walls softens the reflection of the light. The whole tone is nearly brown. Red, yellow and orange are visible only if I turn my camera up.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n The wider space to move around makes the canyon appear shorter than the other one, but in reality their length is similar. My advice is still the same: tripod, \u201cmirror-up,\u201d and cable release. Here you can get better framings by turning the camera up. It\u2019s a pity no one can leave the group. A more solitary visit would allow better concentration, especially as I choose my framing.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n \u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n The two paths, the lower and the upper, though winding through different environments, turn out to be magic and somehow homogeneous experiences. Once back to the surface, you can perceive the amazing beauty: just when you feel you are no more involved in the warm and reassuring tones of the inside and you are definitely back, between the sky and the stone ground on which you are now walking, along the canyon cleft, to get back to the start.<\/strong><\/p>\n by Piero Leonardi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower1_5973.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower2_5838.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower3_5840.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower5_5951.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower9_5910.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower4_6047.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower7_5966.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower8_5867.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Lower6_5961.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper1_5988.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper3_5999.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper4_6007.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper6_6043.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper7_6052.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper8_6057.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper2_5894.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/march2012\/Piero_photos\/Upper5_6026.jpg\")
\n\u00a9 2011 Piero Leonardi. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n