I Saw Her First. 

It was April 2, 2010.  I was visiting Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona with Carol and our friend Vince.  It is a must see spot in the Southwest United States.  Amazing to experience, amazing to see, amazing sad history ( 12 people died in a flash flood in 1997). 

There is lots to see and experience near Page, Arizona.  It is near the Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell (a wonderful spot for boating),  a short trip to Horseshoe Bend Overlook and Marble Canyon where many Grand Canyon river tours start.

We took a “photo tour” of Antelope Canyon, something not offered today.  We rode the short distance to the canyon entrance in comfortable Suburban SUVs with air conditioning. People doing the regular tour ride in the back of a modified truck with a large open bed with seats known as a “Shake and Bake.”  We were allowed to bring tripods and linger, something no longer permitted.  If you go to Antelope Canyon, I recommend Carol Big Thumb’s Adventurous Antelope Canyon tours. Her guides are canyon experts and also familiar with just about every camera made to make sure even the most amateur photographer will come home with remarkable photos.

We visited both Upper and Lower Antelope Canyon as well as Rattlesnake Canyon. Lots of interesting compositions everywhere you look.  I made a photo that evokes a ghost in the canyon, seen only by the camera because of the required long exposure to capture dust falling in the shafts of  light from the mid-day overhead sun.

A few years later, well-known landscape photographer Peter Lik sold his similar “Phantom”  for $6.5 million.   Like I said, I saw it first.  Or at least I think I saw her (2010) before Peter Lik (2015).

Obviously I am not the first to see such ephemeral apparitions in the dust of the canyon and I will not be the last.   Every time I go back and look through my images from that day in the canyons I see something different.  

Thanks for stopp