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 p.1 #5 · denied at Antelope Canyon.. ? | |
Having made several trips there, I would like to add the following.
1. This was at UPPER Antelope Valley, not Lower Antelope Valley. The two are distinctly different on the interiors, in access, in visitation, and in photographic "rules" and "controls."
2. Dealing only with UAV, the place is a madhouse during the middle of the day, every day during tourist season (April through October), as the floor is dead flat, the place is easy to get to, and it has 95% of all the "light beams" you will find in the area's slot canyons. Visually it is simply stunning at the right time of day. Massive numbers of tour groups (sometimes as many as 5 or 6 big busloads at a time) compete with hundreds of other "drive up" people for entry during the key 4 hour periods each day. When you consider that the place is less than 3/8 mile long and in some places only 1 person wide, you can begin to understand the issues that exist, especially with large numbers of people carrying smart phones, point and shoots, monopods, baby tripods, and even flash (dear God!) systems as they move through the place.
3. The process the Navajo seem to have adopted is to push through all tour groups and "non-photography oriented" groups at a fast walking pace, saying all the time - "look at this, and that, and turn your flash off....please keep together and keep moving." The people in "photography oriented groups" also have to be guided, but they get preferential treatment, being set up and arranged at all the available "light beams" and other photographic interest areas by their guides. They get to shoot several shots before being hustled to the next position so the photo tours behind them can get into position (kind of a high speed rotation). All the time the other tourists are being herded along, around, through....keep on moving!
4. You have to see UAV in action during tourist season to believe it. whithout really tough crowd management and limited times in the canyon it would simply be a giant deathtrap.
5. For someone to "show up" at the entry point without doing ANY research about the place, and then to complain about the policies in place (reasonable or not, and I do consider some of them unreasonable, but it IS their land) is simply silly (and yes, I read his whole blog and all the comments). Information about this situation, and the requirement for and availability of guides for people wanting to do ....shall I call it "serious amateur photography "....is READILY and FREELY available all over the internet, as well as from multiple places in Page itself. In this day and age for anyone to go anywhere without doing basic research first is somewhat irrational, not to mention asking for disapointment.
6. In my interpretation, the individual was initially upset because he was denied the opportunity to do what he wanted....go through UAV by himself, without a guide. That simply isn't going to happen, nor should it. You will note in his blog that he did get access on a one-on-one guided tour of UAV, even with his non-DSLR camera.....for the same price as a group tour. For most of us, a one-on-one guided experience is something to be treasured in most cases.
Gene
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