Daily Nature Fix: Antelope Canyon - Home of the $6.5Million Photograph. (Original Photos)

Hello everyone.  Today's daily nature fix is about a sandstone crevice in Arizona that is likely the most famous slot canyon in the world: Antelope Canyon.  It's located about 5 miles from Page, AZ and is on, and owned by, the Navajo nation. This beaut is around 650ft long and 120 ft deep.  You can't explore this canyon by yourself, you need to go with tour groups and guides.  It's not cheap either, at $25 per adult.  I was a bit reluctant to even take the tour once I saw the price and saw how disorganized and shotty the operation was overall, but Kylene convinced me to do it and I'm glad she did.  The canyon is a magnificent work of nature and was an experience I won't forget.  For example, here is a unedited, untouched photo inside the canyon that Kylene took with her iPhone:

^^^It was an older phone too, I think the iPhone 4s.  Graininess aside, you can see what it really looked like.

     Now, you did read the blog title right... photographer Peter Lik took a photo in this canyon called "Phantom" and sold a print for $6,500,000.  That makes this the most expensive photograph ever sold.  Here is the photo:

^^^ "Phantom" by Peter Lik.  Photo & Credit.

   It's not all that rare to see a sight like that in the canyon though.  Around noon, when the sun is brightest and right overhead, it makes beams that penetrate all the way down to the canyon floor like this.  We didn't see that personally as we went later in the day.  The real rarity of the "Phantom" photo is that there is no people in the shot.  That waviness in the sand in his photos is from tourist foot prints.  They must have closed the canyon to tours while he worked, or something.  The guide said they do do that form time to time for photographers and film makers.

   I digress.  The tour business of the canyon is setup right along the highway.  Once your tour time comes, the Navajo guides load you up onto pickups retrofitted with benches and drive you about a quarter mile to the canyon entrance. 

^^^The entrance.  I just noticed our guide's face in the bottom right, which kind of blends in with the stone structure.

    Seeing the entrance as you approach was cool... but what wasn't cool was that we also saw about 10 more pickup trucks already there that carried about 15 - 20 tourists each.  Large crowds can really put a damper on the majesty of whatever you're trying to see, but what can you do, right?  The problem was a little more compounded at a site like this, however, because the widest parts of the canyon were probably around 10ft only.  There were hundreds of people in this thing and we were all right on top of one another. 

^^^Not quite as enchanting as that "Phantom" photo, huh???

   Nonetheless, I eventually found a few opportunities to take some people-free photos by shooting over their heads, or when Kylene and I would drag way behind our tour group.  Between groups you can briefly find a few sweet spots where you have the canyon to yourself.  Here are a few of those photos:

^^^And one of me on the way out!  

    While I feel like I did a lot of complaining about our visit to Antelope Canyon, I must stress that it WAS worth it.  If you're in the area, you should definitely see it.  It was worth putting up with the crowds and incompetence of the tour operation.  The reds of the sandstone and the crazy abstract shapes that thousands of years of erosion have created is a true wonder.  And who knows?  One of your photos of the place might sell for $6.5M!

Thanks for reading.  I post a nature-themed Daily Nature Fix blog every day, so be sure to follow me and never miss one!

***Daily Nature Fix is a daily blog showcasing the natural world.  It is all original content using photos, stories, and experiences from my own travels.***