Good for you for being so diligent to arrive early, and try several times! It surely paid off! The photos are so mysterious. The roots of the trees look like something from a movie (ha-well I guess they are!) I too love photograping places like this-but it is so challenging with all the tourists. It must have been surreal to wander it alone. I'm curious to see it packed with people...I'm sure it takes away from the magic.
It definitly does. It's hard to walk through some of the hallways because they get very crowded. And then there are some spots where everyone takes a photo, so there's even kind of a queue, can you believe it ;-)