My research for this photo trip led me to believe that this could either be a boom or a bust depending on numerous factors beyond my control. Several members of this community (UHH) were reporting disastrous horror stories relating to their tour of these scenic, and photogenic slot canyons, To that end, I decided to keep this adventure as cheap and short as I could get away with.

It was a five hour, early morning drive from my home in Apache Junction to Page, AZ. I arrived as the tours were just opening and located Ken's Lower Antelope Canyon Tours and checked on the availability to get in on a "Photographers Only" tour. I was told that without prior reservations, all Photographers Only tours were sold out for the day. Adjacent to Ken's was what appeared to be an ugly stepchild tour operation called "Dixie Ellis' Lower Antelope Canyon Tours". I checked with the ticketing girl and was told that they have openings at noon and 2:20pm, so I paid my $40 (after already paying the $8 Navajo Park Admission) and reserved a spot on the later tour.

With time to kill, I located a campground where I pitched my tent for the one night stay and toured the nearby Horseshoe Bend feature on the Colorado River (note to self: do not hit this site before noon as the overwhelmingly dark shadows from the thousand foot cliffs obscure the lower portion of the bend.) As my appointed time drew nearer, I hustled back to the touring operation to await my call. I checked again at the window for the status of the tour and asked how many were on the same tour with me, to which she replied that I was the only one on the list. It's impossible to relate how excited I was when I heard this.

At last I was introduced to Andrea, a young Navajo girl, and we spent the next few minutes getting acquainted. It turns out that she is quite knowledgeable on SLR and Mirrorless cameras, even recommending settings for optimum results. Once in the canyon, each time I wanted to set up for a series of shots, Andrea would pause following tours and wait until preceding groups were out of sight to minimize the chance of getting unwanted tourists included in the shots. At one time, during my tour, I met the Photographers Only tour from Ken's, a dozen experienced photographers, each with a long tripod, struggling to get setup for a photo op that I had just vacated all by myself.

Andrea would alert me to a pre-determined spot where she was going to create a "Sandfall" (waterfall with sand), again, the area was cleared of others while I set up my camera/tripod. When I was ready, she would throw a double handful of sand up on a ledge allowing it to drain down through a narrow slot or spill over a flat rock. Often she had to repeat this several times until I was satisfied that I had something acceptable to choose from (Ken's tour got one or two chances to catch the shot). And so it went for the entire two hour tour of the canyon, pause those behind us and wait for those ahead of us to clear an area, take my shots and move on. I might note that Andrea even carried my camera bag containing a second camera and additional lens' (which didn't get used).

As we exited the canyon and headed back to the tour stand, I knew that I had just experienced the most outstanding photo shoot I could ever have hoped for. I ended up with more than 200 shots in the approximately one quarter mile of slot canyon and two hour time limit. My advice to anyone serious about a photo trip to Antelope Canyon(s) is:
A) Be patient and select a series of bright sunny days in which to tour the canyon.
B) Upper Antelope is an "A" canyon that has a narrow top opening and better chances of catching the "sun rays" feeding through but it's darker.
C) Lower Antelope is a "V" canyon that is wider on top than the bottom allowing more light to enter and highlight the walls.
D) Plan the trip for later in the year when kids are in school and there might be fewer/smaller tours going on.
E) By all means, opt for the "Photographers Only" tours and if you can afford it check into some of the remote canyon tours.
F) Don't go to Horseshoe Bend until after lunch.... sundown is even better.

This was a five thumbs up experience.