Well, now I'm playing catch-up. My goal is to post daily about our trip to the desert southwest. That is not as easy at it sounds. Between driving between locations, going out on shoots, and processing images, there isn't a lot of time for anything else. Oh yeah, sometime I do need to sleep!

Anyway, yesterday was a slot canyon day. Our visit into canyon country continued into the night as we visited Upper Antelope Canyon for some star photography and light painting. The canyon was so peaceful and dark; the night was calm and cool. Perfect for making some images of the stars. Since the canyons are off limits without a guide, we booked a tour with an outfit in Page. After meeting our guide (Josh), we loaded up our gear and hopped into his Suburban for the journey to the canyon entrance.

We all set up our tripods/cameras and dialed in the appropriate settings. Josh provided some light to illuminate the canyon walls and make the images more dramatic.

The inside of the canyon was pitch black, but just a little bit of light really made the sandstone walls glow and come to life.

To make things even more interesting, we proceeded to move outside the canyon for some light painting with steel wool. This process involves igniting a piece of steel wool placed inside a kitchen whisk, then spinning the ball of flame in circles at the end of a chain. As the fireball spins, showers of sparks are thrown in all directions. Using a long exposure time in the camera, the sparks and streams of fire are captured in the image. Made for some interesting shots!

That's all for now. We made our way to Monument Valley this afternoon, stopping by Navajo National Monument along the way. Lots more images to process... Check back for more.

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Upper Antelope Canyon at Night