Nature's Best Photography: Antelope Canyon, Ariz.

By Robert Hood

Peter Lik’s photograph of Antelope Canyon is today’s featured picture from Nature’s Best Photography. Click the related links below to see more amazing nature photography.

Peter Lik / Nature's Best Photography

Located near the border between Utah and northern Arizona, the tranquil Antelope Canyon is named for the herds of wild pronghorn that roamed the area long ago. Water running through the sandstone over the past millennia has sculpted graceful passageways, where shafts of light occasionally shine down from “slots” above.

Photographer Peter Lik said:
“The biggest lesson I have learned in photography is that timing is everything. No matter how perfect your technique and equipment, if you aren’t in the right place at the right time, you simply won’t get the shot. In the underground caves of Antelope Canyon, I knew the summer sun would pass directly overhead at midday. As my only opportunity for the shot approached, a narrow sliver of light beamed down through a keyhole onto the sandy canyon floor. At the precise moment I clicked the shutter, my Navajo Indian guide threw a handful of dust into the light. It wasn’t until weeks later, when I finally got to review the results of the shoot, that I was able to see the ghostlike human form that emerged."

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Photographic information:
Camera: Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II; 16-35mm lens; 1/4 sec at ƒ/8; ISO 100; Gitzo tripod.

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