Upper Antelope Canyon on Navajo Land in Arizona – a Symphony of Light and Shape on B&W Film

 

 

A recent trip to Page, Arizona included the tour of one of six canyons where light, shape and colour provide dramatic optical delights.

The Navajo Upper Antelope Canyon is called Tsé bighánílíní in Navajo language meaning “the place where water runs through the rocks.” Rainwater during the monsoon season (heavy rains for a month or so) created flash flooding and eroded Navajo Sandstone and created passageways and corridors while polishing and smoothing rough edges in the sandstone. This resulted in shapes that flow like the water passage, and openings atop the walls of the canyon. The light that filters through such open passages creates delightful, somehow psychedelic colours and shapes.

The canyons are the main attraction of the Lake Powell Navajo Tribal Park and access to these canyons are only possible through guided tours by Navajo.

Needless to say, I was intrigued by the photo opportunities such a tour can provide. However, since I do not own or use digital cameras, the challenge of using a vintage film camera, without flash, and slow 100 ASA B&W film provided the challenge I always desire. However, just in case I wanted memories of the promised colours, I opted to rely on the “camera” of my phone…

The evening before the tour I saw a huge square frame in a field as if to frame the background scene. As I was trying to solve the mystery, a young boy appeared out of nowhere and sat in the frame. The street photographer in me immediately pointed the camera and clicked. The boy got up a few seconds later and walked toward the house on the left.

Here is that photo

 

And a cropped section showing the moment

 

What a delightful moment that was when the frame, the field, the boy and the evening sky came together in harmony!

The next morning on the way to the Navajo Tribal Park, I drove by a number of Navajo jewelry stands by the highway. Most were simple open structures where silver and turquoise handmade jewelry are sold by tribal artists. But then there was the one shown atop of the page! I just could not resist pulling over and taking a few photos using my 1981 Minolta X700 camera sporting a 1972 Soligor 20mm f2.8 lens. The banner featuring a Navajo grandma, her grandson, the jewelry stand, the mountain and the white truck described the environment perfectly

That photo is atop this entry.

… Once on the guided tour of the Upper Antelope Canyon, I realised why it is a very attractive place to visit. The light from the openings of the canyon walls filtered gracefully to create form and colour in the most abstract way. As such, the observers were provided to interpret what they saw. The ultimate set-up for guided pareidolia!

So, I opened the lens to its fullest (f2.8) and set the shutter speed to 1/15^th of a second and finished a roll of film hoping that some will be “artistic” enough given the camera shake and the unpredictable sources of light. In a few settings, when my own pareidolia let me to “see” shapes, I took photos with both the real camera and with my phone to see how colour tells a different story from B&W.

Here are a couple of examples:

The angle of view in this photo reminded me of an avian head. The digital version of that view was as follows:

When I printed the B&W film version in my darkroom, I discovered TWO birds!

 

Regarding this second photo, I just liked the multitude of shapes that in my mind could swirl in a monochromatic version.And here is what came out in the developing pan, under my darkroom’s red light:  :

 

Now I saw a small shark (bottom left) trying to grab an enormous seahorse (top half in the middle)!

However, if the canyon was naturally in the shades of gray, it would not be as spectacular. People from around the world would not come to Navajo land to experience the changing colours and shapes with the changing of daily light filtering through the openings of the canyon walls. And for capturing that feeling, colour photography is essential.

Here is one moment I caught when light coming through the tunnel passage and and a small hole in the ceiling of the canyon gave us a spectacular display:

What my eyes saw

 And what it would be if the world was monochrome...

… A visit to a canyon, formed by the sedimentation of sandstone sand washed from higher mountain basins to carved passages through the Navajo Sandstone was a photography experience I had not attempted before.  My goal was not to take photos of the canyon -- for that I would have used medium format cameras (probably my 1948 Rolleiflex TLR), a tripod, and flash light. Instead, I wanted to capture a story behind what light and shape can "write" on cellulose, stories that the eye may not see when being "distracted" by colour.

Yet, on that trip, I found a couple of moments to be what I have been for more than half a century – a street photographer!

 

PS/ I shared the canyon photos (in colour and B&W) with a friend who had toured the canyon. Her interpretation of the “avian photo” was:

“ .. looks like an ostrich turning his head and squawking at the person who just plucked his feather.”

The joys of interpreting abstract art…

 

September 17, 2024

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2024