I was fortunate enough to live in the desert southwest of the US for three years. My wife and I lived in Las Vegas from 2011-2014. Unfortunately she worked a lot of weekends – not just days, but nights, too. This allowed me to get out into the desert and explore. My absolute favorite place to go was Zion National Park in southern Utah. It is a quick 2.5 hour drive. I’d usually stay a night or two, but would sometimes drive up early in the morning and come back late at night.
I’m sure most people are well familiar with Angel’s Landing or the Narrows. People who have been there probably have also seen Hidden Canyon, Emerald Falls, Weeping Rock, the Grotto or maybe even done the strenuous hike to Observation Point. Those are all amazingly beautiful places, and if you haven’t been, you should go. But those are just a taste of what Zion has to offer. For those willing to get off the beaten path (and those with the proper training and gear), Zion is the Mecca of slot canyons on the Colorado Plateau. The soft sandstone and seasonal monsoon rains create a landscape of hidden slot canyons. The Narrows is a great example. It is one of the deepest in the world and the top draw to Zion. But tucked away are slot canyons that are sometimes narrower than a human body. In their depths, they can be quite dark. Water from the monsoon rains collects in them and can sit for months on end. This can mean a freezing cold pool in the middle of summer. Unfortunately it can also mean a stinky one if the rains haven’t visited in a while.
Navigating these can range from a quick walk in less than one hour or a 14 hour or longer day (or days). Technical rope skills are required as some canyons can have rappels of hundreds of feet. And if that wasn’t enough, the rains that have created this beauty can appear out of nowhere on an otherwise clear afternoon and create a life threatening flash flood.
A photograph of a slot canyon is the epitome of the saying, “a photo doesn’t do it justice.” But I certainly try. Multiple challenges, besides the potentially life threatening navigation of the canyon itself, wait for the intrepid photographer. The sandstone can and does wreak havoc on gear. Everything must be either waterproof or protected from the wet conditions. However, for the prepared person, the lighting can spectacular and the photographic possibilities well worth it.
In my opinion, the biggest photography challenge in a slot canyon is the lighting. Failing to account for the dynamic range, especially if you are going to include the sky in a shot, can ruin a perfect composition. Depending on your equipment, sometime this problem is insurmountable – i.e. a point-and-shoot. It is often difficult to justify hauling a DSLR into a slot canyon. If your approach is 1000 vertical feet uphill and 4 hours long BEFORE you even get to a canyon that will last ANOTHER 4 or more hours, the last thing you want to do is pack an extra 5 pounds of gear. And that gear might just end up getting in the way if you’re trying to squeeze through a narrow slot. That being said, I occasionally drag mine along if I’m heading through a canyon that I know is particularly scenic and the extra hassle will be worth it. I’ll pack it into a Pelican case to keep it safe. That’s still a pain, though, because it is a chore to get it out every time I need it. And a technical slot canyon is not a place you hang an expensive DSLR over your shoulder.
My normal kit is an Olympus TG-2. The TG-2 is a waterproof, shockproof, dust proof camera that is almost perfect for what I need. It has two program modes. I set one to f/2, ISO 800, and auto shutter speed. The other is set to f/8, ISO 100, and again, auto shutter speed. It’s a snap to switch between the two modes for shots in the depths of a canyon and also during the walks in the sunshine. It also has a decent HDR mode for handling the high dynamic range situations. The TG-4, Olympus’s newest tough camera, adds RAW capability. Combine that with auto-exposure bracketing, and you have a great piece of equipment well suited for slot canyon photography. It’s on my wish list for the next time I’m back in canyon country.
When I do shoot with my DSLR, I’d use auto-exposure bracketing and merge in HDR later. I used to use Photomatix Pro, but have reprocessed a lot of my bracketed shots in Lightroom recently. Lightroom’s HDR merge feature pumps out DNG files that are more versatile than what I get out of Photomatix. There is usually a conveniently located rock to stabilize the camera on to reduce the need for the deghosting process in the HDR merge function.
Check out my canyon portfolio for some of my favorite shots!
