26/08/2026
One of my long time collectors shared their latest acquisition: ‘Hope’
This image you may recognize as I photographed it in the 1990s on Fuji Provia 100F film using my Mamiya RZ67 Pro II. It was taken in Upper Antelope Canyon in Northern Arizona.
This was my most challenging photograph I have taken. It is a straight shaft of light, which only happens one day of the year when the sun is at its highest point in the sky. The canyon walls were three feet apart at the top so the light only appeared inside for about 90 seconds. This was a 45 second exposure to record the natural movement of the light as it passed over the suspended dust particles in the air. The beam is perfect, maintaining a subtle translucency; the reason is because the natural air pattern in the canyon was not disrupted, meaning I didn’t kick up or throw sand/dust into the air. When that is done, it does reveal the light shaft quickly, so you can take shorter exposures but the unnatural arrangement of suspended dust makes for a ‘blotchy’, imperfect beam.
It took 4 trips over 5 years to get this photograph perfect. Finding the right balance of shutter speed and aperture to record the scene while losing as little of the highlights and shadows that I could, is always a challenge shooting with positive film as it has no tolerance for error.
To this day I have never seen another photograph of Antelope Canyon with a straight, perfect shaft of light; and the Navajo no longer allow tripods in the Upper Canyon so this remains a very elusive, unique image.
Thanks Michelle and Tom for welcoming this piece into your life.
