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    This week, I learned that one of the most expensive photos to sell was taken in the Upper Antelope Slot Canyon near Page, Arizona. It was claimed the black-and-white photo had sold for $6.5 million to a private collector. Since Monty and I took pictures in the same underground slot canyon in 2018, I started looking through my photos.

    Slot canyons are formed as rainwater erodes underground stone into narrow passageways. Repeated flooding carves and shapes the rocks. There is only a narrow “slot” or opening seen on ground level. Still, the water has carved a cavern or canyon underneath the ground, unlike a cave. Sometimes, the sides are so close a person can barely squeeze through the passageway. However, in other places, the passageway is wider. It can be dark unless the sun is overhead to reflect light down through the narrow “slot.” 

   The American Southwest is ground zero for slot canyon photography because Arizona and Utah have the best slot canyons in the world. The Antelope Canyon has several slot canyons, and the Upper Antelope is the location you frequently see in pictures of slot canyons. The sandstone makes for unbelievably beautiful photographs and a breathtaking walkthrough. As I paused on my hike, I was in awe of the uniquely smooth, flowing corridor and arches. The Upper Antelope in my pictures had textures and contours, unlike anything I had ever seen. As an amateur, I found taking pictures rather complicated because of the intensity of contrasting light and dark spaces—in addition to the dust and sand that always seemed to fall on our heads. Perhaps it was more windy above ground than I realized.

    Antelope Canyon is on Navajo land in Arizona. It is only accessible by guided tour with a mandatory tour guide furnished by the Navajo Nation Park & Recreation. The hour-long tour through the Upper Slot Canyon, which costs about $100 a person, takes you through a carefully planned route that ensures your safety and allows you to experience the slot canyon’s beauty. The short distance you walk wouldn’t take long if you didn’t stop and gaze in every direction at about every other step. 

    We scheduled our tour in the canyon around noon to have the best chance of having the sun directly overhead because the rocks tower over you, and the light filters down through the slot better when it is a clear day with the sun overhead. There was a magical rosy-orange glow in our slot canyon called bounce light. The sunlight bounces off the sandstone at the top and continues to bounce off the rocks as the light works its way into the lower interior. If there are clouds in the sky, the clouds diffuse the light and ruin the orange glow effect, although (I’m told) it gives some other cooler or more purple colors.

    An entertaining spectacle can be seen when the sun is overhead, and a sunbeam can be seen coming to the canyon floor. If you toss some of the dust from the floor into the air where the sunbeam is located, you see interesting shapes in the sunbeam. Peter Lik’s $6.5 million black and white photo was one such sunbeam picture that looked like a phantom person in the sunbeam. We didn’t have much luck with our attempts.

    There is a necessary precaution to remember if you visit a slot canyon. Don’t even think about going down in one if there is rain in the area—especially upstream—because flash floods are dangerous and can happen without warning. Over the years, people have been injured and killed in slot canyons because of unexpected flash floods—even when it was not raining where they were located. 

    As I’ve been looking through my cell phone pictures and remembering the utter joy of seeing such interesting shapes and colors at every turn, it reminds me of how difficult it was to comprehend the contrast. It’s hard to imagine how beautiful it can be underground (at the right time with sunlight) when it looks so bleak and almost “desert-like” above ground.

   The forming and repeated flooding of a slot canyon dismantles, sweeps away the old, and may even reposition something for a new day.  Just as the canyon changes, we are also shaped and molded by our difficulties and trials. Reviewing my walk through the Slot Canyon, I am reminded of how a person of faith emerges from their challenges with a deep inner beauty that may not be immediately evident to them or others. However, this inner beauty is revealed (just as in the slot canyon) when the "Son" light shines on them.

Although storms may rage around us, it's important not to fear but to keep our eyes on our Creator, for He is still in control. Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light, for “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”  1 John 5:5 (NKJV)