Back in July, I took a random trip to Arizona to use some Hilton nights at a resort just north of Phoenix (I just remembered I never did a full trip report on that, made a note).  North of Phoenix about 4 hours is a magical photographic destination called Antelope Canyon, which I went and photographed (those pictures are here).

I had seen pictures by numerous photographers of a place called Horseshoe Bend and made a mental note to go and shoot it someday.  Well, that day was yesterday.  I’m in Las Vegas right now on a random weekend trip (cheap flights and cheap hotels = a trip to wherever) and decided to drive to Horseshoe Bend and back yesterday.  That may sound dumb, and it was, waaay too much driving.

The ultimate fail on my part is not researching Horseshoe Bend when I went to Antelope Canyon.  Both of them are a stone’s throw away from Page, Arizona.  It was right under my nose and I missed it in July.

Not this time though.  I went and it was amazing.  You head south on Highway 89 from Page and between milemarker 545 and 544 you’ll see a dirt parking lot on your right.  Park there and follow the trail, in about 3/4 of a mile you’ll see it in all of its breathtaking majesty.

I snapped away for the better part of 30 minutes and assembled a few pictures into this great panorama, enjoy!

The Bend, by Andy Luten

For the photographers: ISO 100, f11, and 1/6 of a second.  This was made of 7 different shots that I stitched together in Photoshop.  I pushed the clarity a little more than I typically do on this one to bring out all of the lines in the rocks, then lowered the vibrance to desaturate it just a little bit and provide a little more drama.