I never really liked photography – my dad was a photographer which meant I spent my childhood reading light meters and developing film in our bathroom (which doubled as a dark room). It all felt very tedious. But after my Africa trip (for which I bought a Nikon Z8), I decided that I wanted to take it a little more seriously. In early 2026 we attended a travel convention, and one of the booths was McKay Photography which organizes photographic tours. They said that they were teaching a beginners photography course in Sedona in October. Since that corresponded nicely with my early October retirement plans, I signed up. It was a four-day course from 10/20/2026 – 10/23/2026.
I decided to drive from Seattle so that I could take pictures along the way (my wife stayed home). The first day I drove to Jerome, Idaho and the second day I drove to Page, Arizona, where I spent the afternoon taking pictures. Due to the harsh afternoon sun, only one picture actually turned out.
The next morning, I got up before sunrise and I went to Horseshoe Bend. The lighting was much better than the previous afternoon.
I then drove to Sedona, where I checked into my hotel. That night, the seven people in the class and two instructors went out to dinner. The original plan was to do a morning and a late afternoon shoot each day, and then the majority of the day would be spent in the classroom. But the weather didn’t cooperate – the middle two days had severe storms that limited our ability to go outside.
For that reason, the first day was mostly spent outside, where I took these pictures:
They gave us an hour to explore each place on our own, and then we’d submit our top photos and the class would critique them. It’s a great way to learn, and I realized how many great photo opportunities I missed.
We only got one hour to take photos on the second day.
On the third day, we went to Tlaquepaque Plaza and attempted street photography, which is mostly taking candid pictures of random people and things. It felt very awkward, and I’m not sure that it’s my thing.
On the final day, we took some sunrise photos and then hiked to Slippery Rock, which has a great view of Cathedral Rock. The upside of the inclement weather was that it left many mud puddles that could be used for reflections.
In the early afternoon we visited the Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park, which is a mediative park in the Sedona foothills. Unfortunately, the lighting was very harsh.
We took more photos in the late afternoon.
The next day (after the class ended), I drove back to Page, Arizona where I took more pictures and then did a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon. Whereas a normal canyon is carved by a creek or a river, Antelope Canyon has no water – it was carved entirely by flash floods (in fact, there was a flash flood two days prior and, in some places, you could still see wetness 15 – 20 feet up the canyon wall). This leads to some very bizarre patterns, and the bottom of the canyon is much wider than the top (which is barely a crack in many places). It is very dark in many parts of the canyon, so taking a great picture requires a tripod. Unfortunately, the tours do not allow tripods, so it’s really hard to take a great picture.
The next day, I drove to Marble Canyon, which is the start of the Grand Canyon. At the Navajo Bridge, I saw four California Condors (there are only 350 in the wild) and a Peregrine Falcon (it was too far away for the pictures to turn out). I returned to Page for the evening.
On the drive home, I took a quick hike to the Toadstool Hoodoos in Utah.
I also drove through Zion National Park, which is beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn’t take too many pictures due to the harsh lighting.
