Continuing our American Southwest Series with this another popular shot of the Sand Falls, again in the Upper Antelope Canyon at Page, AZ. Incase you didn't know, this park is run by the Natives and is considered the most visited and most photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest. A little more about the Town of Page. Sitting amidst the grandeur of the Glen Canyon National Park, the town of Page would not have existed if not for Lake Powell. It is the second largest man-made reservoir in the United States behind Lake Mead, storing 24,322,000 acre feet (30 km?) of water when full. The lake in itself is a beautiful sight, with deep blue waters around orange sandstones, a sight that is unparalleled. The town was created in 1957 to house workers and their families during the construction of the dam and has ever since developed it’s infrastructure to cater tourists to the Lake and the Antelope Canyon. Contrary to my initial inhibitions, our stay in Page was similar to most other American small town with Corporate America (read Chains and Franchises) stamping their presence in this little town. Well, 3 million visitors a year is a pretty good market in itself, ain’t it? I added Page onto the itinerary onto what started as a tour to Vegas and Grand Canyon for just the Antelope Canyon and the Horse Shoe bend. In the end I must admit that it was pretty satisfactory, at least from a photography point of view. One of the first things that came up on my online research was the fact that the entry into the Antelope Canyon is restricted to guided tours led by authorized agents and there is a cap of the Photography policy. The normal tours which are one hour to hour and a half each cost about 32 bucks per person this season (a six dollar entry fee to the Canyon itself and the rest is for the tour guide). It includes a bumpy 15 minute one way ride through dirt road and desert sand from Downtown, Page where these tour companies are located into the Navajo Nation. These tours are crowded as well. The other one is the extended tour (also called the Photographer’s tour) where you are given an extra hour inside the canyon for 50 bucks. These tours are also scheduled in the prime “Sun Beam” hours – between 11 AM and 12:30 PM. Also there are only about 3 or 4 companies authorized to give these tours. Once I got these information, I started searching for open slots on the Photographer’s tour. Unfortunately, the first few companies that I called - Chief Tsosie and Roger Ekis dropped in a bomb shell saying that they don’t have any open slots on the Photographer’s tour. Finally, I got some solace when I figured out that Overland Canyon tours had open slots on the tour for all 4 of us in the group. My friends gracefully agreed to come on the Extended tour even though I was the only “Photographer” in the group. The tour was a little more on the Photography side and a little less on the Geology side. Our guide Judy, a novice at this job, is an enthusiastic photographer who was working with the tour company just for the summer. Much like living a photographer's dream. Now coming back into the Canyon, this shot is again one of those dirty little tricks that the Camera can play with Long exposures. I am not all that happy with this shot for 2 reasons. I couldn’t get the whole vastness of the canyon at this location since I was close to the action. My 10-22 was zoomed into about 16 mm for this shot, but had I been a few feet away, it would have been better. Our guide, being new had to wait on the other regular guides to throw sand up. Also she wasn’t able to herd the crowd as well as the other guides could do. But then, I can’t blame her for that with she being new and that being an over crowded 4th of July weekend. You could actually see ghosting in the left corner of the frame. I desperately wanted to get back into that spot and get a few more shots. But we were already out of time and couldn’t do it. But then, you can’t get everything that you want in life every time, can you? Exposure Information: Shutter Speed 10 sec Aperture f/10.0 Focal Length 16 mm ISO Speed 100 Lens EF-S10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

Friday, Day 4: The Challenge of Emotional Innovation with Dennis Wixon. Dennis Wixon joined Microsoft Surface Computing in February 2008. As the User Research Manager, Wixon leads a team responsible for directing, planning, executing, reporting, and evangelizing the research which measures the usability, usefulness, and desirability of Microsoft Surface. He believes his work on user interaction complements traditional market research because his team focuses specifically on the user's experience with working hardware and software prototypes. According to Wixon, user research is an important aspect of understanding and measuring the user's experience with Surface. Wixon has worked at Microsoft Corp. for more than 10 years. Before working for Microsoft Surface Computing, he was the User Research Manager for Microsoft Game Studios, where he and his team played a pivotal role in the success of Microsoft's popular games including the "Halo" franchise. Before Microsoft, Wixon was a Usability Manager at Digital Equipment Corp., where he worked on and helped develop a number of important usability methods. A member of the human factors community for many years, Wixon also was one of the five founding members of the Association for computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI) Boston Chapter. Wixon holds a doctorate in social psychology from Clark University, and he has written more than 25 articles, columns, and talks on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) methods.