345 - Wind Cave

Alright, with one shoot down, we’re back, baby. WE’RE BACK.

To transition back into the swing of things, I figured I'd start with a good ole' fashioned cave shoot at Wind Cave. You know, one on the hardest natural environments to shoot in.

Somehow I learned a bunch this time around though. If you check out my Glenwood Caverns shoot, I spent the entire time figuring out how to get something remarkable out of a cramped cave environment. I envisioned myself getting a magnificent silhouette shot of a person in a massive cavern, illuminated perfectly by light- and the environment couldn't have been further from this. I ended up with a shitty dick pic of a rock.

This time around, I didn't want to fall for this trap again. I wanted to get more innovative. So I decided to "focus" on intimate scenes. HAHA get the photography joke? No? Go fuck yourself. 

The thing about caves is that you usually have to be on a tour (which means lots of people,) the humidity is at 95% (which means foggy lenses,) and the lighting is completely out of your control (the cave directors pick where the lights go.) These are the difficult conditions you must overcome.

I decided to bring my new lens. Tamron 17-28mm wide angle in a dark cave with 2.8 aperture? Sign me up.

Our tour guy was an upbeat middle age lady who basically loved the place. The kind that probably rubs up on stalactites after hours.

Overall the whole tour was pretty dope, with the highlight being our guide telling scary stories about people getting lost while the lights were out and it was pitch black. There were a few moments where I legitimately started to lose my cool. You can't see ANYTHING for about 10 minutes straight. Not even 1 inch in front of you. I had to light up my phone for a second to make sure I didn't just go blind for some reason. 

OK now let's get to the photos. Honestly I didn't think I got ANY good photos until I saw one formation at the end that looked like a skeleton/mummy face at the very end. Check this out:

“Pharaoh of the Caverns”

[1/40s ~ f/7.1 ~ 17mm ~ ISO 2500]

Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8

(Want a Print? Get one here.)

This got me into this idea of looking for "shapes" in the rocks. Not a bad idea for cave photography, especially when people infamously lose their mind in caves and start to see weird things. So that was a start... Probably the biggest lesson I learned from this cave shoot.

Anyway, that's basically it. Upon editing, I realized I liked this photo upcoming as well, just because the purple/red colors made it feel disturbing to me for some reason. It's abstract but hey, it's art you sick fucks.

View fullsize

“Disturbed”

[1/50s ~ f/2.8 ~ 24mm ~ ISO 3200]

Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8

(Want a Print? Get one here.)

Oh, and one more photo. I almost didn't include it, but fuck it it's like the main feature of this cave. There's these "box formations" that really only exist in this one cave. The only other place in the world their found is in Jewel Cave down the street, and somewhere in Poland. 

They kind of look like a spider web, so I managed to get a photo of them that looks creepy. Check this baby out:

“Spider’s Chamber”

[1/50s ~ f/2.8 ~ 24mm ~ ISO 3200]

Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8

(Want a Print? Get one here.)

Yeah that's it. Peaaaace.

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I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.

Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.

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