Grand Photography

March 8, 2009

For the last seventeen years I've enjoyed retelling a story about someone who had been caving since the 1960s and was befuddled by his lamp's low power when we visited Rehobeth Church Cave. Instead of focussing on his lamp's operation, I recommended removing his sunglasses.

Mark Little and I drove from Raleigh up for another Grand Caverns weekend. We planned the trip with Ericka Hoffmann in order to practice our cave photography skills. A chilly Friday night welcomed a warm Saturday, and we headed up the hill toward Fountain Cave. Mark played with his camera while Ericka played with the snakes, and I headed down the hill in the hopes to hurry along the RASS cavers carrying the key to the cave.

We followed the RASS cavers back to the dig spot where they've been working for two and a half years and helped them photodocument their progress. Then we began our series of photo shots as we moved back toward the entrance. We took turns setting up shots with a variety of cameras, practicing what we've learned from some great cave photographers. I seem to be adequate at lighting and framing my shots, but my lack of knowledge of the complete digital camera operation often hinders me. I struggled with the viewfinder and remaining with an F-stop of 4 through the cave. With the help of Ericka's flash bulbs, I was able to get one great shot.


Ericka and I wanted to visit Grand Caverns and practice our skills further. I forgot that I left my SD card in Mark's vehicle (which had disappeared), but Ericka loaned me one of hers. When we climbed the hill to the cave, we found the lower level door had been locked. Scott Davis came to our rescue.

Inside we started by focussing on a single shield in the Cathedral Passage. I figured out how my camera had lost its bulb setting. At that point Ericka and I discovered that I still couldn't focus my shots well, and I still needed far more flash than made sense. I remembered that I should be able to remove the lens filter because it might be dirty. It turns out that I had been using a polarizing lens filter all day long, and that had messed up all of my previous shots. What a dope.

After Ericka shot some photos of the Bridal Veil, we spent several hours catching photos near the Shield Room. Despite the sticky mud off the tourist trail, we collected many macro shots as well as tripod-supported shots of the shields.