A winning shot in the Shaft

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  9 Responses »
Mar 182013
 
A winning shot in the Shaft

Many thanks to all those who dropped by to see me at OZTeK 2013 this weekend…I had a truly excellent time, and I hope you did too! For those who couldn’t make it, my photograph above won first prize in the cave category of the photo competition. I’ve been keeping it under wraps until the show and I’m very glad to be able to share it with you now. In my talk on Saturday morning I walked through a little of the effort that went into creating this shot. After initial attempts at a tripod based shot in the bottom of the Shaft way back in August 2011, and two separate dedicated trips in summer 2012, this January I put [read more…]

Hero shots in Kilsby’s Sinkhole

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Mar 042013
 
Hero shots in Kilsby's Sinkhole

About the site We’re very lucky to have the easily accessible and stunning Mt Gambier sinkholes so close to home. Piccaninnie Ponds, the Shaft and Kilsby’s are all huge spaces filled with crystal clear water. In all three you can hang mid-cave and see from one side to the other (unless the sun is too low or your torch isn’t big enough). From a diver’s point of view, they’ve got clear water all year round. From a photographer’s point of view, all three get silty and milky (although non camera holding visitors might not think so). By the time a bunch of divers have been through Kilsby’s on a weekend the water takes on a hazy quality. About the dive [read more…]

Soft foreground lighting in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  3 Responses »
Feb 252013
 
Soft foreground lighting in Tank Cave

About the site Tank Cave consists of several miles of interlinking tunnels and passages north of Mt Gambier. The cave has shallow, clear water and changes character as you swim through the different tunnels and rooms. I suspect I’m now well past 25,000 photos in there and familiarity gives me a great opportunity to experiment. About the dive With camera wrapped up and a mission in mind, Ken and I headed down the line, up the Goat Track and to the Elephant Room. We were trying a new strobe set up with an off camera strobe mounted on the top of each sidemount. This worked well through the restrictions, with Ken able to reach back and rearrange the strobes as [read more…]

Split shots in Engelbrechts Wests

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  No Responses »
Feb 042013
 
Split shots in Engelbrechts Wests

About the cave Engelbrecht’s Cave run right under Mt Gambier itself, with houses and roads sitting over the cave up on the surface. They’re also a tourist attraction with excellent coffee and an hourly cave tour during the day. Being closer to town means there’s a little more substrate on top of the water table, and thus a few more stairs on the way down to the dive. We were diving Engelbrecht’s West on this occasion, which has a first sump leading through to an internal dry chamber with three more short underwater tunnels radiating off it. I’ve taken split shots in the chamber before, partly because it’s nice and peaceful – no tourists to disturb you on the other [read more…]

Hidden lights in Piccaninnie Ponds

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Dec 172012
 
Hidden lights in Piccaninnie Ponds

About the site Piccaninnie Ponds is a sinkhole rated site out of Mt Gambier. With a permit you can snorkel there, and clear water means you can watch cave divers descending into the darkness. The dappled sunshine, white walls and green weed in the open sections means Pics is a regular feature in tourist videos of the Limestone Coast – it’s a very pretty dive. About the dive Usually I try and get into Pics for the first booking slot on Saturday morning. While the booking slots are spaced three hours apart to let the water settle out between divers, once a number of groups have been through on a weekend the water starts to get distinctly murky. On this [read more…]

A convenient restriction in Tank Cave

 Cave diving, Mt Gambier  1 Response »
Nov 262012
 
A convenient restriction in Tank Cave

About the cave Tank Cave is a fantastic site in Mt Gambier, with miles of shallow, interconnecting tunnels. Shallow is definitely better from a photographic point of view, as it means a lot more time to play around and reduces the impact of narcosis on the artistic vision. Another very handy feature in Tank is the way the character of the cave changes from area to area. As you can see from my previous postings, there are large chambers, long dark tunnels, small silty tunnels and bright white breakdown piles. This variety means a great selection of places to take photos, as well as the challenge of remembering to change camera and strobe settings as you swim from one area into [read more…]

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