Sleep Deprivation, Caves, and Photography

A synopsis of cave diving and pictures

story by John Preston, photos by John Preston and Roger Southwick

One may wonder, why does sleep derivation and taking pictures make for anything worth reading? But once you throw in the fact that you are going 850ft into a cave that has restrictions in it that can make the toughest man cringe, and then dive into a cave, take the required pictures, and return in one piece -- yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

So here I was again, getting ready to make my return to the new-found cave in Goliath to do a photo shoot. But there were some items I needed to work out; it wasn’t the dive plan -- I’ve got that down to memory. It wasn’t the grueling walk into the cave just to reach the sump -- been there several times. I know every painful restriction and how to get through them. No, it was even more difficult: taking the pictures.

Canister 1: wide-angle lens, memory card, 3 flash units, remote control, cyalume sticks

Everyone has taken pictures before, but we wanted something a bit more challenging. We wanted some really grand pictures, something that really showed off the cave and what we had found. As most people know you can take tons of pictures and you end up with one or two you really like. I wanted to beat the odds. I wanted at least 3 or 4. Yes, I was pushing the envelope!

So I turned to my mentor Roger Southwick. Roger is one of those guys that digs into the details. I do too, but Roger is different in that respect. I would dig a hole to find the prize, say a bolt. Roger would do the same but would want to know how the bolt got there, what it was made of, how deep was it etc. That’s the way he is with photography. I on the other hand would take a ton of pictures and usually expect a few good ones. Roger takes them as they all should be great ones. So here was the choice and changes I needed to make to get some grand pictures of the cave. To really and truly understand photography. I’ve always had a basic understanding... I do mean basic.

So Roger discussed principles and functionality of photography, from f-stops to depth-of-field to CLSF (Cave Light Sucking Factor). I really liked that one. Turns out the CLSF was greater than we expected. I bought another digital SLR type camera (not a true SLR like our digital Rebels) -- a Canon G6 with wide-angle lens, 2 slave flashes, tripods etc. I had to buy this other camera because my Canon Digital Rebel would not fit into either canister I was using; it may have been cheaper to build another canister but time was against us so I bought another camera instead. Luckily the G6 was very similar to the Rebel in operation, but had even more controls than the Rebel which really surprised us. We did a lot of conversing over the internet and on the telephone on articles to read, ideas and the like.

Canister 2: headlamp, camera, batteries, tools, first aid

During the week prior I was practicing in my house by closing all the curtains, turning off the lights, and only using my headlamp while setting up slaves and snapping off some pictures. It really helped to experiment with flash positions to create unique lighting and proved extremely valuable in the cave. You also had to open your mind up with creativity and just try something that might not work. Sometimes the results really surprised us.

Then Roger made his house call on Tuesday and I was able to post the sign on the door: The Doctor of Photography is in, by Appointment Only! We went over what I would call the building blocks of photography for me, and now I truly understand photography better than I ever had. Thanks Roger. He did some flash power testing to see how well our slave flashes would do... by the way in case anyone needs the formula GN = f-stop x distance, but the CLSF decreases the distance by about half.

Either way, I was really getting into this. I had some creative ideas and we discussed techniques for cave photography: using a tripod, slaved flashes, manual flashes, long shutter times, remote shutter control, multiple exposures. Roger had some great ideas on putting the flash directly behind me and manually setting it off; I would take it a little farther in the cave and actually flash it directly into my face... sometimes by accident, ha! Roger brought at least 8 pages of notes to go over.

His brain can't hold no more.

Even during all this time I couldn’t get him to do the dive with me; it would be easier than trying to remember all of this, but to no avail. We went over things till around 11pm and had to call it quits; it was getting late and Roger had covered a huge spectrum of topics, and I believe there was smoke coming out of my ears by then but it was all good. Even with all the information I was given I was still losing sleep. I found myself up at all hours thinking about each picture and how I would place the flashes, so by the time the dive came around I was in bad shape.

The night before the dive I lay in bed and saw 1am pass by, then 2am, then 3am, then 5am until it was 8:30 and I needed to get ready.... I was exhausted. When I arrived at the site I was ready to go back to bed. I was wishing John A. would not be able to start on time or would cancel due to some emergency, but it never happened. I told him I would be moving pretty slowly since I only had about 3 hours' sleep but was determined to get some decent pictures. We went through the usual tasks of loading gear down the shaft and I made my way down, and once everyone was in we discussed our goals for the day.

We actually had several goals: get accurate directions of the sump underwater, measure the actual distance of the breakdown tunnel and the turn, and recheck the first vertical to see if there was another opening above it.

Enroute to the sump I led, with John A. then Clay Kraus, Charlie & Daniel. Along the way I had to rest several times; ok now I know I was way too tired. I’ve never had to rest going in or out of the cave before. The only time I’ve ever taken a break was going back up the ladder. This was going to be a long, painful day.

Fully configured: two canisters, bellows pocket, tank & tripod all fit neatly under the right arm.

I finally reached the sump and waited for the others to catch up and unload gear so I could get ready. I got the weight belt that we have left there from the previous dives and put it on and started to put together the tanks. We brought both 40’s for this because I was actually doing 2 dives. The first was to get the needed measurements and the second would be the photo shoot. As I was putting the regs on one of them we found it was not sealing; hmmm lost O-ring? Nope. The DIN part of the 1^st stage became loose so I hand tightened it and asked if anyone had an Allen wrench so I could secure it a little better. We could only come up with a pocket/utility tool with a screwdriver tip, so I jammed it in and put some hard pressure on it to tighten it. In a flash the knife tip closed over the index finger of my finger nail and thumb! At first I didn’t feel any pain or bleeding but within a few seconds they both were apparent. I had cut length-wise down my fingernail and blood was pouring out. No, this is not the way to start a dive: tired and inattentive. There wasn’t much we could do so I put on the rest of my gear and cursed myself for not getting any rest, but we needed to get the ball rolling.

So I entered the sump. John A. had a wind-up tape measure in hand and I took the loose end and put on a double-ender clip. I would follow the line until the turn and place a line arrow on the permanent cave line, then tug twice to let him snug up the tape to get a measurement. At that moment he would release some of the tension knowing I was placing a jump reel onto the line arrow to investigate the first vertical fracture that I got stuck in on my second attempt in the sump. It led nowhere; it was only part of the original fracture from the Third Charm Sump that in time had become blocked. So I went back to the main line, re-stowed my jump reel, grabbed the tape, and moved to the area of where the vertical fracture opens up into the surface at the water fall. I gave two tugs indicating this was the spot; they tightened up the line and then gave me two tugs back to let it go.

climbing up the narrow sump

I unclipped it and off it went, so I grabbed hold of the permanent line and started making my way back out, doing some "tunnel maintenance" along the way. I moved some larger boulders and rocks to make it easier to get through the breakdown tunnel with all the extra gear. It would be greatly appreciated by me, myself and I.

The good news was the cold water woke me up; bad news, it probably has some bacteria unknown to man, and my finger was just soaking away. Yes things are going as planned... whose plan may I ask?! Oh well.

So I switched to my second tank and harnessed all the photo gear. Two canisters with camera, flashes and emergency gear; bellows pocket with power bars and water; and the tripod strapped to my tank. I was loaded down. I made my way through the sump and unclipped my tank and harness, clipped them to the line, and did a vertical "chimney climb" out. Then I grabbed my tank and went up the water falls area to the "Y" split where I took off my weight belt and set my tank. Took a moment to gather my thoughts and went after my harness (still down in the sump), brought it up, and started unpacking.

First thing was to get the tripod in place, then the camera, wide angle lens, the main flash, and the 2 slave flashes with tripods. Then I took a break. I whipped out a power bar and water and gave thought on how I was going to do all of this. It was so much easier at home to move around and check the camera. Now I was in a very hostile environment for a camera. Water and electronics don’t mix well and I didn’t want to drop a $20 slave flash in the water, nor a $600 camera either. I knew this was going to be tiring, trying to be careful every moment so that I didn’t destroy any photography equipment.

On the Waterfall

Every move and motion had to be planned and executed precisely. And on top of this I had very little sleep and was bouncing around from exhaustion. I may as well donate $600 to a local charity because this wasn’t looking so good.

I powered up the camera and thought this spot is good as any to take a picture... right at my break area. So I snapped off a few pics of me taking a break before I moved down to the sump. It was tricky trying to get the tripod on solid ground since it was in the flow of water near the falls. I could feel the tripod vibrate slightly from the flow and rechecked several times before I moved away from it. Once I was satisfied I took the main flash and climbed a foot over the edge of the sump, held the flash high, aimed down into the sump, hit the remote that gave me a 5-second open shutter, and set off the flash. Did several photos over the sump and turned the camera around and started taking pictures of at least 3 waterfalls going up into the cave. The pictures in this area are some of my favorites that show the falls, there is also one I took where I accidentally flashed myself and the camera... thanks to Roger he was able to process it and came up with a really neat picture.

As I moved past the "Y" my best picture is one where I’m lying down with the flash firing directly into my face. It shows the fog and some of the cave but is black all around, very spooky! I took about a dozen pictures just in that area as our plan was to "stack" pictures taken without moving the tripod. I slowly moved down the tunnel and did several slave flash pictures, and in the process of going only about 200ft I checked my time and realized 3 hours had already passed. This was taking much longer because I was moving so slowly and had to take breaks so often due to exhaustion. Once I reached the main tunnel with all the formations, I abandoned the tripod and took hand-held shots.

taking a break

I moved down the tunnel taking all the pictures I could until I filled up my 1GB flash card. I had covered about 400ft of the tunnel and couldn’t go any further.

I went back to the break area, sat down, had some water, and contemplated my next move. Do I grab the extra 1GB flash card and take more pictures? Or do I get the hell out of here? The second choice was the winner!!! I was too tired and something could easily go wrong, so I needed to get out of here while still in one piece.

I slowly started packing up the camera and gear (this alone would take an hour) and then staged it at the sump. Then I put on my wetsuit hood and gloves and mask, put on my weight belt and harness that was loaded down with gear, and slowly climbed downward into the sump without killing myself. The second I hit the water it took my breath away. Wow, this was cold, it felt colder than ever. I’ve never gotten chilled after walking around in the cave. It took me several minutes to get my breathing relaxed and accustomed to the 45-degree water.

So I slowly made my decent, followed the line, reached the breakdown tunnel, and could feel myself once again ascending to the exit. The exit was smooth, no valves turning off, no snags with gear. As I reached the other side I was once again alone. I returned 2 hours earlier than anticipated: it was 6pm and they didn’t expect me until around 8 or 9pm. I went ahead and started breaking down my dive gear and packing it into my tripod bag, and had everything loaded and ready for the exit. I grabbed the tripod bag and one tank and started to make my exit. Once again I found myself taking several breaks along the way. It was actually very relaxing to take in the sights while listening to the water flowing through the cave. I saw areas I never noticed before because we were always making our way through in the quickest manner possible; now I finally had a chance to look around. Even though I was beat even the major restriction seemed easy with the extra gear.

the Low Crawl

I finally arrived at the ladder at 7:15pm and I braced myself for the last physical challenge: the exit. Before leaving I attached my harness and tripod bag to the gear line, and left a note on the ladder stating I had exited and listing the remaining gear to be removed. I then made my way up taking several breaks along the way... man, does gravity suck! As I reached the surface the 20 degree air hit me and I found myself quickly chilled again. I jumped into my truck and started it up to get things warm and then climbed into the back to remove my wetsuit.

As I ripped off the wetsuit I heard voices. I grabbed my boots and my coat and ran over to the hole, and the other crew was wondering if I was still here. I yelled at them that I had just exited the cave and they said to go ahead and pull up the gear. I told them there was still a tank and gear bag to go after so John A. & Clay went after it. After pulling up the first load of gear I was really cold... why? Because I was standing there just with my boots on and my coat... no pants, no underwear, no shirt! So before I sent the rope down I jumped back into my truck and got my clothes on. I must say I was much warmer now.

Once again I was at that point of exhaustion that I wasn’t thinking clearly; all I had to do was tell them "give me a minute, I’m getting dressed", but my mind wasn’t in that gear. Luckily nothing froze off... didn’t have much to lose thanks to cold-water shrinkage. J

I pulled up the gear that Charlie attached; he came up and was going home, so I waited for another hour for John & Clay to return, then pulled up the rest of the gear before they exited. We reviewed some of the pictures and John thought they were great. I told him as soon as I get a chance to process them I would send him a copy.

formations (with measuring tape)

Finally the day was over and I could go home; when I got there I called Roger and we talked about some of the pics. I wanted badly to stay up and work on them, but I was beyond tired. So I took my shower and went to bed only to wake up 2 hours later and start editing pictures. There was a lot to cover. Roger was called in again to help with editing as we found that the slave flashes weren’t very powerful in the cave (the big CLSF). Thanks to Roger, we cleaned up the noise in the pictures and did some editing to make good prints.

We hope to return again this year and do some video; this will also be another first as we are looking at creating a special "sump housing" for one of my video cameras.

I really have to give credit to Roger Southwick for all his help, mentoring, and assistance in making this possible, both before and after the dive. We all know Roger is a very talented photographer and I would like to add this notch in his belt for teaching me how to take some great pictures.

You Da Man Roger!!!

John Preston