photography for an art exhibition

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photography for an art exhibition

Postby emmeline » Jan 22, 2010 11:18 am

I am an artist and for my upcoming show in NYC I am working on photo series, silkscreens and sculptures that deal with mud. I would love to make pictures in a cave with small holes and mud, but I don't know where I could find such a cave. I'm looking for a cave where I can carry around a big camera and that is accessible for someone without caving experience, so basically a small one with 2 or 3 small holes and mud would be good enough. Howes Caves offers an adventure tour that seems perfect for the pictures I would like to take, but they told me it's impossible to take a big camera through the first hole you have to pass, besides they charge 108,- per person for the tour.
Does anybody know where I could find such a cave, preferable not further than 250 miles from NYC?
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Re: photography for an art exhibition

Postby NZcaver » Jan 22, 2010 3:57 pm

Welcome to the forum. Are you wanting to photograph mud in it's natural state in a cave, or to create sculptures in mud in a cave? There are a number of caves within 250 miles of NYC where you could probably do the first, but creating sculptures might be more complicated because it involves "altering" the cave environment. You also need to be aware many caves are closed in winter because bats hibernate in them, and this is even more critical now because a disease is killing bats in the eastern US.

For a direct answer, try contacting one of the local grottos (chapters) of the National Speleological Society by clicking here
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Re: photography for an art exhibition

Postby LukeM » Jan 22, 2010 4:02 pm

Welcome to the forum Emmeline. I live in Albany, NY and yes, there are most likely beginner caves in this area that would meet your requirements. Clarksville Cave comes to mind as a popular and easily accessible cave with a lot of variety. Regardless of the cave, if you plan on entering to do all this you would want to have the right equipment like a helmet, 3 sources of light, and appropriate clothing. (and not go by yourself) The best way to go about this might be to contact one of the grotto's near you and see if there's a trip they're taking out that you can tag along on. Don't be surprised if their first priority is more standard trips though. You can check out the grotto's closest to you at http://www.nssio.org/find_grotto_overview.cfm?state=NY I go caving with the Syracuse University Outing Club mostly. They are a great group of people and take trips out to beginner caves in the area fairly often.

Hope that helps.

Oh, when you say big camera are you talking large-format film or more like SLR sized?
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