Last weekend my wife and I went down to San Antonio to watch my cousin Amber graduate from the Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base (congratulations Amber!). Unknowingly to us, it was also spring break all throughout Texas and everyone in the state seemed like San Antonio would be a good place to go for the weekend! I have never seen so many people in one place! We went to the river walk the first night and it was literally standing room only. At one point I was walking along the edge of the river with my camera and tripod over my shoulder, about 6 inches away from falling in with people all around me shoulder to shoulder. It was pretty nerve racking! So the next day after the graduation we decided to escape the madness of San Antonio and head north to the Natural Bridge Caverns, about an hour away. The whole drive was quite peaceful, until we got there. Apparently everyone else had the same idea as us! The wait to buy tickets for the cave was about an hour long but eventually we made it in. The cave entrance is actually a natural bridge spanning about 60 feet over a sink hole. The cave is also still active so unlike most caves where the temperature is in the 60′s, this cave had 95% humidity and felt like about 90. So basically we were packed into a 90 degree, 90% humidity cave like sardines, shoulder to shoulder at some points with other tourists. The cave was still interesting but I would strongly suggest going at a down time!
About a third of the way through the cave, and 180 ft below the Earth, we reached a room called Sherwood Forest. The formation gets it’s name for the many stalagmites coming from the ground reaching towards the ceiling. One of my favorite things to find in caves are the springs. The water is absolutely flawless and pure, and still as can be. For photographers, this is a 5 exposure HDR shot with a Canon 1Ds Mark III and a 15mm fisheye lens. The fisheye was the only way I could get this massive formation all in one shot and I really like the way it turned out. The anchor (middle exposure) was taken at f/5.6 for 2.5 seconds at ISO 200. Here’s the image
After passing through another couple rooms we came to a formation called the King’s Throne. Seen below. I wasn’t really listening to the tour guides that much so I can’t tell you why it was called that. I know the formation hanging on the right side was called “Chandelier.”
The Natural Bridge Caverns were a fantastic place for any photographer or tourist. If you pay $100 you can actually go on a caving expedition and crawl through little man holes, rappel down massive tunnels, and see things everyone else never gets to. I would have been up for it if I didn’t have my camera gear with me. Cheers!
