If I ever get the chance to go back to this place, oh how I would do it differently these days. Miao Keng in China is one of the worlds deepest shafts and at 509m, it is taller than the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. When I was there, the forever blackness below my feet reminded me of that fact. It only took 2 hours to abseil down to the floor, passing 32 re-belays.

The intensity of photographing in big pits is awesome.

The upper section of the mighty 509m deep Miao Keng shaft in China

Dave Williams aid climbing in the Vestibule of Peak Cavern aka The Devil's Arse

Recently, I have made a few posts about climbing in the roofs of caves – see here & here.
Well tonight (Thursday 13th) at 20:00 on Scottish BBC2 – The Adventure Show focuses on two of Britain’s leading rock climbers; Dave Macleod and Alan Cassidy as they attempt two innovative first ascents – one deep underground and the other in a huge cavern. This film follows them as they inch their way from darkness into light, climbing out of giant caves. More news on the UKClimbing site here.

The huge cavern is none other than my old playground – Peak Cavern. The route they have climbed (or something similar) is one which we first put up in 2009, when I assisted Dave Williams and his brother John, from Disley on the edge of Manchester. Dave had worked a bolted route over several months with meticulous dedication and persistence, topping out halfway up the face of the cliff outside the cave in Peak Cavern gorge.

Should be well worth the watch …if you are in Scotland!

Dave Williams completing his aid route out from the back of the Vestibule inside Peak Cavern

Since leaving the UK back in September, today marks only the sixth day when I have seen rain. Can’t complain at that stat!

Wet Wednesday in Innsbruck

While I’m at home drinking tea, Gina is ordering her first Sangria at a bar in Mallorca. Hmmmm, didn’t plan this well.

Nice surprise to see two familiar photographs.

Showcase of two of my cave photographs on the back cover of the latest British caving magazine – Descent 225, highlighting waterfalls inside caves from both the UK and France.

Back cover of the latest issue of Descent magazine

The final piece to the Three Counties Cave Connection jigsaw has been published in the UK’s caving magazine – Descent 225.

Whilst flicking through my copy of the magazine I remember the difficulties of photographing in such extreme conditions where we were limited with space yet surrounded by mud, wet gloopy mud! Hopefully the results show the hardship that the explorers endured to reach their ultimate goal.

I always enjoy taking cave entrance photographs. On this day, the weather was clearly on my side and as I shot, looking out from the backwall of Gogarth, the setting sun was perfectly placed to silhouette the climber abseiling into the cave.

Budding cave photographers work underground together

Following my ‘Underworld’ expedition cave photography presentation on Friday evening under the Greek starlit sky, thirteen keen cave photographers took part in a two-day workshop.  The aim of the workshop was to learn the basic skills needed to take photographs in caves; from simple composition and lighting techniques, to  more technical aspects needed for quirky images.  Hopefully the budding cave photographers came away more experienced and with better knowledge to get that perfect shot next time they are underground!

The time consuming process of catching a drip in full bloom

For the practical part of the cave-photography workshop, the participants brought with them an interesting array of photographic equipment that they commonly use underground.  Each participant busily tried out their new and improved techniques in the cave.  The result were great and some really nice photographs were made!

In the meantime and in between offering advice, I captured a handful of pictures on my Lumix GF2, recording the moment of others at work.

Caving equipment drying in the sun after a fun day of photography

Last minute adjustments for my 'Underworld' expedition cave photography presentation

A few months ago I was approached by the organisers of the Crete Caving Conference to be their evening speaker.  I was delighted to accept their invitation, and so on Friday evening I found myself setting up beneath a beautiful starlit sky within the ancient city walls of Heraklion.  The subject of my presentation was of course caving expeditions, which I illustrated with a collection of photographs.  With the assistance of Stelios, my superb Greek translator, I told tales of photographing the deepest, largest, longest caves in the world; not forgetting also the three superb Sheffield University  expeditions to the Lefka Ori (The White Mountains) on Crete itself.

In addition to the evening presentation, a small exhibition of my cave photographs are on display within the ancient city walls.  The exhibition runs only until Tuesday 3rd April, so if you want to escape the heat of the sun and take a look, you need to get there fast!

Public gallery of prints from my cave photography collection

Drawing from my diary of Mavri Laki valley high in The White Mountains, Crete

This weekend I will be on the island …Crete that is, presenting my cave photography work in various forms. I can’t really stand up in front of the Greeks and give a talk about my cave photography without at least mentioning our three-year saga as students, scouring the barren limestone for caves high up in The White Mountains. After all …we did have a fun!

So a small selection of images from these great times have been added to the talk which now covers five expeditions that influenced my work.

The dust bowl we called home for 4 weeks in 2006 and again in 2008 in The White Mountains, Crete