Into Krizna Jama

Do you have a favorite location you like to photograph or collect specimens? Share these locations with your fellow members by submitting each location as a topic.

Moderators: rjlittlefield, ChrisR, Chris S., Pau

Mike B in OKlahoma
Posts: 1048
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:32 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Into Krizna Jama

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

I've just returned from a trip to Italy and Slovenia. One of the most exciting things I did was in Slovenia. Marko Trebusak took me into the undeveloped part of a cave there (called Krizna Jama). This didn't have the walkways and permanent lighting of places like Carlsbad Caverns in the USA, but as a result we had a lot more freedom of action. We were escorted by a park staff member to make sure we didn't harm the cave or ourselves. We wore cave-provided rubber boots to minimize contamination of the cave, and "hard hats" with miner's lights on them. I only whacked my head on the roof once, but I'm still glad I had it! I fell once, when I stepped in a small hole I didn't see under six inches of water, but fortunately didn't injure myself or my camera.

To get these photographs, we walked back into the cave for over an hour. The floor was mostly either rubble or underwater, or both. Most of the time, we either were (in wading boots) in six or so inches of water, or else were in deeper water where we traveled in a rubber raft. In the shallow water, or in the rare dry spots (which were still wet, slick, stone) we dragged the rubber raft behind us (I have to admit that the ranger and Marko did most of the work!). At one spot (before we got to the rubber raft, which is permanently kept in the cave) we had to travel along a ledge about six inches wide, sloped down at a 45 degree angle. Like most things in the cave, it was wet and slick, so we supported ourselves by hanging with our arms onto a rope that was run through rings driven on spikes into the cave walls. Our arms were supporting our weight, and we had to keep our feet perpendicular to the cave wall--If you didn't keep them perpendicular, they slid off the ledge (I found out the hard way!). Below us was about a several foot drop into rubble covered with a couple of feet of water, so it wasn't a life or death thing, but falling likely would've meant a broken leg or ankle, and meant a big rescue operation to carry us out of the cave. Not a good thing. Our destination was an attractive spot for "landscape" cave photography, plus the chance for macro shots of the cave inhabitants.

The cave staffer drags the rubber raft between underwater lakes. Taken by helmet light at ISO 1250, 16mm, f/2.8! Using flash would have blinded everyone, and probably gotten me left behind in the cave! :-)


Image


This landscape shot was our main destination. The shot was really a group effort, I composed and tripped the shutter, while the others "painted with light", shining around flashlights to illuminate the subject area. If I had it to do over again, I'd raise my camera so the reflection of the stalagmites wouldn't overlap the formation in the foreground.

Image

Another objective was the cave inhabitants, such as this bat. He was sleeping, rather than hibernating, so we could disturb him a bit without harming him. I still found the bats seemed to stir after the second shot, so limited myself to one or two shots for each subject. The bats naturally sleep with their wings covering their face.

Image

After we left the cave, Marko points on a map to indicate how far we went. Note that although this took an hour each direction, we only penetrated perhaps 1/4 of the way into the cave!

Image

I also photographed moths, a small water arthropod, and a cricket that had adapted to cave life by losing most of his pigment. There's a large spider that lives in the caves that is quite photogenic, but we couldn't find one to photograph.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

Ken Ramos
Posts: 7208
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:12 pm
Location: lat=35.4005&lon=-81.9841

Post by Ken Ramos »

Mike said:
There's a large spider that lives in the caves that is quite photogenic, but we couldn't find one to photograph.
And why not :?: Seems everyone else would have found one to spook me with, though Halloween is over, and if it were Rik, he would have pulled its little legs off to look at its vander somethings or another. :lol:

I hope you show more of these Mike. :D I have always liked prowling around in caves, when I was a kid my friends and I would explore those around where I grew up but they were not as beautiful as what you have here. Very interesting to read what you had to write about your adventure. More please :wink:

rjlittlefield
Site Admin
Posts: 23561
Joined: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:34 am
Location: Richland, Washington State, USA
Contact:

Re: Into Krizna Jama

Post by rjlittlefield »

Great photos, Mike! I agree with Ken: "More please :wink: "
Mike B in OKlahoma wrote:If I had it to do over again, I'd raise my camera so the reflection of the stalagmites wouldn't overlap the formation in the foreground.
I dunno, Mike. I agree that the reflections are aesthetically a bit distracting, but they have an upside too. If they weren't there, I don't think I would have noticed that the foreground formation is half under water. Plus raising the camera would have messed up that nice composition on the righthand side, where we see the background waterline and small rocks through the gap in the foreground formations. You could have done different, but I'm not sure you could have done better!

--Rik

Ken Ramos
Posts: 7208
Joined: Thu Jul 27, 2006 2:12 pm
Location: lat=35.4005&lon=-81.9841

Post by Ken Ramos »

The more I view this post, the more it is reminiscent of the old but still a great favorite, Jules Verne novel, "Journy to the Center of the Earth." The second photograph really lets ones imagination wander and to speculate on just how far could man go into the bowels of the earth by this means and what forms of life unknown could one find there. Could an exploratory trip into some of Icelands cavernous interiors hold a clue? Stranger things have happened and if you remember, a lot of yesterdays science fiction has become todays realities. :wink:

Mike B in OKlahoma
Posts: 1048
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:32 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

Ken Ramos wrote:The more I view this post, the more it is reminiscent of the old but still a great favorite, Jules Verne novel, "Journy to the Center of the Earth."
I loved the cheesey 1960-era movie of that growing up. But what was in my mind as I was doing this was the old Jonny Quest tv show I loved growing up! :-) This one will definitely rank as one of my big adventures in my life.

Thanks for the nice comments, I have a couple more macro shots that will go in the macro forum.
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

MacroLuv
Posts: 1964
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:36 pm
Location: Croatia

Post by MacroLuv »

Nice! Krizna Jama (Crosswise Cave) is in Slovenia. So, Mike, you've been in my neighborhood. :D
Krizna = Crosswise or maybe Sacral... hmmm :-k ... slovenian language is specific and different from croatian. :shock: Teva knows better! :D
The meaning of beauty is in sharing with others.

P.S.
Noticing of my "a" and "the" and other grammar
errors are welcome. :D

Post Reply Previous topicNext topic