Crystal Maiden

~February 16, 2010       

ATM Cave, Belize      

I knew I wanted to photograph the Crystal Maiden before I went to Belize, and I also knew that a large camera was impractical for the cave.  So, I purchased a small PowerShot S90 just for the cave.  My worry was the lighting in the cave.  The cave is completely dark and you must wear a headlamp on your hardhat in order to see, so lighting was definitely a problem.  We also did not have a lot of time to compose our shot as other groups were waiting to climb the ladder to view the maiden.  Nonetheless, I think I achieved a photograph rather than merely a snapshot.  Once home, I made adjustments in Photoshop and added a blue filter to create a “colder” effect to emphasize the gravity of the scene.