This was Difficult!

I was hiking down the Guadalupe Ridge into the backside of Carlsbad Caverns National Park when I found this. A black spot in the mountain side, partially concealed by a large bush. This image was about 100 feet into the cave. Beyond that was complete darkness. Without any question, by far and away the most difficult image I have ever made. First the contrast range from the raw sunlight of the entrance to the dark side of the structure was 15+ stops, so I had to use extreme compression techniques to get the contrast of the negative into a manageable range. Next there was almost no reflection of light from the back side of the stalagmite, so low that my most sensitive meter couldn't measure it. Based on the lowest measurable light value I added two stops of exposure, which made the final exposure three hours! I used a small flashlight that I keep in my pack to paint light into the darkest areas of the negative, but it worked. Between the extreme absolute darkness of what was immediately behind me, the very fine dust and the bird crap on the floor from thousands of swallows that had built nests in the top of the cave, I never want to do anything like this again. Toyo 45A camera 65mm Sinaron Lens, no filter, Kodak T-Max 100 film rated at ASA 50. Processed using TMAXrs developer at an extreme dilution. One chance only on this one, so it had to be done right.