The Gomantong Caves are in Malaysia, near the northeastern corner of the island of Borneo. Like most caves in Borneo, they are quite large, and very impressive. Which of course makes them quite difficult to photograph. I was there with an international team of scientists studying the cave and most team members only had small windows of time to give to photography.

This photo was taken at noon, at the bottom of the cave, below a skylight 300 feet overhead. There is a window of about 10 minutes as the shaft of light hits the bottom left, and then moves across the floor, and finally is gone. Which, of course, is one way to light up such a big space with few people and no artificial lighting.

Interestingly, there is actually a shack on the left. This cave is where daring climbers collect bird nests from high on the walls and ceilings for Bird Nest Soup. The nests are so valuable that full-time guards live in the cave to watch for thieves.

Canon 70D on a Davis and Sanford PB228-10 tripod using a Tokina 12-24 F4 (IF) DXII lens set to 15mm. 1.6 second exposure at F4 and ISO 320.

By: Keith Christenson