MISSION IMPROBABLE

 My recent trip to Cyprus included an exploratory trip to Fabrika Hill, a 4th century cave system situated near the town of Paphos. A network of caves and man made spaces dot the landscape, with stairways cut from the living rock to connect them. Any buildings which may have sat on the land above, have now gone - apart from a small section of pebble mosaic, which may have decorated a large room.

Next to Fabrika is a small shrine dedicated to a local saint and part of the shrine includes an underground spring. I documented the visit in detail here: https://wotanland.blogspot.com/2024/07/how-light-gets-in.html

It is a fantastic little place, simple but full of mystery and historical detail. Although the more delicate sections were closed off to public access, it was still possible to see the ancient painting and carvings from a distance. For me though, the most fascinating part was the idea of the underground spring and when I visited last time, the simple rope cordon had been left open and I was able to carefully climb down the stone steps into the dank chamber, about 30’ below. I only had my phone with me on the last visit and was reliant on a flash for lighting. The results were less than impressive and created a large area of shadow towards the rear of the chamber and reflecting brightly off the nearer stone walls. Even after some processing of the image, a lot of detail has been lost, due to my haste and lack of suitable equipment.

Next month, I will be visiting the area again and intend to make another attempt at photographing the spring. In preparation, I have been reading an interesting book on the history of underground photography and the techniques used from the early days of photography, such as explosive powders, magnesium flares and electric arc lamps and the dangers and discoveries faced by the early pioneers.

Although I won’t have to face the risk of electrocution, choking on noxious fumes, cave ins or being lost in darkness, I will have to take some extra equipment to have a chance of getting a good shot. As reported earlier, in the previous post, I have invested in a pair of camera cages for both my cameras and my phone.

The Neewer Phone Cage securely clamps my phone horizontally in the cage, giving full access to the screen. The edges of the cage feature standard threaded mounts and cold shoe ports.

The first thing I added was an elevating stand, to support the cage and an additional cold shoe adaptor to give more functionality.

A cheese bar and a rod clamp have been bolted onto the frame to aid functionality. In order to extend usage, as some apps can be quite a high drain on the phones battery, I can add an external power pack on the base rail.

Probably unnecessary and impractical, but while I was tinkering, I used the side rod clamp to hold a powerful green laser pointer. The difficulty with lasers is that stray beams can easily damage a phone or camera sensor, but can be useful for extreme lighting F/X.

I have a full spectrum camera conversion, which is sensitive to non visible spectra, so I have added an Ultra Violet lamp torch, which will fit on both rigs. Certain minerals and also fungi will fluoresce under UV light, and I’m hoping that some of the stonework in the caverns may be sensitive to the lamp. Again, the connection is a screw thread of the same gauge as used by most tripods.

As the phone may become difficult to handle when fully accessorised, I have added a separate Bluetooth remote release for the camera apps on the phone. I am hoping I will be able to position the rig at the base of the steps near the spring and use the remote to trigger the camera, while I tend to the lighting.

Light will be provided by a rechargeable, ultrabright LED array and a small LED torch. I hope this will be sufficient in the confined space and I won't need to rely on flash.

Finally, another excessive category accessory, I the form of an external lens clamp. This adjustable clamp is  intended to attach camera lenses, which should operate with the camera phone. Shown here is an adjustable focus monocular designed to be used with a mobile phone. I’ve yet to get any kind of useable results from similar set ups, but the stability of this rig may allow for better photos.

I won’t be able to take the large camera rig on the plane and won’t need all of the above devices, but I should be able to pack the main rig and lights to use in the caverns. Watch this space!