TITLE: Stalactite grid

This image was taken in Coop 1 cave in the flooded cave system of the Yucatan, Mexico. Here nature has shown what beauty it can create, the stalactite decoration is wonderfully varied. Photographing in flooded caves where it is absolutely dark is a great challenge for the photographer, especially in terms of how the cave space is lit. This photograph was taken using a total of five flashes.

AUTHOR: Petr Polách (Czech Republic)

I come from the Czech Republic. I have been photographing for a long time and after I started scuba diving in 2003, I took this hobby to the world under the water as well. I have visited different parts of the world, from warm, southern oceans and seas, through geographically moderate places to northern areas with very cold water. In recent years I have been focusing on photography in flooded cave systems in the Yucatan. This Mexican peninsula has the largest flooded cave systems in the world. The landscape of flooded caves is characterized by the unusual beauty of its scenery, stalactite decoration, variety of shapes and sizes of cave spaces. The caves are characterized by an unfavourable situation, namely absolute darkness, which is a great challenge for the photographer - how to light the scene? When photographing "over water", I mainly focus on landscape and street photography.