When I was preparing to take this photo it was suggested to me that the stop range between the interior shadow, sky, and reflected light from canyon walls and sand, was to great for this photo to work. I persevered and took the photo, wanting to try and capture the scale of alcove in relation to the canyon walls, the internal coolness and exterior harsh environment. The walls of the canyon rise nearly a thousand feet, and the alcove was at least 150-200 yards wide.
The photo was taken with a Toyo 45CF field camera and Nikkor-W 135mm lens on Fuji Velvia 100. Following scanning, I have removed removed colour to create a black & white photo. I recently read that Velvia unlike many other colour films holds pure black and greys within the transparency which means it can be easily converted to b&w. Velvia is also considered to have a wide stop range.
