AWESOME OPENINGS: DINKO STOPIC
Beautiful openings are what make spelunkers’ hearts beat a bit faster -- that is if they are the mouths of caves. These openings are entrances to worlds most people never know about -- worlds more fascinating than you can imagine.
Speleo photographer Dinko Stopic captures the incredible beauty of these subterranean marvels, offering us a breathtaking glimpse we might otherwise never access.
Stopic’s photos are unique, not only because the caves they feature are so fascinating, but his techniques let us see what’s never before been seen.
He descends into total darkness, guided only by his headlamp and those worn by his assistants, usually without know what he will find. He has developed a special system of working with radio-controlled strobes that illuminate hidden beauty.
“With my photographs I'm trying to uncover the hidden world that most people do not even consider stepping into,” Stopic explains.
A native of Karlovac, Croatia, Stopic works as an engineer, designing bridges and other structures. He first discovered spelunking, or caving, in 1996, when he joined his friends on an expedition to Velebit, Croatia’s largest mountain. He fell in love with speleology and has devoted much of his free time since then exploring Croatia’s many beautiful caves and honing his talent for memorializing them.
Darkness is usually a challenge for a photographer. Most turn to flash to light their shots. But Stopic sees it differently. “Absence of any type of light gives you the full control over composition,” he explains. “One can choose what will be highlighted, and what will stay in the dark.”
It is risky and time consuming for Stopic and his crew, as they typically spend 5 to 10 hours underground getting their shots. It’s tricky because they need equipment to navigate the rather treacherous terrain as well as to light and photograph their subjects. They hang from ropes, shimmy through narrow passages and slosh through mud, so they must carry everything on their backs or around their necks. Everything must be secured -- if anything were to drop, it would be lost forever.
Karlovac lies at the edge of the carst area in Croatia, with many caves and pits within a one-hour driving distance. And Stopic takes full advantage always looking for new beautiful openings.
Stopic never knows what he will find inside a cave until he experiments with lighting. He directs his assistants, repositioning them in the space, instructing them on where to place the flash lights. He controls the power and scope of each light via a radio transmitter mounted to his camera.
“I try not only to shoot my environments, but also to capture the atmosphere at the moment shutter release,” explains Stopic.
After a long hard day of shooting, Stopic gets a thrill when he exits caves as well. “Some psychologists compare exiting from a cave with rebirth. I wouldn’t go that far, but there is some special feeling when you get back on daylight after hours in complete dark.”
If you are interested in exploring some beautiful caves yourself, Stopic recommends that you check out what he calls the “bible of speleo-technique, “Alpine Caving Techniques,” by Georges Marbach and Bernard Tourte. He also improve your speleo-photography skills then you have to read Images Below by Chris Howes.
There are lots of caves in Croatia that Stopic has yet to explore and photograph, as well as many he would like to revisit to photograph again, trying different angles, compositions, and lighting. He also dreams of going on an expedition to Indonesia one day, to photograph that country’s many fantastic caves.
Stopic’s caving photos have been recognized internationally, appearing in National Geographic and featured by Microsoft and other brands. See more of Stopic’s photos here.
Read more about Opening Beauty all this week on BeautifulNow. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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