Angels Den

There are a lot of limestone caves scattered throughout the islands of The Bahamas, and over the years, I’ve had the chance to explore quite a few of them. But this one has always been the trickiest to photograph. This particular cave, called “The Shrimp Cave” in Long Island, Bahamas, is an inland cave that you have to hike through the bush just to get to. Once inside, the cave floor is covered in super fine sediment mixed with bat guano from the resident bats flying and sleeping overhead. The second you make a wrong move underwater in the cave, it kicks up a thick cloud of dust that completely ruins visibility. There’s no current to help clear it, so if you mess it up, you’re waiting 30 minutes or more for the dust to settle. Wearing fins is a no-go in here — they stir up way too much, so every movement has to be slow and calculated. What makes this cave special, though, is the light beams. Holes in the ceiling — most likely carved out from years of rainwater erosion — let sunlight pour into the water in these perfect columns. They frame everything below with this soft, glowing light that reflects beautifully off the still surface. Shooting here was all about patience and planning. The model and I had to go over every detail of the shoot while we were still at the entrance, because even treading water in the wrong spot near the light beams could stir up the sediment and ruin our underwater “studio”. We sank slowly, without fins, working together to preserve the clarity of the water while lining up the shot. This location is always one of the most technically demanding environments I’ve ever photographed in — but also one of the most rewarding.