The CUCC Blog

NCHECC 2020

SRT training - Having signed up for SRT training, I was at first a bit apprehensive of it, having been to a previous session and seeing how skillful people were there, climbing the ropes so quickly and masterfully. However, thankfully at CHECC, the three of us who signed up for the workshop were more or less novices, making it much less daunting. Adding to that, the instructors were all extremely helpful, approachable and most of all, patient (I did feel bad for my own instructor, who had to deal with a complete novice). Everyone was enthusiastic and motivated to learn or teach more, making it a very pleasant and welcoming environment to learn in. Overall, it was a very fun and enjoyable first experience, and though my first attempts may not have been very impressive, the end result did feel extremely rewarding, with the satisfaction of looking down from the top of the rope and thinking...wow, great moves! Keep it up. Proud of you (to myself) Photography workshop - The workshop, led by Brandon and Ben from Leeds, consisted of cavers- photography enthusiasts who wanted to take the best pictures possible underground. We set off to Yordas cave, accompanied by a puppy, passing through the beautiful landscape of Yorkshire, though in the cave, most of us were not appropriately dressed in terms of footwear: with a stream flowing through and icy water covering pretty much the whole floor of the cave, coming up to our ankles, combined with most of us in boots or trainers...it did make for very cold feet. The workshop in itself was fascinating: we learned the different angles to use for the flash(es) and techniques to follow to take the best photos we could with our gear, with Brandon showing us how to get cheap but resistant equipment (since expensive ones can be hard to replace if damaged by water or other caving-related incidents) and quality pictures (with the changes in angles of the flash to reflect off of the walls or prevent them from burning on the picture, as well as creating a "misty/foggy" background to make people stand out in pictures, using a flash behind the subject, as well as finding the best positions and poses to make the photos look more spectacular and interesting in terms of comoposition). The pictures we took came out very well (in my, ahem, *humble* opinion) and the skills we learned were very valuable and effective to take better pictures in such a tricky and dark environment to work in, making our miserable, wet socks and muddy shoes filled with freezing water all worth it (the adorable sheep next to the cave were also a welcome added bonus) - Sarah

-- Sarah Lee, March 10, 2020. Category: Caving

Referenced in the following trips: NCHECC 2020 in Yorkshire (Bullpot Farm) [2020-03-06]