Dave Ciskowski , Jul 19, 1999; 09:52 a.m.
Carolyn,
Wow, thanks for bringing back some great memories of last summer! First, if you have any flexibility, make sure that the weather is fabulous before heading up to Jungfraujoch. Clouds mean that you won't see much of the glaciers or mountains, and IMHO that's the biggest reason to take the trip.
When I was there, the caves were quite filled with other tourists wandering around. If you want pristine photos with no people, it's possible but you'll have to be patient. It would be awfully tough to use a tripod, because most of the passages aren't very wide.
The caves are fairly dim so you'll almost have to use flash. I think this will bring out more detail in the ice anyway. All I had was a wimpy on-camera flash and the photos came out well. I think that I weighed low light (and cheesy flash) against bright white background and decided to stick with the default exposure. My negatives are slightly underexposed. If you had time and space to play, you could probably get some amazing results from backlighting the ice sculptures, but that would take a lot of experimentation (and a lot of film).
I was shooting Agfapan 25 (B&W print) because of the brilliantly lit glaciers outside. This made it a bit of a challenge inside the ice caves, but the photos I took came out well. I don't think it's worth using a particularly fast film, since you'll probably be using flash anyway. I would be worried about slides because it's a tough lighting situation, especially with flash. The ambient light is fairly dim but the flash will really pop off the shiny white ice. I don't know how much color you would get from the ice. I recall it as having a slight blue tint, but perhaps the flash would really pull that out.
It's a challenging situation. The ice caves were fun but for me the more interesting thing was to see the glacier and activities outside. You can get out onto the glaciers and spend quite a bit of time walking around. We took the short hike (maybe a km or so?) to the Monchsjochhutte, across the glacier to the east. It's an easy walk on a well-trodden path, and gives you a chance to really see what the glacier is like. You can also grab a hot chocolate at the hut, a much lest touristy option than the restaurants at Jungfraujoch.
I hope this is helpful. I'll be in the darkroom tomorrow -- I'll try to do a print or two, scan them, and add it here. Drop me a line if you'd like to discuss things further. Have a great time!
Cheers, Dave
