September Morn'....Underground

Made with the 5DI inside the Yule Marble Quarry outside of Marble, Colorado.

I've had the fantastic fortune to be able to shoot inside this national treasure since '03 and look forward to bringing the new (to me) 5DII inside. Also some HD video.

Just calibrated my monitor with the Spyder3 Elite (after a looooong time without such software) and brought this one back to life.

The last rays of a September morn' can be seen touching the 'electric pillar' (where the power comes into the quarry and is dispersed)under portal #3.'

The lighting in the quarry changes constantly in the spring through September. After that the sun does not fall into the portals until March/April.

This image has sunlight, reflected light off of white, stained brown, black and green marble, incandescent light, spotlights, you name it. It's always a challenge and always worth it.

Awesome!!! I'd love to do a tour of the mine sometime. A friend of mine lives in Marble and has a great coffee table book about the history of Marble, with lots of old photos. One of the most fascinating chapters was about when the old marble mill (a huge wooden building) was completely destroyed by an avalanche. But the most interesting thing was that the snow never actually even reached the building - it was flattened by the blast of air in front of the avalanche. Anyhow, I'm rambling but that's a really cool shot. The only thing that would make it better would be a little person somewhere off in the distance to give scale, but the railings on that far pillar do the trick too.

Oh, also, that would make a great indoor climbing gym!

As this image unfolded on a slow internet connection (overseas) I kept asking myself where was this taken. On so many levels this is a very interesting image. Please keep them coming. The Marble area of Colorado is a hidden gem! The beam of light looks like a laser cutting into the stone. A very challenging subject that you conquered.
Thanks, Mark

This is impressive on a number of levels, Ron. Once I realized the sense of scale, my jaw dropped. While I love the warm-cool color contrast, I'm also picturing this in B&W. Let's see some more!

I've always wondered what the quarry looked like! very cool! nice shot and keep em coming!

This is awesome, Ron! The area of Marble open to the public has always fascinated me, and one can't help wondering about the quarry itself. I'd love to see more of what you've got. That beam of light is killer!

Very nice image..I would love to see the quarry sometime.

That is such a cool shot!

Thanks Jack. Your buddy must be Oscar. Oscar narrates the history of the old finishing mill on the DVD we have of the quarry. Heck of nice guy. One of the old avalanches actually put snow inside the homes on the main drag. I'll dig up one with a quarry worker at the base of the pillar.

Thanks Mark. I'm not sure I conquered it...but I sure love to keep trying. The beam of light goes from HUGE to this teeny, tiny, pencil sized beam then it just pfft! and it's gone. Cool.

Thanks Paul. Yeah, I have a ton of B&W and they are interesting in their own way.

Thanks Kalin. The area under portal #3 is where a lot of the marble for the Lincoln Memorial columns came from.

Thanks Jackson. I love the quarry light in the spring. It's really cool when you have the clouds pass between the sun and portals with the light turning on and off like a switch.

Thanks Jack. Yeah, it's too bad that the trail leading to the opening of #3 is closed. Too dangerous. They had marble falling from the ceiling and it almost hit someone. 100 pounds of rock from 40 feet would hurt. 300 feet to the floor below.

Thanks Morris. It was made from the emergency stairway that leads straight up the wall. The workers are required to have an escape in case the main entry is blocked, etc. New hires must climb the staircase without stopping on their first day in order to be employed.

I'll put more up as time allows as long as you guys don't get tired of them. You can see more here on my cheesy site http://www.ronbaileyphotography.com and more on my blog http://ronbaileyphotography.wordpress.com

Now that I'm 'back in the game' I'll need to rework the site and keep the blog updated.

Thanks again gang!

Okay, a black and white from 2003. Shot with a Fuji S2.

Several years ago, when the quarry rights were owned by a single person, the lighting was very limited. Only a few spots were on in the back rooms of the quarry. Hard to work in but great for shadows.

If you look behind the saw you'll see the shadow of the quarry worker. The blade on this saw is 13' long gnaws through the marble slowly. The machine moves along on tracks as it cuts through the rock.

This is (was...part of it was demolished by falling marble from the ceiling and had to be replaced) the emergency staircase that runs straight up the wall. The electric pillar is off to the right and about 40 feet away from where I shot.

Can you see the guy walking down the stairs in this small version? It really helps give it the scale it needs.

I found it darn tough to shoot directly into the light coming through the portal.

Last one, I promise.

Hope this one helps to show the size of the electric pillar. The staircase is on the wall to my right.

The quarry worker is walking up the ramp just to the right of the pillar.

The marble has stains from various times in the long history of the quarry. Smoke from oil lamps, wood, coal and diesel have left marks on the stone. Various minerals in the water have also left behind different shades that all seem to come alive when the light splashes in.

The colors 'change' depending where the sunlight hits. It's really amazing.