The Oldest Cave Photographs



Date Cave Location Explanation
27-JAN-1865 ShowcaveBlue John Cave Great Britain was the location of the first cave photograph. The photographer Alfred Brothers took it on 27-JAN-1865. He did not intend to make a cave photograph, he just looked for a dark place to test his new magnesium flash. The stereo(!) image was discovered by Chris Howes.
1866 ShowcaveMammoth Cave Kentucky, U.S.A. was the location of the second-oldest cave photographs, taken by Charles Waldack, a Belgian photographer who emigrated to Cincinnati, in 1866. Waldack made 42 photographs using a large wet-plate stereographic camera, magnesium flares, and reflectors. Magnesium flares are ribbons of magnesium that burn with a brilliant light, so all pictures were long shutter exposures. He worked with two assistants, and Mat Branford guided them and helped carry their heavy equipment from place to place within the cave. Mat and Nicholas Branford, former slaves, worked as early guides at Mammoth Cave.