Mining Gallery Blog

Brett Pelletier Photography
Mining Gallery

This is one of my most unique galleries, that I plan on adding to this summer once the snow melts away in the mountains. Mining was a huge factor in much of the original exploration of the West, and is the reason most towns were established throughout the area. Though the miners didn't know it at the time they blazed the trails and roads in the mountains that are used today for recreation activities such as hiking, biking and skiing. Finding these abandoned mines is a bit tricky. Sometimes the mine is on private property and entering without permission is considered bad karma, sometimes the mine entrance is locked or gated closed, or filled with rocks and dirt, other times it may be too dangerous to enter safely. In return, discovering mines that are open and accessible becomes even more rewarding, and because everyone else either thinks your crazy or has no idea that the mines are there to explore you always have it for yourself. It's a little hard to blend in to the crowd at the trail-head with lamps, helmets, ropes, gloves, dirty pants and sweatshirts in the middle of summer so trying to be secretive about your intentions is impossible. Photographing the inside of mines is equally as difficult so if your not in it for a challenge then you better get out. Obviously there is zero natural light inside the mine so your camera won't focus, the light meter is useless, and if you just try your standard flash, the image won't have any depth and will be flat and boring, so setting up interesting lighting is very important. I like to use a variety of stationary lights in combination with a hand held light for 'painting the image' during the exposure. Each capture is at least 30 seconds of exposure with a wide angle lens. Click on the image above and view my gallery with large previews. Enjoy!!