Kevin Downey
Kevin Downey has been caving since the late 1960's. He began taking photographs in caves in 1975 but was an abysmal failure. He has been trying ever since to figure it out. He has photographed in over one thousand caves and on 54 expeditions abroad with an average of over 50 caves shot each year. He has been on projects in exotic places like China, Borneo, Oman, Translyvania, Thailand, and more.
He has built most of his own equipment for his photography. His special interests include images from original explorations in deep caves, complex systems, large chambers, weird morphologies and devising creative lighting methods for each individual cave. The lessons learned so far from lighting caves have become the backbone of Downey's photographic business which specializes in creative commercial advertising imagery.
In recent years Downey has worked with other cave photographers for creative collaborations and unique perspectives. More recent work has be done with Urs Widmer of Switzerland. This has resulted in some stylistic and technical experiments which have been well received by cavers worldwide. Kevin has been published in over 200 books and magazines. Downey and Widmer received some of the highest honors given at the Spele Media exhibit and contest in Switzerland in 1997. These honors are only the most recent in a long line of awards and honors.