PHOTOGRAPHY
Winner Chris Howes for The Abode of the Clouds
Judges Dave Willis and Ashley Cooper
T
he state of Meghalaya in
north-east India is a mountain
region with the highest rainfall
on earth (one night we experienced
28cm of rainfall, and this was in the
dry season). ‘Meghalaya’ translates
to Abode of the Clouds, an apt
description. These pictures were
shot in February 2017 during an
international expedition undertaking
original exploration.
The images are chosen to
concentrate on two aspects of the
caves: the ever-present water that
has carved them out (which required
the use of buoyancy aids during
exploration and shooting) and the
different geologies. Meghalaya has
a curious mixture of limestone and
sandstone caves, the latter being
highly unusual and now challenging
the record for the longest in the
world. The interface between the
rocks sometimes reve