Post by L Roebuck on Nov 7, 2005 13:07:23 GMT -5
A rare photo op: Shutterbugs who pay $150 permitted to shoot for 6 hours
LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen
Visitors willing to pay the price will be allowed to take photos Nov. 5 in Kartchner Caverns State Park.
Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., photography in the underground wonder near Benson, normally prohibited, will be allowed "for private use only," according to an Arizona State Parks news release.
Tickets are $150 per person and available only at www.arizonastateparksfoundation.org.
Proceeds go to two nonprofits, the Arizona State Parks Foundation, which assists in funding state park programs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation, which helps the homeless, people needing indigent health care and children's programs.
Volunteers and cave docents will be at the park to give information and answer questions. Friends of Arizona Highways Photo Workshops will give advice on how to best photograph objects in the cave.
Cameras have been prohibited because officials found that the flashes disrupted tours.
The cave, operated by Arizona State Parks, is a trove of awesome rock and mineral formations 45 miles east of Tucson. The park opened in 1999 and annually attracts about 200,000 visitors.
Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts discovered the caverns on private property in 1974, not telling the landowners, James A. and Lois M. Kartchner, until 1978. They then joined forces in a secret 10-year effort to get the caverns state protection. In 1988, then-Gov. Rose Mofford signed a bill creating the park.
Tucson Citizen
www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/102905a4_kartchner
LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen
Visitors willing to pay the price will be allowed to take photos Nov. 5 in Kartchner Caverns State Park.
Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., photography in the underground wonder near Benson, normally prohibited, will be allowed "for private use only," according to an Arizona State Parks news release.
Tickets are $150 per person and available only at www.arizonastateparksfoundation.org.
Proceeds go to two nonprofits, the Arizona State Parks Foundation, which assists in funding state park programs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation, which helps the homeless, people needing indigent health care and children's programs.
Volunteers and cave docents will be at the park to give information and answer questions. Friends of Arizona Highways Photo Workshops will give advice on how to best photograph objects in the cave.
Cameras have been prohibited because officials found that the flashes disrupted tours.
The cave, operated by Arizona State Parks, is a trove of awesome rock and mineral formations 45 miles east of Tucson. The park opened in 1999 and annually attracts about 200,000 visitors.
Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts discovered the caverns on private property in 1974, not telling the landowners, James A. and Lois M. Kartchner, until 1978. They then joined forces in a secret 10-year effort to get the caverns state protection. In 1988, then-Gov. Rose Mofford signed a bill creating the park.
Tucson Citizen
www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/102905a4_kartchner