The alarm goes off and as I reached for the snooze button I realize that it’s 5am and I need to be on the road in half an hour. It’s not that hard to get out of the cozy bed when one knows they are off to shoot pictures of waterfalls. The even bigger plus was that it would be one of the warmest days of the weekend, a whopping 10C. Leaning against the car putting on my hiking shoes it really feels like a cold fall morning. I have to keep reminding myself that it’s almost spring. Yes winter is almost over. I pick up my shooting buddy and we head towards the south end of Hamilton. Our first destination – Louth falls. On reaching the parking lot and hiking in to the falls we realize that this warm spell may hinder our goal of reaching the bottom of the falls. With slippery, melting snow and about 20lbs of gear I decided that I would not attempt the steep walk down to the bottom of the falls. I’ll save it for a warm, dry day instead. Unfortunately, the view from the top as a little obstructed. I have attached a picture with the best view I could find from the top.
Nikon D200, 17-70 Sigma lens, ISO250,
ƒ22, Tonal Contrast
Further upstream I was lucky enough to discover something worth photographing – icicles.
Nikon D200, 70-300 Sigma lens, ISO 250
ƒ8, Conversion to B&W and Tonal Contrast
After exhausting what was at the top of the falls we decided to head over to Rockway falls, a 5 minute drive down the road. From the parking lot we got our first view of Rockway and again the realization hit that this would another waterfall we would have to shoot from above. With steep banks and wet snow this was not worth the possibility of hurting oneself. We headed to the other side of the falls for a clearer view from the edge of the cliffs. The falls ended up looking smaller than it actually is.
Nikon D200, 17-70 Sigma lens, ISO 250,
ƒ22, HDR,Tonal Contrast
Rockway Falls faces south and so no light hits it until the sun rises above the gorge. This means that you will always have harsh light hitting it. If only it was facing east or west. But one cannot complain on where the Earth decides to create beauty like this. So, I broke out the long lens again in order to capture some detail on the edge of the waterfall.
Nikon D200, 70-300 Sigma lens, ISO 250
ƒ32, 1/4s, Conversion to B&W, Tonal Contrast
The sun had now risen and broken through the clouds so we decided to call it a day and head back home.
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Very nice photos – I really like the icicles.