I went out shooting with Roy Ramsay of Outdoor Photography Canada magazine in Hamilton today. We decided that with the heavy rains and the spring runoff we should photograph both Tiffany and Sherman Falls.
Tifanny Falls
Spring is my favourite time to visit Tiffany Falls as the falls is usually a trickle most of the year but today it was spectacular. I decided to spend my time here creating more detailed shots of the falls. Although I did take photos of the whole waterfall I really liked the bottom part of the falls.
From here Roy and I went over to Sherman Falls.
Sherman Falls
As you can see Sherman is also enjoying the benefits of the larger amount of rain and snow melt. Most of the year Sherman is still quite a sight but today it was trying its best to impress. Luckily the river below the falls is still shallow enough for me to get in and get this shot.
It’s always a fun day out with Roy and today was not a disappointment. Check out Roy’s magazine Outdoor Photography Canada.
Waking up to drizzly weather we packed up our gear and headed north to Arches Provincial Park. Although the drizzle disappeared a fog had settled in but that didn’t stop us spending quite a bit of time exploring the arches. Arches Provincial Park is a small park but on a sunny day could very well be a great place to picnic. Since the sky was so bland I added in my own cloudy sky to create the composite below.
Arches Provincial Park
Venturing into one of the arches I discovered these “eyes” looking back at me. It gave me flashbacks to the Goonies movie. I decided to try out my wide angle lens to see if I could capture the effect.
Eyes to the Soul
Yup, it’s still got that “Goonies” feel.
Back in the car we decided to stop at Broom Point where a fishing exhibit and rocky beach waited to be photographed. The fishing exhibit isn’t the only building on the property. A lone outhouse stands on a hill held up by large timber beams in what I assume is supposed to keep the outhouse upright in the winds. It’s very windy here on the coast and I can only assume that it usually is.
Outhouse
On the way back to our hotel room we decided to do one more stop at Southeast Brook Falls located inside Gros Morne National Park. A short hike through the forest takes you up to these small falls.
Southeast Brook Falls
We saw quite a few spots today, some I didn’t share with you just yet, so we were pretty beat by the time we got back for dinner. So many things to see and so little time. We have one more day of exploring the west coast before we make the journey back to Ontario.
It’s been too long since I’ve done a road trip. Yeah, yeah I know I was on one just a month ago but it feels like it’s been forever. Since it’s Thanksgiving weekend in Canada this weekend and I was able to swing an extra day off, my friends Nigel Banks and Paul Berkloo joined me on a trip to the Finger Lakes region in New York State. We are heading for Watkins Glen State Park to explore a gorge full of waterfalls. Yay, Waterfalls!
But before we get there a stop at Letchworth State Park to wet our whistle on some waterfalls was our first destination. First up was the Wolf’s Creek. The waterfall itself is awkward to photograph without putting ourselves in danger so we settled with getting some photographs of the cascade above the falls. Not to worry there were more waterfalls in our future that we could photograph safely.
Wolf’s Creek the Upper Falls.
For example the Upper Falls. A paved path takes you right up to a number of possible views of the waterfall. There is a train trestle above the falls so photos of it can be challenging unless you embrace the trestle and make it part of your photograph. Other options are to create detail shots of the falls or some major editing later. All up to you as you are the creator of your art.
Upper Falls
Downstream from all the main waterfalls is a wonderful pyramid shaped mountain with a flat top. As you can see we lucked out with some great cloud cover. (It was a little of a drizzly start this morning but the clouds worked for us).
Natural Pyramid
I saved the best for last with the Middle Falls, one of their most dramatic falls. Isn’t she a beauty?
Middle Falls
After exploring a good portion of the park it was time to get back on the road and make our way to our home away from home for the night. Tomorrow’s plan was an early start at Watkins Glen State Park.
The sun was shining this morning but the winds were extremely strong – so strong we could barely stand as we explored the Vik area.
Iceland Southern Shores
Driving to the highest point along the shores we found it very difficult to walk the cliff edge let alone keep the camera steady but the views were definitely worth the effort.
Vik Gates
After being blown about for awhile we headed out enjoy some more waterfalls in the area. It’s really very hard to go anywhere in Iceland without seeing a waterfall somewhere – be it a roadside or in a park that one has to hike into. Skogafoss, a very popular stop for those exploring Iceland was one of those roadside stops. We found the parking lot behind some restaurants and walked the few hundred feet to its base. We are lucky as we have chosen a not so busy season so the crowds are minimal.
Mighty Skogafoss
I patiently waited for that window of opportunity when no one was right at the base directly in my shot to get some photos while at other times I took photos with other tourists in them.
Our final stop before we headed to Reykjavik to find a place to lie our heads is Seljalandsfoss. This waterfall allows one to walk behind it and get completely soaked. At certain times I’m told you can walk behind and not get that wet. I decided against going there as I watched person after person come out dripping from head to toe. Today was not the day to venture there.
Seljalandsfoss
It was very impressive from the front so I spent quite a bit of time photographing it before exploring some smaller waterfalls not too far away from it before we headed to the big city and our final leg of our trip.
Today we headed just north of Akureryi to find some turf homes before finding us some waterfalls. About 30 minutes from the town we found an outdoor museum that had some turf homes, a church and a barn.
Turf Homes
We spent some time here checking out all the angles, and trying some new ways to photograph the same things. Driving a little further along the ring road our hopes were to check out Dettifoss, one of the largest waterfalls in Europe with a huge amount of water falling over its crest. The original idea was to approach from the east road only to find it closed due to flooding. So, we had to back track to hit the west road and the more popular route to the falls.
Dettifoss
The main reason for driving to the east road was a clearer view of the falls as the cliffs obstruct most of the falls from our eastern angle. It was time to get creative. The great thing about there still being snow on the ground (albeit a slushy, hard to walk through kind of snow) is the patterns that can be created because of the falls and what I suspect to be volcanic ash. Upstream from mighty Detifoss is a mini “Niagara” of sorts called Selfoss.
Selfoss
Located only one kilometre upstream from Detifoss it has its own kind of majesty. One can walk right up to the top of the falls and enjoy the spray that ultimately makes you very damp along with your gear. It’s difficult to get close to a lot of these waterfalls because of the spray. I was constantly wiping my lenses and not always leaving with shots that were droplet free. It takes a lot of patience and a whole lot of microfibre cloths to get some of these photos. Course using a long lens can offer you different opportunities than a wide angle lens. The Dettifoss photo was taken with a 500mm lens while the shot of Selfoss was with my wide angle.
