This summer, I found this falls on a small excursion off of the Mohawk Hudson bike path which is quite tall (I estimate about 35 feet). Depending on the amount of rain, it can be quite active. It feeds into the Mohawk river.
I went there Sunday to shoot this for Calendar, but despite taking numerous shots, decided the obstructed view (there isn't another) and the comparison with national waterfalls made this too insignificant for DPC. So I submitted something completely different.
But I still like the fall feel of the shot (hard to preserve it though at 640x400) and wondered what others here thought. Next year I think I'm going to go there with a saw and cut that tree down, after I consult with others to be sure that I am not breaking a law in doing so.
There's also a little "funny" (idiot photographer) story with this. This shot is taken while sitting at the "End" (meaning the rest is almost straight down) of a short path which descends about 10-15 feet of the 35 feet drop. Just before I got to this path, at the top, I decided to take my camera out, but when I pulled it out of the bag, it pulled out my 70-200mm/F4L lens shade which went tumbling down into the "ravine". Argh. I figured that it would be expensive to replace, so after taking this picture, I walked around the three sides of the ravine to see if there was any way I could get down there besides getting a boat (the fourth side is the river). Finally, I was about to leave and decided to try to descend the steep area by the end of the path. The ground is mostly shale making it difficult to descend but I made it. Then I saw that the lens shade was on a small "sand-bar" out between the interface of the falls and the Mohawk river, so I had to take my sneakers off and wade through the pretty cold water to get it. But after bouncing and tumbling down 35 feet of shale, it was ok!
Now I was finally at the bottom (always wanted to go down there). I took some pictures, but I was worried about getting back up so I didn't spend too much time there. And unfortunately, from the bottom, you really can't get a good view of the falls except straight on, and then it deemphasizes how tall they are. (Maybe next time I should try wading towards the falls.)
Anyway, I thought it was funny/ironic afterwards that I finally ended up going down there -- but only because of my stupid lens shade and my own stupidity that I was willing to risk slipping and hurting myself for the $35 or so it would cost to replace. And in the end, I didn't get a good shot for the Calendar challenge.
So after that tirade, please let me know what you think of this one. Should I have submitted it? What do you think it would have scored on average?
Message edited by author 2004-11-10 09:36:49. |
