Wall of Water

This is the fabulous Burney Falls in northern California. It's one of

the most spectacular waterfalls for hundreds of miles, and, as such,

it often has many visitors and has been photographed quite a bit.

Therefore, I waited until the park closed, and then asked one of the

rangers if I could pretty-please stay a bit late to shoot some

photos. He was very generous and said it was ok as long as I wasn't

there too late. The result of his generousity was me having the

entire falls all to myself. However, due to the late hour, it was

quickly becoming very dark. I brought a small flashlight which proved

to be a lifesaver. By the time I left the falls, it was pitch black.

The vast majority of photos of the falls are in front of the falls

looking straight at them, so I decided to go for a more original

composition. I climbed about 30 feet up on the left side. It was

quite grueling. The climb was pretty steep, so much so that I had to

use all fours to make it. I had on a backpack with about 20 lbs. of

gear, my flashlight in my mouth, and one of my hands was holding my

tripod and using it as a crude walking stick. As if that wasn't

enough, all the rocks were very slippery from non-stop spray from the

falls.

But, in the end it was all worth it. I came away with a composition

of the falls that I've never seen before. The vegetation in the lower

left corner is only about three feet from my lens. I used a 16mm lens

at f/16 so that the hyperfocal distance was less than two feet. The

result is a shot that is in sharp focus throughout. Normally, I'd use

about a 1 second shutter speed to achieve a nice motion blur on the

water. But, because it was so dark, I had to use a 30 shutter speed

combined with a 200 ISO.

This shot could've gotten me killed. Would I do it again? Hell yes I

would. And to the ranger: THANK YOU, wherever you are!

And, thank YOU for your comments.

Beautiful! Well worth your efforts... Mike