This spring, I was on a waterfall tour through the Columbia River Gorge area in Oregon. I hadn’t previously been to this waterfall, so I was pretty excited to get on the trail. The trail had taken quite a beating from the winter weather in the Gorge and was rough going into the canyon. I made it down into the canyon and was greeted with heavy blowing mist coming off the waterfall.
I looked for compositions where I could try to shield my camera from the constant mist, but nothing was working. I ventured across the creek via an old bridge. This effort ended up being kind of treacherous with the mossy, wet and slick wooden bridge. I wasn’t able to get further than just across the bridge, so I very carefully made my way back. I was determined not to end up face-first in the creek and even more determined to keep my camera as dry as possible.
However, I realized I wanted to get a composition looking up from the creek. Very carefully, with my back to the falls and under the cover of my jacket, I changed lenses. I was so close to a very tall waterfall, so I knew I would need a wide-angle lens. I chose my 14mm lens after checking some of the options with the camera on my phone.
I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to arrange my tripod in the creek. I wanted to make sure the tripod was stable and my camera had a good view. The biggest saving grace in this moment was that my camera has an articulating LCD screen. Without this ability to articulate, I would have needed to stand in 3 feet of rushing water and on slick rocks, which would have made it impossible. I grabbed my microcloth, cleaned the drops off the lens and pressed the shutter button. I repeated this a few times until I was happy with the photo.
