Slickrock and Shadow

Watkins Glen:  classic view of falling water, bridge and pools Watkins Glen is both a town in the Finger Lakes region of New York as well as a state park.  Among photographers it is most famous for the view pictured above:  the bridge, stone stairs clinging to a cliff while water is falling all around is surreal.  To me it felt like I had entered Rivendell from Lord of the Rings.  During my trip to New York, I went to this location twice.  I went in the afternoon with my family.  During that trip, several hikers were always to be seen in front of and behind us.  I wouldn't call it crowded but it was not empty. That same day, early in the morning I came here alone at the time of sunrise and saw two people total during my entire hike from the top of the gorge to the bottom and then back up.  I really had the whole place to myself and was delighted to discover waterfall after waterfall all the while walking on a perfectly maintained stone...

Cavern Cascade in Watkins Glen State Park I wanted to photograph Cavern Cascade from behind from the moment I walked underneath the falls.  This is such an exciting experience to have, I hoped to capture the feeling of being there.  My camera lens is simply not wide enough to capture the path coming down on the left, passing behind the waterfall and then continuing on to the right and then down into the light of the canyon.  I took the photograph by standing behind the waterfall and, using a tripod, took many photos in nearly every direction. Immediately I thought of stitching multiple photos together.  Adobe Lightroom make this a much easier process.  I shot more than 20 frame in a portrait orientation at different exposures to allow for the darkest shadows and the brightest rays of morning light.  Then I walked away with hope of salvation in the digital darkroom.  Back home, Lightroom (LR) could not stitch it together.  Some images a...