Posts Tagged ‘waterfalls’
Fall Maple foliage and the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park
in Vancouver, British Columiba, Canada
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Another one of the photographs I made in October at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I liked the look of this waterfall (enough water, but not too much) along with the fallen leaves and some Fall foliage in the Japanese Maples hanging over the pathway.
More of my photography from Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Park can be found in my Garden Photos Gallery.
Tags: acer japonica, british columbia, fall, fall color, fall foliage, japanese maple, maples, parks, path, pathway, queen elizabeth park, trail, vancouver, water, waterfalls
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Englishman River Falls
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Englishman River Falls in Englishman River Falls Provincial Park near Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
My trip to Vancouver Island was successful in many ways. I not only discovered some great Provincial Parks to explore, I managed some photos of these places that I quite like. I was also pretty lucky with the weather. The 3 photos here are all from Englishman River Falls Provincial Park. I should point out this park differs quite a bit from Englishman River Regional Park if someone uhm, confused the signs on the way in. Not that I would do this of course.
Lower Englishman
River Falls
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The first photo here shows the main Englishman River Falls. This is a much different sort of waterfall from what I am used to seeing. The drop from top to bottom is approximately 100 feet (31 meters) but this is pretty hard to tell from the bridge vantage point. The Falls flows into the side of a slot canyon (only about 10 feet wide), not directly in the end of it. The sideways slant to this falls makes it a bit difficult to photograph as well as determine exactly how deep the canyon is.
The second photo here shows the Lower Englishman River Falls. Not quite what I was expecting, but there were some nice fall leaves above the falls and some interesting swirling patterns made by the bubbles in the water. During higher water levels the lower falls flows over top of the rock you see here which probably makes it a big more exciting, and look a bit more like a waterfall from this perspective.
Symmetrical Grove
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The last photo here is one just outside of the parking lot. I would be surprised if these were a natural occurrence, but I still liked the symmetry of these tree trunks. Not sure what species of tree this is, however.
I hope to go back to photograph this park in the Spring!
Tags: acer macrophyllum, bigleaf maple, british columbia, englishman river, englishman river falls, englishman river falls provincial park, fall color, lower englishman river falls, vancouver island, waterfalls
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Little Qualicum Falls
-click to enlarge-
A few weeks ago I made a weekend trip to Vancouver Island in British Columbia Canada. One of the parks on my list to visit was Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park – and it did not disappoint. The main falls (top photo) – officially named Little Qualicum Falls is certainly much more spectacular than the Lower Falls (bottom) but both are nice.
Little Qualicum River
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I had initially thought that the best Fall colours might have already faded on Vancouver Island – at least judging from what I’d been seeing around Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. The colours turned out to be perfect. There wasn’t much in the way of Vine Maple colour, but the Bigleaf Maples (Acer macrophyllum) had great colour – yellow and even some orange. It didn’t look like any of them had turned slightly then gone straight to brown which was common this year in some places.
I was also extremely fortunate with the weather. The entire weekend was forecast for rain, at times heavy. In the three Provincial Parks that I visited there was absolutely no rain. All the plastic bags and camera/lens coverings I had prepared were not necessary. While I’d intended on photographing mostly rivers and waterfalls – great subjects in the rain, I was still happy to not have to deal with the possibility of wet equipment and clothing.
Lower Little Qualicum Falls
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More photos from Vancouver Island coming soon!
Tags: acer macryphyllum, bigleaf maples, fall, fall color, little qualicum falls provincial park, little qualicum river, lower little qualicum falls, maples, nanaimo regional district, provincial parks, rivers, waterfalls
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Hiker at Silver Falls
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Both of these photos were made at Silver Falls on the Ohanapecosh River in Mount Rainier National Park this past August.
Over the years I have often avoided having people in any of my photos. After all – I am usually there to photograph nature, not a bunch of people! Often in busy locations there was some waiting while the other visitors walked out of my composition. Now, however, I tend to include those people in a photograph for a few reasons (and then photograph it again when they’ve left). First, I may potentially like the composition more with the people than without later when I edit my photos. Secondly, certain locations don’t show the scale of the scene very well, and including people can give the view a better sense of overall size.
Silver Falls
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I had viewed other photographer’s photos of Silver Falls before my late Summer trip to Mount Rainier, but really didn’t understand how large the falls actually was. The vertical photo at the top of this post is not only more interesting because of the hiker standing there looking at the Falls, his presence helps show you how large the rocks and surrounding area really are. I am not sure that could be accomplished without him in the composition. The second photo here I like a lot – but I do think the scale could be shown a bit better had that hiker still been there!
In my previous post I showed a few images of people enjoying the wildflowers at Tipsoo Lake (also in Mount Rainier National Park) – and I think the people there help the photos a lot as well, though for different reasons than above.
Tags: hikers, mount rainier national park, ohanapecosh, ohanapecosh river, pacific northwest, people, rivers, silver falls, washington state, waterfalls
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Narada Falls
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A few weeks ago I visited Mount Rainier National Park in the hopes of viewing a full display of wildflowers at the Paradise area of the Park. Unfortunately, this was not to be as clouds obscured the mountain from the Paradise side and most of the Tatoosh Range for the duration of my stay. However, I did come away with many photographs I am quite happy with. As is the case with many of my visits to the park, the weather has changed my plans – but as always there are all manner of great things to photograph near Rainier. I was fortunate to be at Rainier during the same time as photographers Rob Tilley and Gary Hamburgh. After we met up at Paradise we decided that a trip to Narada Falls would be better than dealing with the clouds at Paradise.
Narada Falls
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I have always found the short walk down to Narada Falls to be worth it regardless of the weather. I don’t always photograph there but I found the lower water levels of a few weeks ago photographically interesting. They also came with much less spray to keep off of my lenses and camera. After trying a successful experiment at Eureka Falls I’ve been using my 70-200mm lens to focus on the details of many waterfalls I have encountered. I still enjoying the overall view of a waterfall, but sometimes cutting out the extraneous details can be a more visually pleasing photograph.
Tags: mount rainier national park, narada falls, paradise river, washington state, waterfalls
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Christine Falls Triptych
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When I originally made these series of photographs in Mount Rainier National Park I had intended to stitch them into a vertical panorama. I have tried a few of these before but find that displaying them on the web is not easy. You also need to pick very special subject matter to make them interesting – in my opinion even more so than a horizontal, more traditional panorama. While stitching this vertical together last night I decided it really didn’t work for me – so I thought of making 3 of the images I shot into a triptych. I haven’t done this before, but I think it works well with these 3 images.
Apparently this sort of thing is popular enough for a few people to have recently asked me if I ever do this with images – which is what gave me this idea in the first place. Do you think I was successful with this attempt? Do you ever shoot images specifically for this sort of presentation?
Tags: christine falls, mount rainier national park, triptych, waterfalls
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Eureka Falls
-click to enlarge-
This is a close up shot of Eureka Falls just outside Silver Lake Provincial Park near Hope, BC. A bit wider take on the panorama I posted earlier. These falls are pretty easy to get to – they are right on the side of the road. Unfortunately, (as you can see in my shots of this area last year) Silverhope Creek runs between the road and Eureka Falls. At this time of year the river is really roaring (or I presume, as I’ve not seen it any other time of year) and I have not been willing to go down the bank near it. The river is running fast enough, and the rocks large enough, that being swept away would mean I would not be coming back to this spot. I do hope to return later in the Summer or maybe Fall to see if the water levels are lower and the bank more accessible so I can get some different angles on the falls themselves. I am also hoping that Eureka Falls is not a seasonal waterfall and actually exists with lower water levels.
Tags: british columbia, canada, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, closeup, detailed, eureka falls, hope, waterfalls
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Eureka Falls (click for larger version)
Last May I traveled back from Kelowna through Manning Provincial Park. In Manning I was driving mostly through a rainstorm but it cleared just as I came down the mountains into Hope, BC. I decided to check out Silver Lake Provincial Park and shot some really nice post storm photos of Silver Lake itself. I spent much more time photographing Silver Creek though. Last winter did not produce much of a snow pack (remember the Olympics having troubles with snow on Cypress Mountain?) but 2011 has been very different. Consequently there is much more water in the creek this year – which I should probably have expected ahead of time considering how much snow still shows in the mountains.
Last night I ventured out into this area again – this “panorama” of Eureka Falls is so far my favourite of the bunch, though my judgement is always questionable this soon after a shot is taken.
What do you think? Does this shot work for you?
Tags: british columbia, details, eureka falls, fraser valley, hope, panorama, silverhope creek, stitched, waterfalls
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Bridal Veil Falls, Chilliwack, BC.
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I have always liked Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park. My parents used to take me there when I was a kid sometimes when we would venture this far out into the Fraser Valley. I remember the hike to the falls being the longest most arduous journey ever. Now it takes me about 6 minutes – though the sign says be prepared for a 15 minute hike. I don’t know who those people are, but I guess if you had to take it slow it could take that long.
On this particular day I was heading out to Hope, BC and planning on driving back through Harrison Mills on Highway 7. I stopped at the falls because the overcast sky was much better for photographing here than the direct sunlight I am used to finding in this location. So I setup and shot a few of the lower falls, very minor, waterfalls along Bridal Creek before heading up to the main Bridal Veil Falls waterfall. As soon as I arrived the skies opened up with a solid rain so this shot here is one of the few that did not succumb to the pitfalls of shooting in the rain and the spray from the falls themselves.
Small Falls along Bridal Creek
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You can not see them in this shot but there are a few teenagers further up just beside the falls who, being somewhat drunken from the looks of things, decided that it would be a good idea to start rolling small boulders down the hill towards the viewing platform and another photographer who was shooting from there. Dodging rocks is usually when I decide to call it a day so I will be back next fall, hopefully with a bit better fall colour and nicer weather – and fewer rocks!
Tags: bridal creek, bridal veil falls, bridal veil falls provincial park, chilliwack, hwy 7, popkum, waterfalls
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