Little Manitou Falls....

 

The Black River rushes over Little Manitou Falls a day after a couple of inches of rain fell. I love this falls and go back to it again and again.

 

 

 

I used an eight stop ND filter to allow for the slower shutter speeds necessary for this exposure.

 

 

 

With the volume of water going over the falls it was a struggle to keep the lens dry.

 

 

 

It was a study in perseverance and patience. Keep the lens covered, wait for the sun to come out from behind the clouds, make an exposure or two, and then wipe the lens dry.

 

 

 

Recompose, focus, and repeat.

 

 

 

I deleted almost as many images as I kept, due to water drops obscuring the photos.

 

 

 

In the end I spent a couple of hours photographing the falls before the sun moved lower and it fell into shadow. Pattison State Park is a favorite destination on any day with a little sun.











It Rained and Rained and Rained ...

And rained up to ten inches in Duluth Minnesota on Tuesday and Wednesday June 20th. Pattison State Park is located about twenty miles south of Duluth in the state of Wisconsin. On Thursday my dad and I drove to Pattison State Park where the Black River plunges over the Little Manitou Falls.

The river was roaring as is leaped over the falls.

I spent a couple of hours at the base of the falls waiting for good light and trying to make interesting compositions. The water washed over my feet and pushed at the legs of my tripod. All the while the falls thundered and large bubbles were formed in the pool in front of me and whipped into the air by an intermittent wind.

The sun stayed mostly behind billowing clouds so it was catch as catch can. I shot when the sun was out and found a rainbow just before I lost the light for the afternoon. I only had enough time to create four or five images with the rainbow at the base of the falls and it was over.

The volume of water rushing downstream and crashing over the rocks at the brink of Little Manitou Falls created a pulsing that I could feel and hear. For a little while I was alone in my happy place.