Skip to main content

Multnomah Falls - Thanksgiving Day 2010


Tuesday - below freezing - have to work
Wednesday - below freezing - have to work
Thursday - first day I don't have to work - not freezing...
...but managed to catch a little bit of ice accenting the falls on Thanksgiving morning.



The trail up to the bridge was closed by a gate. A sign on the gate threatened a three hundred dollar fine for trespassing.



Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announced Wednesday that he would vote against the White House's recent tax cuts deal.




So I did what I could from the viewing area, trying hard to come up with some unique perspective of this often photographed gorge icon.


Beneath the roar of the falling water, you could hear the vibration of heavy things letting go.


The wood in the splash pool grows a thick coat of ice on the side facing the falls. This image quickly encapsulates what happens to things that face the falls in sub-freezing temperatures...say a camera lens for instance.


I like the naked little tree thing in the left lower quarter. It would make a great Christmas tree for the Peanuts gang.


Edge of the cascade, framed in ice.


Flowing water carves away the encroaching ice.


Briefly, the icicles advance, appearing like a mouth full of Tyrannosaur teeth.


The ice does not prevail in this preliminary skirmish.


The temperature gradient sharpens at the interface between air and water.


Ice garden.


Flags pointing toward the splash pool.


This might be what the surface of Uranus looks like, if Uranus is really cold.

Comments

  1. Mr. Dietz - Very cool. Were the first 3 using the high dynamic range plug-in? They look surreal. Or is that effect created by a long exposure?

    I remember going up once to photograph the ice on the falls and having the battery die in my SLR in about a half hour. It was a very long cold snap and the falls were almost frozen solid.

    My fav was the third one down with the closer up view of the lower falls and bridge. Nicely done.

    ST

    ReplyDelete
  2. ST,

    To some degree, I adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness and saturation as part of a post processing routine for images that I post to this blog. However, I think the surreal effect in this case, especially in the first two images is a result of taking the image at about the time the natural light from the dawn was beginning to balance the artificial light from the viewing area lamp-posts. This, in my opinion, is what causes the warmer reddish tint in the lower splash chamber and which contrasts with the colder blue evident beyond the bridge.

    If memory serves, the first two images had exposure times close to 30 seconds apiece.

    Also, it should be noted that the pictures of Uranus are really from the vicinity of Latourell Falls.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can't believe that some knowledgeable photographer guy makes a serious and complimentary comment and you use it to draw attention to Uranus again....try this.....next time someone identifies their favorite picture you should go back and repace that picture with one of Barney Frank licking a popsickle or maybe 2 dogs humping.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Test Paddling the Thresher 140

Wilderness Systems has broadened their sit-on-top offerings this year with the introduction of the Thresher (this includes a 14 and 15.5 foot version). The Thresher seems designed to bridge a gap between overly stable, relatively slow fishing platforms and sleeker more touring-orientated craft, all for the sake of fisher-people who need to cover significant distances to reach their intended fishing locales, whether that's in the middle of a huge bay or out beyond the breakers in the open sea The characteristics that make this boat a good fishing option, should also make it a killer expedition photography platform/beer barge. I knew my test trials wouldn't be complete until I auditioned this state of the art bid for kayak fishing supremacy. The Thresher 140 I've probably been remiss for not highlighting this before, but the reason I've been able to rent and evaluate various sit-on-top kayaks is because of the reasonable and renter friendly policies of the ...

Miller Island Expedition: Columbia River Ghost Cult

My brother Fred sent me a checklist of things he didn’t want to forget for our second attempt at a Miller Island Expedition. Foil pans Steak Beer or whiskey/tequila Bacon Shovel TP Bug spray Homebrew Ghost repellents Scouting Miller Island from the Lewis and Clark Highway (Washington side of river) “Ghost repellents?” I asked. Well, it turns out that Fred had been doing some research and found an old article from American Anthropologist by Wm. Duncan Strong called The Occurrence and Wider Implications of a “Ghost Cult” on the Columbia River Suggested by Carvings in Wood, Bone and Stone. The article, written in 1945, revealed that bone carvings depicting figures with prominent rib cages, a symbol of death, were found in old cremation pits on Miller’s Island. Excerpts from the article: “It can be shown that among these peoples there was an old belief in the impending destruction and renewal of the world, when the dead would return…” “One of the most striking fea...

John Day River: Thirty Mile Creek to Cottonwood Bridge

"Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse;" -Romans 1:20 "I'm not so sure about that, but whether or not we all make it through these rapids alive, I'm confident the grading criteria will be fair." -  Scott "Get ready to explore your world without boundaries." -  Wilderness Systems Owners Manual Sunrise found us on the outskirts of Wasco, high on the Columbia Plateau, our 3 vehicle convoy speeding through golden fields of wheat on toward Condon and then West to a 7:30 AM meeting with a rancher who would provide us a private launch site to the John Day river and also execute our car shuttle.   Startling verdant fields, free of the vestiges of irrigation, belied narratives of drought that punctuated the news. The fresh born morning, still cool to the senses, felt like the fledgling hours of a...