One of my favorite old film images is of a colorful winter sunrise at an iconic arch in Utah. This was taken so long ago that one could show up on a cold winter morning before dawn and be pretty assured of solitude...no worries about sharing prime tripod locations. But a common reaction when people see the image for the first time is "Wow you got lucky with that one!" In a way they're correct.....but the fine print is that this was my fourth trip to this spot: rising at 3 am for a long drive and hike in the dark; the previous three mornings proving either too cloudy or too windy.
So my thesis is that good outdoor photography is about 1/3 a good eye and about 2/3 perseverance. A recent case in point is this black and white waterfall image taken at Hickory Canyon in southeast Missouri. Waterfalls in this region are mostly 'seasonal,' meaning that they only have water for a relatively short time after a substantial rainfall. Arrive too early and it's still raining....arrive too late and the water has already receded.
This was my 3rd or 4th trip to this location over the past couple of years. Once I drove up and hiked in.....and it never quit pouring. Once I arrived after a night of thunder and lightning to find almost no water in the falls.....apparently the rain had managed to tiptoe around the small watershed. Another time there was water but too much wind, so I packed up knowing that all my time exposures would show distractingly blurred vegetation.
Finally last month I looked at the radar and decided, with a sense of dread, to make the long drive once again. But this time conditions were almost perfect: I arrived just as the rain was moving out, but there was still a light overcast and very light winds. After shooting for about an hour, the sun came out and the wind picked up....and I headed home with my 'lucky' shot!
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