A Great Falls Surise
I’ve always struggled with photography in the winter. Sometimes the days bring an unending dreariness that makes the desire to capture the landscape pointless. I’ve often struggled with letting go of the large, dramatic landscape in search of the essence of the place.
With the chance of fog, I’ve always found it provides a serenity and focus to my process. I look for different views. I find different places. I find things that don’t exist under a beautiful blue sky.
Great Falls National Park is one of those places that is rife with beautiful compositions. The falls offer numerous view points while the rushing waters add to the peacefulness of the foggy morning, drowning out all other sounds. Arriving just as the gates open gives you the most peaceful version of the place. So few others venture out to be at a place like this on a day most would consider pretty bleak that you are left with nothing but the noise of the falls and the calls of the migrating Geese overhead.
These foggy mornings allow you to feel like you’re back in time. You can’t see the signs of life around you. There are no airplanes flying overhead. No sounds of our current existence. You feel as though a man in a canoe will come around a bend in the river, lifting his tricorne in greeting to you.
Great Falls Park is yet another of those beautiful symbols of what we need to protect. In an increasingly urban environment, it gives us the opportunity for escape. It lifts us away from our everyday and takes us to another place. Giving us the opportunity to change our focus and search for something new.
