Trip to the Wilderness

Pennsylvania’s “Grand Canyon”

The “Grand Canyon” of Pennsylvania is in the north-central part of the state. It’s cut by the Pine Creek, which flows into the Susquehanna River, and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay. It’s a beautiful area and there is a sense of wilderness here.

The Otter Overlook at the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.

Discarded Nest — A discarded bird's nest.

Hiking down into the gorge reveals a handful of waterfalls. I wanted to capture these with some time exposure to create the white, wispy falls, and luckily it was dark enough here to go filterless. I did use a tripod, though.

The close-up photo is not as sharp as I’d like, but it shows the human scale. This is a cropped version of the original—I only had my 10–24mm lens.

Waterfall along Turkey Trail — Waterfall along the Turkey Trail path in the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.

Turkey Path Trail Waterfall — One of a series of waterfalls along the Turkey Path Trail in central Pennsylvania.

Letchworth State Park, New York

Letchworth is a narrow park along a gorge created by the Genesee River. It’s in western New York, not too far from Buffalo. There are three spectacular waterfalls, the Upper, Middle, and Lower, each pictured here.

The Upper Falls are framed by the canyon and the railroad bridge that passes above it. The spray from the falls was something I wanted to capture and, because it’s a cloudy day, the light worked in my favor for a shorter exposure.

The Middle Falls is a 6-second exposure, so I needed the ND filter to stop down the light. I muted the colors a bit too—the river was pretty muddy from the rain the night before.

The Lower Falls spills sideways off the ledge. Here, I wanted to emphasize the water and deemphasize the walls, so I converted to grayscale and worked on adjusting the contrast to emphasize the motion of the water.

Letchworth State Park upper falls — The Upper Falls in Letchworth State Park in western New York. The river was pretty muddy because of a heavy rain last night. The railroad bridge frames this scene nicely.

Letchworth State Park middle falls — The Middle Falls in Letchworth State Park.

The Lower Falls in Letchworth State Park in western New York. The Genesee River winds through this canyon and there are a number of falls.

Adirondack State Park, New York

Our perennial camp—the place we return to most often. Adirondack Park is the largest park in the lower 48 states and twice the size of Yellowstone, so it’s easy to find wilderness there, despite there being towns within the park. We camp on a lake roughy in the middle of the park, where the nearest town is about 15 minutes away by car.

In these shots, I was trying to capture the fog over the lake at dusk. These are all tripod photos. The exposures range from a fraction of a second to 25-seconds.

The starry sky photo is a two-minute exposure. This is looking toward Scorpius and Sagittarius, and the band of the Milky Way is readily apparent. The Milky Way is so bright here because we’re looking toward the center of the galaxy. The brightest object in the sky is Jupiter.

Dusk on Lewey Lake — A long exposure of dusk on Lewey Lake.

Long exposure of fog on Lewey Lake — A long exposure of fog on Lewey Lake after a rainstorm.

Stars at Lewey lake — The Milky Way and night sky over Lewey Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. The brightest object in the sky is Jupiter.

Post storm sunset — Sunset after a rainstorm at Lewey Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. It was challening to capture the fog on the lake in in the trees.