Creating the image… Westport Beach, Northern California.
I’ve long been fascinated with waterfalls, it was the first photographic subject that I wanted to master, I must have shot thousands of images just to find the right shutter speed for the amount of water. This image was shot near Westport on the Northern California coast aka as the Mendocino coast, the coastal areas are truly stunning in this region, if you want to create evocatively moody images, with rain, fog, king tides, black sand beaches, big waves and very few people this is the place to create.
On this particular day, we’d just had a good storm on the coast, leading to some significant water runoff, walking along the headlands I heard the sound of cascading water, finding a very small gully with water flowing down onto the beach. Without hesitation I carefully made my way down a narrow slippery trail onto the beach with my gear, once down on the beach staying close to the cliff and making a wide circle, so as not to have footprints in the shot, I found my composition, planted my tripod and started thinking about shutter speed etc. The light was stunning, beautiful fog blanketed the headlands and the waves were small enough to add another dramatic layer to the image. I decided that there were sufficiently strong shapes in the image so I could let the Ocean waves and the waterfall blur yet maintain some texture. Compositionally, the only concern I had was the having too much negative space on the left side of the image, what I do like however is the sweeping shapes of the cliffs and the fog and water wandering around them. Ultimately, I think the image showcases the raw beauty of the area.
Gear: Canon 5D MkII Canon 24-105 lens, 6 stop Lee ND filter, shutter release, Tripod.
Processing: Photoshop, brought the shadows up on the rocks and that’s it. Part of the creative process for me is to do as much in camera at the time of capture rather than rely on Photoshop.