Watkins Glen State Park

Originally I was supposed to make a trip to Watkins Glen State Park on May 31st but work got a little crazy and I ended up not taking the day off. I promised myself I would not let the next opportunity pass me by. Checking the weather earlier in the week this Friday was setting itself up to be my next opportunity.

I left early in the morning with the hope of starting my hike up the gorge trail before 7:30am. I beat my goal by five minutes. The day turned into a beautiful sunny day (not the best conditions for waterfall photography) and I knew if I didn’t get my images early the park was going to become crowded. Even though it was a weekday by 10am I was definitely not going to get many images without people in them. I even passed two bus loads of school kids on a field trip.

I grabbed this view of Rainbow Falls on my first pass. I was careful to keep the sky over the bridge to a minimum as it will create a “hot” spot in the image. Although the rains earlier in the week provided more water flow than I typically like to get good long exposure water images, the extra water definitely helped add definition to falls coming down the side of the gorge. I’m going to have to schedule a late fall trip back as I would love to grab this view after the leaves have changed.

Iconic Watkins Glen
Olympus E-M1 Mark II, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 2s, 19mm, f/11, ISO 200