On Saturday I wandered off on another early morning adventure. I made my way to Taughannock Falls State Park on the lower west side of Cayuga Lake. This park has been on my list of must see state parks and I was happy to finally make my way there. I parked the car at the lake end of the park which nestled between route 96 and Cayuga lake along the Taughannock Creek. The 3/4 mile gorge trail takes you right to the signature waterfall. It was a happy coincidence that I didn’t make it to this park until autumn. The colors in the gorge are incredible and only enhanced my images.

The Lower Falls are visible from route 89 along the lake and were a great way to start my exploration. There were numerous locations for different views of the small cascade and true to my water fascination I used them all. There was a way to get down onto the creek bed but I wasn’t positive how frowned upon that would be so I stayed on the path.

The Lower Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/8s, 22mm, f/16, ISO 100

Crisscross Cascade
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 35mm, f/22, ISO 100

Many Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1s, 62mm, f/22, ISO 100

The end of the gorge trail did not disappoint. The 215′ Taughannock Falls was impressive, especially since you can get so close to it. The difficulty in capturing this waterfall, at least in the early morning, was the angle of the sunlight and the amount of shadows. I ended up using a two exposure blend to balance the light.

Taughannock Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1 & 1/4s blend), 21mm, f/18, ISO 100

Not to distract from the beauty of the waterfalls but I truly enjoyed to creek which created the gorge. It took me about 1.5 hours to walk the 3/4 mile trail because there were so many opportunities for me to capture my beloved water images. I’ll have more on those later…