On the Sunday adventure with my daughter we were able to visit two central NY waterfalls on our way home from Syracuse. Chittenango Falls State Park in on route 13 between the towns of Cazenovia and Chittenango. It is a 167′ staircase waterfall on Chittenango creek with plenty of opportunities for photography. The climb down to the bottom can become very interesting, especially if there is a lot of mist in the air.

The image below is from my first visit to the falls last year in late July. This is typically how the falls look in the summer. I have made a few other trips out at various times but this image is still my favorite.

Chittenango Falls
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, (1/10, 0.4, 1.6s bracket), 32mm, f22, ISO 200

The visit on Sunday was almost a bust due to the volume of water flowing in the creek and over the falls. It was an overcast day which normally would have been perfect for photographing waterfalls but there was still too much water creating nothing but a mass of white highlights in any image. Combine that with the mist swirling in the air at the base of the falls and I was out of luck for many images. So I had to get a little creative and do some extra exploring.

There are trails down to the base on both sides of the waterfall. I have never ventured on the side opposite the park and thought it would be nice to explore. On a day when there wasn’t as much water already on the ground my idea would have been OK, but the slippery path made for a very interesting climb down. This first image is from top of the falls looking downstream over the gorge.

Taking the Plunge
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 46mm, f/11, ISO 100

In these next two images I was trying to capture a sense of the volume of water flowing down the staircase. We had to shout to each other just to communicate. The noise of the water falling being amplified by the walls of the gorge. You can see some people at the top lookout area in the second image. I wanted to give a little perspective as to the size of the falls.

Massive
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 46mm, f/8, ISO 100

Turbulence Running
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 35mm, f/8, ISO 100

At the base of the falls there is a bridge over the creek which connects the two trails so you can effectively circle the falls. It is a great location to setup your camera to capture the water flowing over staircase rocks. The top image was taken just to the right of the bridge when looking down from the top. I tried setting up the tripod on Sunday but in seconds the camera was getting wet and mine is not weather sealed. Needless to say, I moved on quickly.

Downstream
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/125s, 46mm, f/8, ISO 100

On the climb back to the park there is a nice overlook about halfway. There were enough trees protecting the area from the breeze that the mist was not going to be a problem. Normally you can capture a great detail image of the top half of the falls. This is all you saw Sunday.

Water Wall
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/40s, 21mm, f/16, ISO 100

The one bright spot in our visit was finding a small tributary falls just off the trail on the climb back to the top. Normally there is no water flowing during the summer months but luckily for me it provided some saving images from our trip. I had to climb off the trail slightly to get to the base of these falls. It was very secluded with no wind moving in the alcove. That allowed me to take my time and gather a few images.

Secluded
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 2s, 21mm, f/22, ISO 100

Little Sister
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 0.5s, 32mm, f/18, ISO 100

This last image is from the creek at the top of the falls. I’m always fascinated by turbulent water and instinctively point the camera at the writhing flow.

Turbulence Running
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/160s, 35mm, f/13, ISO 100

If the rain ever gives us a break or at least returns to some normality I definitely want to return to Chittenango to capture some more normal looking images. Now that I know the trail on the opposite side I’ll be able to find some new angles of the typical looking waterfall flow.