I made my first trip back to Watkins Glen State Park since the lower portion of the gorge trail, arguably the most epic part, was reopened after the completion of the new Sentry Bridge. The old bridge had fallen into disrepair and become unsafe. I am glad that it was repaired so we can continue to enjoy this park. The only thing I will say about the new bridge itself is that most people who are long term fans and locals dislike the bridge because it is so out of step with the ascetics of the natural beauty that is Watkins Glen State Park. The bridge is all metal where before it was stone. They did at least make some nice finishing touches with wooden railings, which look nice but are going to be splintery very soon. And they “upgraded” the railings in the cave to a cool looking wooden linked format that I cannot accurately describe, but also suspect will require more main entrance than it was worth to make that particular design choice. IE more splinters.

I was surprised that it being mid week and mis fall the park was so busy. Not packed but also not as empty as I was hoping for as a landscape photographer. But when you get lemons make lemonade as they say. So I try to play around with long exposures of people posing with the waterfalls.

I was really surprised how much the fall change had already occurred in the gorge. I don’t know if it is due the the fact that it is often colder in the gorge. Or due to the decreased sunlight compared to other areas. OR just the micro environment that is a gorge.

There were so many leaves already coating the valley. Many trees already completely bereft of leaves. I was hoping to see bright fall colored but much of it had already turned to dull orange and brown.

However, the uniqueness of the gorge is only enhanced by the coverage of leaves. And it is something that can only be experienced and photographed this time of year.

I came hoping to see lots of leaves slowly falling into the gorge and washing down the flow of water. I wanted to capture leaves in long exposures traversing the gorge. But, in many places there were large clumps of leaves creating bottlenecks where the stone carved out be the water narrowed, This was preventing the leaves from flowing freely through the gorge to create the kinds of images that I was chasing.

I did find a few places that had just the right amount of leaves caught up in eddies circling around in the flow of water. I love waterfalls and slowly moving clusters off leaves. Capturing these things in long exposures are one of the few times I feel a kinship with more abstract artists.

Abstract art is not something I typically gravitate to,but. When the abstraction is created by the combination of nature, light, and time it just clicks for my sensitivity and what I appreciate in the world and in art.

There also seemed to be a lot more trees that had broken and fallen into the gorge than I remembered on my last visit. I am not sure if there had been more unusually strong storms in the area or if there was a tree die off for some reason. I know that in early September there was a pretty severe thunderstorm that I was “fortunate” enough to witness in the area. I wonder if that caused some of these downed trees I found in the gorge.

I like how this above image captures two aspects of what I have noted about the gorge today. You can see the leading edge on the left of a big pile up of leaves that are clogging the water’s surface and causing all the leaves to bunch up. And then on the right you can see more leaves enter the area and slowly stir around on the current of water. This photo was taken with a 30 second shutter speed. It is interesting to me how the surface off the water can appear to be calm and hardly moving. The leaves seem to be static. But underneath the water is continue int to flow. Never ceasing. But somehow that flow does not cary away the leaves. I need a scientist to explain this artifact to me.

I tried something different at the Cavern Cascade waterfall. It was after sunset and the only light illuminating it was from the light in the cavern behind me. And foot traffic was low. So a good time to try a long exposure vertical panoramic photo right? I photographed the upper portion of the falls. Then I photographed the lower portion of the falls into the bottom of the gorge. I stitched them together using Lightroom for this elongated vertical image. I can’t tell if it is distorted or just feels distorted because it si such an unusual view and lighting. Especially since the upper portion of the waterfall and the lower portion of the waterfall have very different light qualities due to the light emanating from the cave, but also being blocked from reaching the upper and lower portions of the fall by said cave. It seems most notable on the lower potion of the falls which is really in almost complete darkness and only emerges into view due to the 30 second exposure.

The above image turned out quite interesting. I was taking a long exposure of the waterfall from the opposite direction of the last image. Facing the cave rather than from inside the cave. And some other waterfall lovers walked out of the cave using their phones to illuminate the way as it was after sunset. And then they stopped to take a few photos using their phones flash. The people themselves are rendered invisible due to the long exposure, but the light from their phones remain.

I was glad to get back to the park. It was an uplift that my spirits really needed.

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