Trekking Past Seneca Falls

Kitchen Creek is nature's master artist, responsible for carving out the majestic gorge that is known as Ricketts Glen. You are looking at a view of... more

by Gene Walls

Title

Trekking Past Seneca Falls

Artist

Gene Walls

Medium

Photograph

Description

Kitchen Creek is nature's master artist, responsible for carving out the majestic gorge that is known as Ricketts Glen. You are looking at a view of Seneca Waterfall, along the Falls Trail on the Ganoga Glen branch of Kitchen Creek. This rugged hiking path is winding its way northward, toward the Highland Trail at the top of the gorge.

This is the most active flow I have ever see here in the summer. This waterfall usually divides into two separate spillways in the bottom section shown here. The rush of water was so strong on this August day, that whitewater spanned the entire width of the falls.

The deep valley and thick canopy of trees limits the amount of direct sunlight that can get through to the forest floor. The natural light that is available in mid summer is filtered through so many tree leaves and pine needles that it has an amazing green glow. Nearly every surface here is also covered with moss. That gives everything along the trail a beautiful, almost mystical, emerald hued halo from Mother Nature's splendid summertime palette.

Ricketts Glen is a large State Park, located in the north eastern region of Pennsylvania, USA. The nearest community to the park is Red Rock, situated at the junction state routes RT-118 and RT-487.

This photo was taken on August 15th, 2009 with a Canon EOS 10D DSLR body, fitted with a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L Zoom lens. The lens was set to its widest focal length of 17mm. The shutter speed was 1/10th sec at f/5.6, ISO100.

This shot was captured a bit differently from most of my waterfall photos. It was taken handheld at a faster shutter speed and a larger aperture than I usually use. I wanted to catch more detail in the motion of the water, to try to show just how fast the whitewater was moving. You might say that this is the exception that proves the rule, as I departed from most of the guidelines that I usually use for this type of shot. (i.e., no tripod, no bubble level, no filters and a short exposure.)

Your comments are always welcome! Constructive criticism is appreciated.

© 2010 Gene Walls

Uploaded

May 4th, 2013