Landscape photography is often portrayed as a calm and dignified pursuit. A photographer quietly arrives at a beautiful location, carefully composes the scene, presses the shutter and returns home with a masterpiece.
This is complete nonsense.
The reality usually involves scrambling over slippery rocks, negotiating with gravity and making increasingly questionable decisions in the name of "just a slightly better composition."
These two photographs are a perfect example.
From the bank, the waterfall looked good. But good is the enemy of photographers. We always want better. Better foreground. Better angle. Better leading lines. Better reflection. Better chance of falling into cold water.
So into the river I went.
The camera and tripod slowly edged their way into position while I performed what can only be described as an interpretive dance across submerged rocks. Each step was accompanied by the reassuring thought, "These wellies are waterproof."
A statement which remained true right up until the moment they weren't.
One misplaced step later and I discovered that wellies are indeed waterproof from the outside. From the top, however, they are remarkably welcoming to large quantities of water.
Within seconds I was standing in what felt like two portable aquariums.
The photographs were worth it though. The first image shows the reality of the situation, camera perched precariously in the river while I tried not to become part of the waterfall. The second is the reward for the effort, revealing the detail, movement and shape of the cascade from the position that could only be reached by sacrificing dry socks.
Photography is all about finding interesting subjects. Sometimes that means travelling for hours, studying maps and chasing the light.
Sometimes it just means filling your wellies with half a river.
📷 Result: Two photographs.
💧 Cost: One pair of flooded wellies.
😄 Lesson learned: Waterproof and wellyproof are apparently not the same thing.
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