Seljalandsfoss

You can see this from miles off. The sense of scale is deceptive. It looks very large in the distance, yet takes about another 20 minutes to arrive. I made the left-hand turn off Route 1, and eventually pulled into the parking lot. Famished yet eager, I slathered peanut butter on bread and called it a late lunch. There were tourists swarming around a large tour-bus, gearing up for a round of photos. I noticed some had rain-gear no doubt useful for the hike around and behind the falls. Wish I'd thought of that...

Somewhat self-consciously, I pulled out the 4x5, back-pack and tripod. The approach from the parking lot to the falls is about the length of a footall field. I meandered over to the right where a steep grassy incline forms a nice geometric triangle. I thought this might be useful compositionally. I set up the camera. Immediately, several French retirees came over and asked about my camera in broken English, "What sort of system (seestehm)?" I politely explained the ways of my madness until they were either bored or satisfied. At any rate, they moved on...right into my photograph. I spent about one hour either trying to find the right composition, finding it and rejecting it for reasons that satisfy only the odd logic of a masochistic artist (I mean...this waterfall is beautiful...do I really feel there's no decent vantage point?!).

I then decided that the light was too harsh, so I put the camera back in the car and walked around instead. To the left of this falls are several smaller cascades landing further up the wall. I followed one of several improvised paths up the incredibly vertical incline to get up. Falling really not being an option at this point...I decided that this would be one of those cameraless moments. While climbing down, I noticed that a dramatic cloud was approaching...and went for the camera again. I then spent the next two hours trying to get some kind of composition to work. I felt like a chess-piece jumping all over the board...my muse had me check-mated back at the peanut butter sandwich. At one point I thought I had something nice...at least it had a cheesy rainbow. But alas that was temporary, disapearing as soon as I pulled the dark slide. Frustrated, I decided to pack it up...then I saw a few things that ended up being okay.

	Seljalandsfoss You can see this from miles off. The sense of scale is deceptive. It looks very large in the distance, yet takes about another 20 minutes to arrive. I made the left-hand turn off Route 1, and eventually pulled into the parking lot. Famished yet eager, I slathered peanut butter on bread and called it a late lunch. There were tourists swarming around a large tour-bus, gearing up for a round of photos. I noticed some had rain-gear no doubt useful for the hike around and behind the falls. Wish I'd thought of that... Somewhat self-consciously, I pulled out the 4x5, back-pack and tripod. The approach from the parking lot to the falls is about the length of a footall field. I meandered over to the right where a steep grassy incline forms a nice geometric triangle. I thought this might be useful compositionally. I set up the camera. Immediately, several French retirees came over and asked about my camera in broken English, "What sort of system (seestehm)?" I politely explained the ways of my madness until they were either bored or satisfied. At any rate, they moved on...right into my photograph. I spent about one hour either trying to find the right composition, finding it and rejecting it for reasons that satisfy only the odd logic of a masochistic artist (I mean...this waterfall is beautiful...do I really feel there's no decent vantage point?!). I then decided that the light was too harsh, so I put the camera back in the car and walked around instead. To the left of this falls are several smaller cascades landing further up the wall. I followed one of several improvised paths up the incredibly vertical incline to get up. Falling really not being an option at this point...I decided that this would be one of those cameraless moments. While climbing down, I noticed that a dramatic cloud was approaching...and went for the camera again. I then spent the next two hours trying to get some kind of composition to work. I felt like a chess-piece jumping all over the board...my muse had me check-mated back at the peanut butter sandwich. At one point I thought I had something nice...at least it had a cheesy rainbow. But alas that was temporary, disapearing as soon as I pulled the dark slide. Frustrated, I decided to pack it up...then I saw a few things that ended up being okay.