With winter basically upon us in the northeast unique and frozen landscapes arise. I was browsing a fellow photographers blog and came across an image of a frozen waterfall. I was inspired to go out and find some of my own. I also have been wanting to get up to Kaaterskill Falls in Catskill State Park. It is a two tiered falls (totaling 260ft) that is the tallest in NY State. If you’ve ever been to the falls it’s a goddamn tourist heaven in the summer and on weekends. So I chose the best time, worst weather and conditions to go see it. We went on a weekday to lower the amount of people (just us until we headed back) in the lot. The lot only holds maybe 15 cars, but I have seen them line the small road and even a tour bus! Disturbing really. Any how the weather was a challenge within itself. Layering up was the key. It was 25 degrees with 20-30mph winds making it below zero to the skin. All shelled up we headed down the road to get to the trail head (yep its down hill along the road side to get to the trail head.)
I kid you not when I said we were the only ones. It had snowed a day or so ago before we got there and it also had some nice sleet mixed in there. So we were making our own trail in at least 6inches of snow that was frozen solid on top. A half a mile hike (sound small; its not in this weather!) loaded with lots of steep increases and decreases in altitude; pushing you to your limit in winter. We are not the most fit people in the world, but I was amazed we made it back :-p
One awesome thing about this trail is there is a waterfall at the beginning of it all! The falls at the entrance of the trail are filled with fantastic opportunities. This is only half of it.
Along the way there is no shortage of streams and views. The only issue is walking my fat butt back up the rocky hills when I can’t see the floor. We had to make sure to conserve our energy and after a while we focused strictly on getting there.
I limited myself to shooting from the trail after a while as I said earlier. This however left no shortage of photographs to be made. This little number caught my eye as we took one of many breathers. Probably the #1 reason I was taking shots when we were underway.
The one thing I like about shooting black and white is the ability to push the highlights to the max. You blow a highlight? So what?! Doing it all in balance is all that matters. If you have highlights make sure you have shadows. Need that counter too pull it together.
One of the sweetest sights to my eyes that day. No not the falls, the end of trail sign! Just kidding.
This was the sweetest sight to my eyes. 100% pure bliss. We had to hustle as Dina’s feet were numb (despite her boots being rated to -40 and wearing liners+smartwool!.) Are short time there however was like nothing else. It was just us and the waterfall. You couldn’t hear a thing but the sound of all that water slamming and rushing across the bedrock. As the wind blew it in all sorts of directions the finer particles would flurry down and brush our faces. It was an experience I will always remember and spending it with the one you love/care about just makes it that much more special (sorry for the mush.)
The wind was taking all that water and just throwing it outward. The scarier part was the crash of huge amounts of ice crashing down from the top tier. Twice we heard what can only be compared to as thunder rumbling through the valley.
As you can see below I was all geared up for this adventure. The temperature was no joke. There are a few precautions when taking on this weather. The two biggest rules is proper layering and making sure you have water. It is no joke that making a mistake without cell phone reception in a remote and less traveled location can be fatal. For the layering I started with a baselayer for both my upper and lower body. Then fleece pants and a fleece top. Don’t forget about your feet; use liners and a warm wool type sock. Wigwam makes great ones I use myself. Next depending on the severity is my shell material. For my jacket and my legs! This will cut the wind and greatly improve your warmth. I was also wearing a balaclava on my head as you can wear it three ways. It’s also less dorky then a ski mask. For carrying your water use a reusable bottle such as a Nalgene. I used my SIGG by mistake and it being metal my water began to freeze.
Settings were simple. I stopped down to around f/22 with an ISO range of 100-200 to drag that shutter. I got about an 8th of a second and it did the job. If your shooting JPEG and don’t have the pleasure of using RAW later make sure to check your white balance. Using auto WB will make everything look very grey/blue. Dialing in cloudy or shade will help to warm up your images. Shade might run the snow a tad orange so watch out for that.
As for gear I didn’t do all that much. The D300 is weather sealed and so is the di-gps pro I use. Gloves help to keep out the cold and the freezing touch of your tripod. I had lowepro’s top loader 75AW with all my gear and my setup mounted on my tripod over my shoulder. I want to go over some huge advice about using a tripod in snow. If you sink those poles into the snow be prepared for them to SNAP. I don’t speak out of caution, I speak out of experience. I was out in Yellowstone on my 3rd day of the trip and guess what happened? Yep, one of the branches snapped clean off. We won’t talk about my reaction 
Thank fully Gitzo was nice enough to replace it free of charge under warranty. The reason for this is due to the location you slipped the legs tips into will not be the same as the destination. You may say duh, but as you push downward they sprawl outward leading to your problem. You can buy snow feet for your tripod legs or make the span of the legs much more narrow finding a proper balance in stability and diameter. When it comes to batteries I carry 3 with me at all times. One in the camera, one in the grip, and one in\ my pack. I checked my battery during the hike and they took about a 6% dip from the cold. Satisfactory to me. So as long as your prepared and have the proper gear get out there and make those images happen!
P.s. The saying “Cotton kills” is something to live by come winter. Cotton will not wick away your moisture and will keep your sweat next to your body. This is why we seek out fleece and wool. Fleece and baselayers contain a majority of polyester in it. When water touches our body heat loss is increased by 25x! Something I don’t have to tell you can cause disaster.
. Here’s hoping!
