Landscape Photography – Gorman Falls

I arrived at Colorado Bend State Park before dawn and hiked about 2 miles to Gorman Falls, following the trail staked out with orange markers. The sun was just rising over the hills to the east and I knew I had to hurry to catch that perfect light that comes only in the early morning hours. I arrived at the end of the trail at first light to find a steep, rocky descent down to the base of the falls. The climb down looked treacherous, with no steps carved into the rock face. A few steel poles and cables had been cemented into place and I used those to guide my descent, carrying my tripod in hand with my camera slung over my shoulder. At my age, a slip and fall would spell disaster and I checked to make sure that my cell phone had reception this far from an major city. My descent was slow and measured. No sense in coming this far just to sprain an ankle and ruin my chances to get some good shots.

At the bottom of the ravine I stood in wonder at the magnificent spectacle before me. It seemed as if no one had been down here in years. The falls before me was surrounded by trees with the early morning sunlight filtering through the leaves. The green moss covered rocks and the cool spray of the falls was a refreshing sight after my long hike and climb. Excited at the prospect of capturing this beauty I quickly setup my tripod and camera and selected a medium zoom lens for my first exposures. Just a few quick test shots at f/8 to see how the water looked and if the leaves would be still enough in the breeze to be sharp in my photographs. As I sighted through my viewfinder I knew I had found the a perfect spot to spend a few wonderful hours doing what I love the most.

Gorman Falls at the Colorado Bend State Park, Texas
Copyright 2009 Jeff Lynch Photography
Shot taken with a Canon EOS 40D set on aperture priority (Av) using an EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM tripod-mounted. The exposure was taken at 24mm, f/8 for 1/6th of a second at ISO 100 on Sandisk digital film. Post capture processing was done entirely in Lightroom 2. Click on the image above for a larger version.

Posted in Photography Tagged: Canon, Canon 40D, Colorado Bend State Park, Gorman Falls, Landscape Photography