This year’s Columbia River Gorge waterfall workshop gave us a combination of cloudy mornings and partly sunny afternoons. The rain managed to hold off until the very last morning, right after we finished photographing Multnomah Falls. And we had to wait until the last day to shoot Multnomah because a work crew was just finishing up repairing the bridge from a boulder strike last January.

There’s one really good and easy place to photograph the sunrise in the gorge, and that’s at the Portland Women’s Forum viewpoint along the historic highway. Here you have a outstanding view of the Columbia River looking to the east with Crown Point and Vista House in the foreground. But alas, we didn’t get much in the way of interesting light (unlike last year). The first morning was only ok. There was a little color in the sky early on. On our second visit the sky was overcast with rain clouds approaching from the southwest. This can often result in some amazing light if only there’s a break on the horizon right around sunrise. Not this time.

One member of my group decided to shoot the scene with the monochrome setting on his camera. I thought that to be a fine idea and got my own camera out. The image accompanying this post was processed using NIK’s Silver Efex Pro. It’s much more interesting than the original.

All the waterfalls were looking great this year. There was just one bug in the soup: Punchbowl Falls. Punchbowl Falls is located about two miles up the Eagle Creek Trail. The trail alone is worth the hike; it’s one of the most popular in the area.

To photograph Punchbowl Falls one often needs to wade out into Eagle Creek just to see the falls. And that’s why I bring chest waders. The felt bottomed soles make walking in the creek a lot safer and easier and keeps the wearer perfectly dry. Only two members of my group opted to wade out for the shot. And that’s where we get to the bug.

In year’s past there was a long log that sat diagonally across the falls, intersecting it. The log was there for many years and people just photographed it that way or they cloned out the log. Some cloning jobs were better than others. Then, a couple of years ago, the log was washed away. Oh joy of joys for photographers all across the Pacific Northwest and beyond! Punchbowl Falls was once again naturally pristine in appearance.

But that was short-lived. A tree that was once perched above the creek in front of the falls has fallen and once again there’s a diagonal line in front of the falls. This log, however, is in such a position that the body of the log doesn’t obscure the view of the falls. But the branch sticking out of the log reaches up, like a hand with fingers spread, and perfectly places itself right in front of the waterfall as if to say “Talk to the hand!”

I’ll most likely be running another waterfall trip again next year. This year’s trip was limited to seven participants and I had only four. I feel that for this area, smaller groups work the best. Often we’re in areas that have only so much room before we start unintentionally photographing each other. Next year’s trip will also be limited to six or seven. Let me know if you’re interested.