Calm Photos

Most times when I’m carefully composing and setting-up for one my classic waterfall-in-the-woods images, I patiently wait for the other visitors and hikers to leave the scene before capturing the photograph.

Every once in a while it’s okay to include an unsuspecting hiker or two as foreground elements within the image. As long as their faces are not recognizable, I don’t have to worry about chasing the person down to sign a release.

The above image was captured last Monday in Glacier National Park, Montana. This is Virginia Falls, which sits just above St. Mary Lake.

One of the advantages of including a person in a landscape shot such as this is that it provides scale to the main subject, the waterfall - a way for the observer of the image to determine the size and depth of the scene. It also adds a “story element,” allowing the viewer to determine what this person is doing, how he got there, etc.

After I took the shot I advised this guy to definitely NOT drink that water. As clean and crisp as it may appear, chances are good it has plenty of little, unseen creatures swimming about, just waiting and hoping for a nice, juicy intestine to attach themselves to and to multiply. I’m speaking of “Beaver Feaver,” or what’s now known as Giardia, and I speak from painful, VERY painful, experience.