373 - Sahalie + Koosah Falls
I just took my favorite shot of all time. And it was while me and Haley were having an argument at Koosah and Sahalie Falls in Oregon.
I'd heard about these waterfalls from an app I follow called, Explorest, which isn't sponsored by the way. I just mention them a lot because it's a dope concept. Anyway, it's two waterfalls about 1 mile apart from each other, right in the middle of Oregon.
We showed up about an hour before sunset, and had time to mess around at Sahalie Falls for awhile. I honestly was more excited about this waterfall than Koosah Falls, based on the pictures. Sahalie just looked SO EPIC, and I wanted to get an silhouette selfie shot because I hadn't done one in awhile.
Contrary to popular belief, most waterfalls aren't great for these types of shots. They usually have strange viewpoints, or are difficult/dangerous to move around. So when I saw that you can get one here, I was amped.
It wasn't a hard shot. Check this out:
Honestly the editing is what makes that shot. Just pull those colors out and dodge/burn the moss a bit. It WAS however an insanely fun shot. I've never felt such power in my life standing right next to it. The waterfall was literally sounded like thunder and my down jacket got absolutely drenched just from the mist. It was refreshing as hell.
Moving on, we decided to check out the other waterfall. Expect this is where this adventure started to go down hill. I'm not going to get into details, but basically Haley and I were arguing about dumb shit. You know, the things couples argue about when they live in a van together for months.
Upon arrival, we stood at the "overlook" and just talked for about 20 minutes, right as the light was fading. At this point I abandoned the notion of getting anytime of vlog, and assumed the Sahalie Falls shot was the crux of this shoot. We then finally came to a temporary resolution and made a mutual decision to talk later.
Looking around, we took in the surroundings, decided the "overlook" wasn't that great, and tried to get closer to the actual river.
Annnd that's when we found a path that led right down to it. I'm not going to lie, the path was sketchy as hell. Extremely slippery from dust and our light was rapidly fading. And then I saw it.
The perfect composition. It all came together in my head in seconds, and I spent the next ten minutes doing everything I could to make sure this shot was goddamn perfect. I ended up with 5 images that I (hoped) covered all the ground that needed focus stacking. I wasn't even sure if it was going to turn out, because I was half blind the whole time from no light.
Here's the shot:
Fuck I love that shot. Maybe I'll enter it in a competition. It's currently the background on my computer.
Overall, some kind of strange combination of luck and skill all came together to nail that shot in the last possible second of light.
Oh, and Haley and I are fine now :)
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
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