436 - Cascada de Tamul
Finding a four leaf clover is a rare genetic mutation. It’s estimated that one in every five thousand clovers has four leaves. Today I found one at one of Mexico's biggest waterfalls- Cascada de Tamul.
Well, more than one. I found an entire goddamn patch of them. Who knew they existed in Mexico of all place. I took the (much earned) opportunity to snag a macro shot:
“Luck of the Irish”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 125 ~ 64mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/80s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
God I’ve been looking for a four leaf clover for MONTHS now.
Oh yeah, and remember that collection I started over in Bosque Los Colomos? With the minimalist green plants and one single color? This clover shot was the perfect addition to that series. I’m amped to be working on a specific project, it gives me something to look for in the field now.
Maybe at some point I’ll release an NFT series…
But that’s a topic for another day. The MAIN point of today’s shoot is Cascada de Tamul, which is the one of the biggest waterfalls in Mexico. And I was AMPED to shoot it, because the pictures online looked like something out of Oregon’s dreams.
We started our journey on Google Maps reviews, like any good photographer in Mexico should. Since we got away with avoiding the tour scams at Cascada de Micos the other day, we thought we’d try our luck at avoiding one here.
Based on the reviews online, it was the same story. You show up at the entrance (after paying two separate people to pass through their land to get to it) and are apparently forced into a tour ($15 USD per person) or else they won’t let you through.
Again, it’s important to note that these people don’t OWN the waterfall... They simply use social engineering to convince you at tour is necessary to see it.
In order to combat this, we showed up ridiculously early, before the crowds (and hopefully, them.) We payed the first dude to travel through his land, and the second wasn’t even up when we walked through his land.
BOOM.
We were in. No tour guides to scam us. The whole place to ourselves.
Since we did our research, we knew it was about 1 kilometer to the top of the waterfall from here. On our walk over, I discovered the ole’ four leaf clover shot you saw above.
Once we arrived, I got even more amped. There was a giant pool of water you could swim in, and you could look OVER the edge of the falls. It was an adrenaline rush, and the scale of it was unspeakable. We took in the view, and prepared for the second half of the hike- the decent to the bottom. Apparently this was where the REAL view was.
The was down was every bit sketchy as I thought it was going to be. There were two ladders made out of rusty pipe and rotting wood you had to navigate down, and they were basically at a 90 degree angle. I want to say they were each about 100 feet long.
I’ve you read my past adventures, I fucking hate heights.
But I knew they HAD to be maintained because the trail was so busy. They just didn’t look like it.
I took a deep breath and tried not to think about it. Every creaking step sent a jolt of terror through my mind.
After about 10 minutes of slow, death gripped downclimbing, we made it to the bottom and I breathed in a sigh of relief. We were greeted by the craziest waterfall I’d seen since we left Colorado months ago. And yes, that includes everything we’d seen in Oregon and Washington.
The thing looked like it was ripped straight out of Mt. Olympus.
We were even serenaded by a misty overture of rain. It was a constant humidity- which meant we’d have to protect our lenses. Waterfalls are the one time you should wear your lens cap in the field. Protect your lens from the mist, then you take it off real quick to get the shot.
A lens hood helps a ton also, when your cap is off. It’ll protect the lens from mist at several angles. I messed around with a few angles, but nothing was really making me go “wow.”
At a certain point I suddenly realized I needed a green foreground to complete the scene… It would match the vibrant moss perfectly! Here’s what I ended up with, focused stacked AND exposure stacked so the waterfall wasn’t blown out:
“Mist Oblivion”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 1250 ~ 19mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/800s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
A killer photo. I made sure to pull out the mist, to really emphasize the erosion impact it was making on the opposite wall.
However, one thing about the photo is slightly fucked, no matter how much I look at it.
Make sure your waterfalls are STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN. I didn’t do that here… And the composition wasn’t nearly wide enough to tilt it in post, or I’d lose a lot of the side details of rocks and moss. I decided to keep it like this in favor of those details. But next time… I’ll know.
Once I had that shot, I knew it was a day. A couple guides showed up with their tours, and we grinned devilishly, knowing we’d beaten the system. We hiked back up to the top of the waterfall, sweating like camels.
It was hot as fuck out now that the sun was fully out. Luckily there was a pool of crystal clear water we could cool off in… And swim right to the edge of the falls. One last adrenaline rush to end the day.
Solid session. I love epic scenes.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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