481 - Cascada Blanca
Woohoo! WATERFALL MANIA!! Today felt like a trip back to Oregon. We got a recommendation from a local coffee roaster about this secret Nicaragua spot.
That’s my favorite part about street camping in the city. Although it’s often louder, cruder, and a bit nutty, the locals are usually kind. We had decided to post up for the night at the local fire fighting station in Matagalpa, and it turned out to be a good choice. The firefighters were happy to house overlanders for a night, and gave us access to bathrooms and showers if needed.
The place also doubled as a local hangout spot for the community. All sorts of people were hanging out and eating with the firefighters, as kids ran amuck. One man in particular came up and spoke to us in perfect English, and told us about his previous life in America. He’d lived in Miami for several years, but got tired of how fast-paced it was. In his words, “America was 1000mph, while Central America was 3mph.”
I couldn’t have phrased it better myself. It’s a slower-paced lifestyle, where people weren’t focused on building a brand or personal success as fast as they could.
It was a nice change of pace for me, to say the least.
Anyway, where I was going with this was that he eventually offered us the name of today’s adventure, Cascada Blanca. We actually had a different waterfall in mind, but changed our mind when he insisted this place was the better choice.
Oh, I forgot to mention one other important detail of this adventure. If you didn’t know already, all fruits and veggies in Central America need to be sanitized and washed before eating. This was a routine Haley and I had adopted since we first crossed into Mexico, almost 5 months ago. Unlike America, the tap water down here was contaminated, and trickled down into the crops.
However, there were notable exceptions. If you could find pre-bagged veggies, most of the time they’re pre-washed and ready to eat. Key word, most of the time. A deadly assumption that I had made a few days ago about some spinach at a local grocery market.
Turns out, it hadn’t been washed. I flipped over the bag only to read “wash before consuming,” as I was doubled over on the bed in pain. Great. Just great.
I began to get flashbacks to Baja California, where I had gotten my first real food poisoning of the trip. Throughout the entire 6 months journey south of the border, I’d had my fair share of tummy aches and diarrhea, but only this instance and that first instance had caused me immense amounts of pain.
I’d eaten that spinach for three days until it started kicking in, and I wasn’t looking forward to what was to come.
Alright, now back to the story.
We’d arrived at Cascada Blanca by now, bright and early. My stomach wasn’t in the best mood, but the clouds were. An overcast had fallen upon us, which was essentially the best possible lighting situation for a waterfall. It was a miracle, because it hadn’t been overcast almost the entire trip… and we’d arrived a little after 10am- traditionally not a good time for light.
Luck was upon us.
However the clouds were moving fast out, which meant we had to shoot now.
Despite my pain, I loaded up the camera gear and walked down the pathway. The vibe was a bit strange, as the entire place looked as though they had forgotten to take down their Valentine’s Day decorations, which had happened over two months prior to this. Hearts were everywhere, and the whole place was straight up couple themed. I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day, so I didn’t mind.
We kept walking through the red, lovey dovey mess, and ended up at the falls. It was a dream. The plants in the surrounding area looked straight from another planet, which led me to believe that a foreground for these falls would be a cake walk.
And it was. Here was my favorite plant, straight out of the movie Avatar:
“Lush Royalty”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 1000 ~ 17mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
That shot was manually focus stacked and time blended with the waterfall stream. Lately I’ve been finding that manually focus stacking (AKA creating multiple masks) is often better in situations that have a decent amount of wind. In this situation, the plants were swaying, and an “auto” focus blend by Photoshop led to blurry plants as it tried to align them. No good.
In the past I’d always just deal with it, but for some reason it finally clicked with me that I could just do it myself. It does take a bit longer, as you have to test for yourself where the focus is, and only works for gradient focus variations. A good new technique for windy places, however.
After that shot, I had to pop a squat. My stomach was absolutely killing me. It honestly felt like someone was sheering a knife through my intestines. I watched as Haley ran around getting all sorts of angles, wishing I had the energy to find another weird plant.
But as I sat on the ground, I couldn’t help but notice the mud cracks that lay next to me… Another interesting composition idea. And since I was sitting here anyway, so I mind as well line it up.
The only problem was that my tripod wouldn’t go that low, and I needed to focus stack at this depth. I’ve been meaning to buy one of those gorilla pod things, but they’re like $70 and I always bail at the last second. I swear I’ve brought one up to the cashier like three times now, then changed my mind.
Instead, I’ve developed a nice technique that can replicate the stillness of a tripod, close to the ground.
Let me show you the shot I got first, then I’ll tell you:
“Dry Water”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 1000 ~ 17mm ~ f/13 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Ok. The trick is to simply lay your tripod sideways on the ground, and rest your camera on it. Holding a camera in your hands still enough to focus stack is insane in a 3D space, so this reduces it to a 2D space. All you have to do is put pressure on the camera while it’s resting on your tripod, and ensure it doesn’t slide in one direction- sideways.
A neat trick when you have to get low, low, low, low, low, low.
Another reason I fucking love that shot is because of it’s irony. A waterfall surrounded by vibrant plants, with a dry, cracked foreground. Irony is one of the main pillars of humor, and I’ve found it to be great for photography compositions as well. Look for it!!
After that, I simply enjoyed the waterfall like a heathen. Then I took a massive dump.
Alright. I’m gonna go chug some Pepto, that was today’s adventure. BYE.
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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