Cascadas El Paraiso — Intricate Explorer

Today we made it back to Guatemala to take one of my favorite photos in a long time. The lighting was just so delicious. These are the moments I absolutely live for. But first, we had to deal with the Children of the Corn.

Or so I call them. Children of the Coconut would probably be more accurate, as they were slinging coconut juice like goddamn monkeys. The moment we pulled up to Cascadas El Paraiso, our photoshoot for the day, about 7 of them swarmed our van. “Mira! Mira! Mira!” they exclaimed, showing us their goodies for the day to purchase.

A toddler trailed behind them, trying to sell us a rock. These kids were natural born salesmen. We politely fended them off for awhile, and they sat outside our van’s screen door peering in. They sat there watching us make lunch and begged for juice when the moment they saw the Strawberry Banana. It was oddly terrifying having 7 children silently watching you eat while whispering to each other.

It always makes me so conflicted when I see kids begging for us to buy things. If I give in, it rewards relentless begging (and often more kids as word spreads about your generosity,) but if I ignore them I just feel plain bad.

Eventually Haley and I decided to give them a bunch of cookies so they’d scram. We couldn’t help it.

By now it was mid-afternoon, and we decided to head over to the falls to scope them out. A technique for shooting I’ve long resented, but have ultimately learned is important to the process.

If possible, that is. Obviously not every shoot is going to be running on time, especially when you’re hopping around to so many destinations like us. But if you’re there early enough, taking a look around and getting some ideas flowing before sunset can make a big difference.

When we arrived at the waterfalls (a 10 minute walk from the parking lot,) we found them to be absolutely packed. This place doubled as a swimming hole, evidently. Almost every square inch had someone playing in it. So much for shooting the sunset today… These people weren’t going anywhere.

But if I’m being honest, I was relieved. It was hot as balls out, and I was sweating like a thanksgiving turkey. Swimming through the sunset sounded so nice. And these particular waterfalls had a twist to them… The water from the falls was hot, while the water below (supplied from a river) was cold. The perfect contrast.

We decided we’d wake up for sunset to shoot them instead, when we doubted anyone would be here. Sunset exploring isn’t a thing in Central America, unless it’s to the top of a volcano on a tour.

We jumped into the icy water and waded over the steamy falls. I let the water pound my back like some kind of massage from the Earth. There’s something about a cold/hot water blend that’s absolutely mind-bending.

As we waded around the falls, we observed it’s other patrons. Which consisted almost entirely of kids and teens. I swear this entire place was run by them- and they all had their little cliques like a nature high school. Some were smoking cigarettes in the corner, some were doing daring flips and pool tricks, while some were simply chilling the rocks with their phones and a comb-over. These kids were hip as hell.

But I didn’t blame them. If I was in high school and this place was in my neighborhood, I’d probably live here too. But at the same time I just couldn’t wait until the morning when this place was empty and would probably resemble some time of mystical fairy tale. So let’s jump there.

We awoke at 6AM groggy as hell, but not too groggy to miss out on a location like this. As expected, not a single soul was at the waterfalls at sunrise.

I started by aiming my camera head on, and got some shots I felt fairly proud of. Then I decided to head to the other side, just in case the lighting was any different. And oh was it different.

Since the waterfalls were all hot, the water dripping down was all steamy- which meant light rays started dancing everywhere once the sun came out. I couldn’t even keep up.

They were flickering like Christmas lights, and I snapped as many shots as I possibly could, dumbfounded by beauty. I’ve done so many adventure shoots now sometimes feel like I’m jaded by beauty, but every once in awhile a scene like this comes along and blows my top off:

Cascadas El Paraiso — **“Hot Spring Nirvana”**
*Taken on Sony a7rIII* + *Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8*
[ISO 50 ~ 17mm ~ f/14 ~ 0.6s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)

God that landscape was insane. I’m drooling over it now.

My favorite thing about that photo was how the trees on the left match with the waterfalls going down on the right. Finding parallels (literally and figuratively) between different elements in a photo is a great way to make it feel more harmonious. Most people won’t pick up on it consciously, but it does wonders subconsciously.

One other tip I have for a scenario like this is to simply take a lot of shots of the light rays. Then in post production I can just pick the best looking one and blend it in. For example in this shot, I chose two light rays that I really enjoyed and exposure blended both of them into the focus stack.

This concept can be applied to almost anything that is moving within the frame. Oftentimes I’ll do these waterfalls. I’ll take shots of the waterfall at all different shutter speeds then simply blend the best water in.

I decided to move up a little closer, and try an alternate composition. I ended up finding this tree trunk that tickled my fancy a bit as a foreground:

**“Stumped”**
*Taken on Sony a7rIII* + *Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8*
[ISO 50 ~ 17mm ~ f/14 ~ .4s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)

To be 100% honest, I’m not sure what scene I like better. This edit does appear a bit moodier. I do also enjoy the depth this scene has. You have the front trunk, the waterfall, then the river flowing away in the background. But it doesn’t have that neat parallel with the trees. Ya win some ya lose some.

We stayed until every last light ray was gone, as they lasted for a good twenty minutes or so. Not going to miss a single ounce of that action.

On the way out, I found one more scene that I enjoyed a little too much: