500 - Rock Island
Holy shit. I can’t believe I’ve made it to 500 adventures. Truly a mind-bending accomplishment, when you realize I started photography back in 2018. That’s approximately one adventure every 3.2 days for four and a half years straight- while working full-time.
Each adventure requires research, transportation, and multiple hours of shooting and editing. As I’ve gotten more advanced, these times have risen. Some shoots take 3-4 hours, and Photoshop sessions generally take 2-3 hours. I’ve even had some editing sessions take 4-5 hours for a single shoot.
It’s a goddamn miracle I’ve accomplished this. And I’m not ashamed to brag about it.
Looking back, the level of progression I’ve made is ridiculous. I would say the biggest leap in my photograph quality came once I finally decided to hunker down and learn Photoshop. My first Photoshop edit came from Adventure #334, which was right before Haley and I left for our big trip down to Central America. Until then I edited purely in Lightroom.
So if you’re looking to level up, learn Photoshop. It’ll change your world.
Alright. With that being said, let’s get today’s legendary shoot, which was at Rock Island. Not a bad name… This is (you guessed it) another waterfall park in Tennessee. I’m addicted to these things, guys.
Shooting these falls in particular, however, was a little tricky. The wind and the mist blowing from the waterfall made a closeup shot seemingly impossible. At a certain point I realized I could really only shoot them from far away, and since it was on a river, this limited my vantage points.
If you’re getting mist on your lens, there’s really no other option than to move back, or shoot extremely quickly. A lens hood could help, but only if the mist is directional.
I decided to start small- the waterfall consisted of three main outlets, one of which looked way more peaceful than the others. That’s this one:
“Moldy Cake”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 50 ~ 52mm ~ f/9 ~ 0.4s]
(Want a Print? Get it here.)
Layer city. Almost looks like a moldy cake. Obviously I had to focus stack on that so the front rock would come out clearly. Also fun fact… In the two hours I was at this park, the water died down considerably, to the point where I could now stand on that rock for the next shot.
I figured I’d do a tribute shot to my roots, which was the “Instagram selfie.” You know, the whole look dramatically into the distance type of shots. Combine that with the notion that I wanted a scene of the ENTIRE falls this time, here’s what I came up with:
“Waterfall Tributary”
Taken with Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8
[ISO 100 ~ 23mm ~ f/18 ~ 0.4s]
(Want a Print? Get it here.)
I think it goes without saying that my biggest tip for these “Instagram shots” is to make sure your body is actually silhouette properly. I see so many people trying to get this type of shot, but putting their body in a spot where you can’t even see it, or it blends into the background. If you really can’t find a spot to put yourself, at least wear a clothing color that’s opposite of its background.
The funny thing was at a certain point I got so good at that kind of shot that it was starting to bore me. I remember wanting to get good at taking pure landscape shots, but it was so difficult for me. I was legitimately scared to post some of my first “pure nature” shots.
Now I feel like I can find subjects with relative ease, without having to rely upon myself in the frame. Practice makes perfect. And honestly, I find it cheesy a lot of the time if I am in it- unless scale is really needed. Or I’m celebrating, like today.
Anyway, that’s this shoot guys. I had a fun time rocking out to my 500th adventure… I’m truly proud to be where I’m at. Imagine where I’ll be 500 adventures from now…
Oh god… I can only dream.
Stay tuned. On my next shoot I get stuck in a lighting storm- and the only way out is up a steel cable.
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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