At The South Platte River, With Carey

A couple of weeks ago Carey and I headed the North Fork of the South Platte River near Foxton. Here we spent an afternoon making photographs along the river. After scouting for a location, Carey selected one spot where the river caught the afternoon sunlight. I made the following image with an ND filter. This allowed me to have a longish shutter speed of an 1/8 second. This smoothed out the water flow.

Curly Water Flow, South Platte River

Later we headed downstream to a location that was on the South Fork of the river. At this location, the river was in the shadow of the canyon walls. At this location, I framed three pine trees against the orange canyon wall in this image.

Three Pine Trees, South Platte River

Shooting at this location was really great with the river in the shade. This made it easier to get long exposures without filters to show the water flow. Carey and I had moved close to the waters edge where we were rock hopping along the river. I decided to convert the triangular arrangement of rocks into a monochrome image, below.

Triangular Rocks, South Platte River

I found a large boulder at the water’s edge. In this image, I chose a near-far composition that included the boulder, foreground river sands and the water flow in the background.

One Large Boulder, South Platte River

We headed back towards to confluence of the North and South Forks, where we had some lunch before shooting the river. I looked for a location where I could include some foreground branches overhanging the water. At this location, I wanted to capture the white spray of the water flow in the river. The river was in bright sunlight, so I made use of the ND filter to capture the water flow in this monochromatic image.

Water Flow At The Forks

When we were heading out from the river, I noticed one location where the river was flowing over rocks in the shade. At this last location, plenty of foamy bubbles were created as the water flowed over the rocks. This would work great with a long exposure.

Water Flow, Over The Rocks, South Platte River

Soon after making this image, we headed back home. I dropped Carey back at home and had an appointment with work!