October 2, 2012
Big Bear Creek Cascades in San Miguel County, Colorado

The fall colors are starting to wind down in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, so I've returned to photographing more intimate scenes. Yesterday morning, I spent a couple of hours standing in Big Bear Creek photographing the cascades. I had scouted the area the afternoon before, but only had my hiking boots and was only comfortable standing in 2- to 3-in (5- to 8-cm) deep water and couldn't quite get in position for good compositions. When I returned yesterday morning, I had my gum boots and could stand in the 12- to 15-in (30- to 38-cm) deep water to get some nice compositions. I used the Singh-Ray Lighter Brighter Warming (LBW) polarizer to manage the reflections. Instead of minimizing the reflections on the wet rocks, I increased the reflections on the moving water to increase the amount of silky water.