Leon Turnbull Photography

Saturday was our kids’ birthday parties. I had a bit of time before the party to go out for an early morning hike. Not much time, though. So I chose a destination close to home that wouldn’t take too long: Codfish Creek Falls in Weimar (near Auburn). This is quite a popular hike and an easy access point to the North Fork American River. I decided before I left that if I was to go back to this waterfall, I wanted to try to get a different photo of this falls (than that which is normally shot of it). It is not an overly photogenic waterfall, and there are not many different ways to take a photo of it. So I took my water shoes, hoping I could hop into the creek, to get a different angle of the waterfall. And so I did. Brrrrr …… The water was darn cold. To take this shot, I was at the bottom of the waterfall, standing in a pool of water up to my shins. It was freezing, but I got the angle that I wanted. And it was darn fun too. It would have been too easy just to hike to the falls, take the standard shots from the side of the creek, and hike back. Boring. I’ve done that before, but I wanted something different this time.

I did not see anyone else all morning. I thought for sure there would at least be some fisherman around when I got back to the car. But nada. That’s what I love about hiking early in the morning. But the weatherman almost messed me up this time. The forecast was calling for overcast skies all morning, and rain starting in the afternoon. But when I woke up, it was completely clear skies! Since it was supposed to be overcast, I wasn’t overly concerned about getting there at the stroke of dawn. If I had known it would be clear, I might have gone earlier because I know this waterfall gets the early morning sun. If the sun is striking the falls, it creates a lot of contrast and it does not create good conditions for photography. It is better in shade or overcast conditions. So I was worried about being too late. But alas, as it turned out, I had plenty of time before the sun came up over the mountains onto the waterfall. So it turned out to be a wonderful morning, and I had plenty of time before I had to be back in Folsom.

After shooting the lunar eclipse on Wednesday, and after getting the kids tucked sweetly into bed, I wanted to get down to the river to shoot the Folsom bridges at night under a full moon (ok, technically it was one day short of fullness). So off I went. It was quite dark walking down by the river, and I did not see anyone else walking around down there. There are two bridges over the American River in Folsom (and one pedestrian bridge). I thought the new bridge would make for a better night-time shot, and I think it would make for a good one earlier in the evening, but it was a bit dark this late at night. The old, historic Rainbow bridge was also quite dark, but I saw the full moon reflecting in the river in the foreground, which I thought was pretty cool, so I tried a long exposure. I think it turned out rather well. This photo was shot at iso 100, f/8, 176 secs.

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I just purchased a SPOT Satellite Messenger. This handy dandy little device will take quite a load off my wife’s stress level when I go out hiking alone. It works in a similar way as a personal locator beacon, but is cheaper and has more functionality (though not necessarily as reliable). It uses GPS satellite signals to send distress 911 call in emergency situations. In addition to this, you can send a HELP (non 911) message to your contact, or just an “I’m OK” message. This sends an email message (or text message) to your contact with a GPS coordinate and link to Google maps, so they know exactly where you are. It is a pretty cool little device, and considering that I often hike alone, it is really important for my (and my wife’s) sake. I have long considered getting a personal locator beacon type device, but the price of that has put me off. This seemed perfect for me. I have read that it has troubles getting a satellite signal with partial overhead cover (trees etc.), but I tested it in my backyard and it worked perfectly fine. It does have a lot of different flashing light combinations that are weird and tough to figure out exactly what they all mean. Anyhow, we’ll have to see how it works out in the woods. I am kinda excited about having it now. Peace of mind and all that jazz. I especially like the idea of the “I’m OK” message. I can let my wife know at any time exactly where I am and that I am okay. A couple years ago, my bro-in-law and I went on a backpacking trip. We were very late getting back to the car (after dark). We were fine (though extremely tired), but our wives were beyond crazy because we were past due checking in. This device would have saved us all a lot of anxiety.

This was an experiment. After my adventure at Sly Park Falls on Friday night, I still had an hour to kill before I made my way back to Cameron Park, where I had music practice that night at our church. I play the drums in our worship band. Now, this may surprise you that I am a wild and crazy, long-haired drummer. Well okay, not wild or long-haired. Anyway, what was I going to do for an hour? I thought about taking some night shots somewhere. But where? I thought, well, why not trying a night shot at Bridal Veil Falls, just up the highway. So that’s where I went.

I do not like this location at Bridal Veil Falls. It is right alongside a very busy 4 lane highway. It is very noisy, and even though there is a large turnout, it still kinda freaks me standing there with the cars whizzing past at 80 miles per hour. Even though I pass by this waterfall many times, I rarely stop here. But here I was, in the dark, trying to set up my tripod in front of the waterfall, hoping no car comes skidding into me at 90 miles per hour. So I did not spend too much time here setting up my shot. I took only 2 exposures. This one was 60 seconds, iso 400, f/4. It definitely is a different type of shot. Does it work or not? You be the judge.