La La Creek is one of those places that seems to reveal a new face every time I return. On the way up to the origin of La La Waterfall, the creek winds quietly through dense foliage, slipping around bends and over rocks, creating little cascades and hidden waterholes along the way.
The waterfall itself is surprisingly tiny—not nearly as impressive as the creek that leads to it. For me, it is the five bends along La La Creek that hold the real magic. Each has its own character: different shapes of rock, little falls, deep pools and ribbons of water threading their way through the forest. I have posted some photographs from here before, but over the years I have taken more than 300 images at this one location. Somehow, I never seem to tire of it.
Photographing these creeks is not easy. Beneath the dense canopy, light is scarce, and the white water can almost disappear into the shadows. I often turn to ultra-long exposures, letting the water gather itself into a single, luminous movement. The individual threads of the falls lose their definition, dissolving into a soft, milky-white veil. What the eye sees as countless little streams becomes, in the photograph, something almost ethereal—a flowing brushstroke of white moving through the darkness of the forest.
Perhaps that is what keeps bringing me back: not the waterfall itself, but the endless shapes and moods of the creek, quietly changing with the light, the seasons and the movement of water over stone.
And, of course, Joel is always beside me, every step of the way. His wife calls me his “man wife,” which, after all these years of wandering together through forests and chasing waterfalls, is probably not entirely inaccurate. 😂
Sony A7RV
FE 50mm f1.2 GM
Linking Sunday Best
