AIR FILTER HOUSING CRACKED

This is Proxy Falls.

I don't really like this place very much. I mean, it's beautiful and all...and the first time you see it, it's awe inspiring. Heck, even the second and third time it gives you pause. Yet, when I think of Proxy Falls I really don't like it very much...

See, the first time I trekked here was in the spring. DUMB!

As I climbed to the bottom of the falls I quickly realized that shooting was going to be a big challenge...more challenging than any waterfall I'd photographed before.

First issue, MIST.

No, not mist...RAIN! The mist coming off this falls is so strong, it's more like rain. You are pretty much drenched within just a couple of minutes.

Second issue, COMPOSITION.

This place is humongous...enourmous, ginormous and every other-normous you can think of. To your eye it's just all stunning but through the camera it's tough (at least for me) to pull it all together into something that conveys the magnitude of the location.

So back to why I don't much care for Proxy Falls...this visit I'm recanting was in May. The falls was RAGING. It didn't take me long before I packed it up and left...tail between my legs, ego brused, temper flared up, irritation factor...11.

Proxy had won...this time.

As I drove away in disquist that a waterfall would treat me so poorly, I vowed to return. "I'll go back in the fall...the mist should be much less and the flow will be more manageable...ya, that's what I'll do..." I mumbbled to myself.

-- FLASH FORWARD TO FALL --

After 3 back-to-back Aperture Academy Workshops...Arches, then Grand Teton, then Yellowstone...on the way home I stopped by Proxy for...you guessed it, A REMATCH!

This time I had Scott Davis with me...friend, fellow photographer, Aperture Academy Instructor...he's in for a treat I tell him...this is gonna be easy...

NOT!

We make our way through the short hike in and down to the falls. Instantly I realize this isn't going to be easy. The flow is much less but the mist...it's still pretty bad!

SO...

I go into full on keep-my-lens-dry-mode by rubber-banding a Sham-Wow over the end of my lens...one of those disposable shower caps over my camera and I set out to find a comp. Yes, my camera looks getto, really getto, but I'm hell bent to shoot Proxy and get the hell out of there.

After a bit I'm having some success at keeping my lens dry...flapping my Sham-Wow up and down between exposures...then I switch spots with Scott only to find him irritated...the same kind of irritation and frustration I felt in the spring.

He's bent. I feel for him. I encourage him. It's not working.

Finally, we've both had enough and he proclaims "Proxy won this battle, but I'll win the war..." He declares to return someday...armed with a giant fan to blow the mist back... We laugh, sorta.

And away we went...Scott ready to come back and do battle again some day...me, wondering if I got anything I'd be happy with from this crusade.

So this is it. My "take" of Proxy Falls, Fall 2010.

Proxy falls is a 200-ft waterfall located along the scenic McKenzie Pass highway in Central Oregon. Although the creek was not at its highest level today, this place is always nice to visit and one of my favorites in this part of the state.