Newberry Volcanic Monument - Paulina Falls

Author's Comments

Late May is when Paulina shows itself. The snowmelt off the caldera rim is still feeding the lake above, and the twin falls run full and loud, splitting around the rocky pillar between them in a way that feels almost staged. It is not. The volcano made this geometry over thousands of years and the water has only recently agreed to it. I came here on a Tuesday morning in early June and had the upper viewpoint to myself for nearly an hour. The light filters down through the lodgepole pines at an angle that softens the mist, and a long exposure at that hour pulls the two falls into matched white columns without blowing them out. Later in the day the sun moves into the gorge and the contrast becomes harder to manage. Morning is the answer here, and it is not a close call. The lower viewpoint is a short scramble down and worth the few extra minutes. From below, the scale changes. You start to feel the volcano above you rather than just the falls in front of you, and the photograph becomes about something larger than water. Bring a polarizer. Bring a tripod if you want the silk. And give yourself time to sit with the sound of it, which is the part no photograph ever quite carries home.

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