Forest Flow
Photo Location: Northern California
The creeks that run through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest come off the slopes of a volcano. That is not a metaphor — Mount Shasta is an active stratovolcano, and the water flowing through this forest has spent time moving through volcanic rock before it reaches the surface. The result is some of the clearest, coldest creek water in California, running over beds of grey granite and basalt through a forest of Douglas fir and cedar where the light comes through differently than it does in the dense coastal forests further west.
I arrived to Middle Mccloud falls river on a morning when the light was doing exactly what Northern California forest light does best — making the moving water look luminous against the stillness of everything around it. The long exposure turned the current into something between silk and smoke, the water rendered as pure motion while the redwoods and ferns on the bank held perfectly still. The forest and the water. The permanent and the moving. Each making the other more visible by contrast.
There are landscapes that overwhelm you with scale. This is not one of them. This is a place that asks you to get quiet enough to see it properly — and then rewards that patience with a quality of light and stillness that stays with you long after the hike is over.
TruLife acrylic-mounted limited edition of 100, signed by me with Certificate of Authenticity. Free US shipping.
Image copyright © Jongas Fine Art Photography.
