ku # 645-49 ~ the focus of my curiosity
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12:30PM 
View from the Taughannock Falls overlook ~ just north of Ithaca, NY • click to embiggen
Taughannock Falls~ just north of Ithaca, NY • click to embiggenA big part of my past weekend wanderlust was instigated by a number of recent entries like this by Paul Maxim (on his blog) that feature New York Finger Lakes Region waterfalls.
Over the years, and in passing (as opposed to planning), I have seen a very few of these waterfalls. After all, easy-access spectacular natural places are most often teeming with people and crowds just ain't my thing when trying to enjoy / appreciate nature anymore than it is when trying to enjoy / appreciate, as I did recently, great Art like David - even though I was in a museum it felt more like I was at a carnival.
In any event, I was kind of on a mission to get to and picture Taughannock Falls which is located on NY's southern tier close to the PA border. Taughannock Falls is probably the most spectacular of all the Finger Lake falls. It's a 215' drop which is 33' higher than Niagara Falls making it one of the highest falls in the US east of the Rocky Mts.
My desire to picture the falls was inflamed by a curiosity that I had to see if I would see it and its environs in manner different from that as presented in a zillion pictures I have seen of the falls.
The fact of that matter is that, unless you are willing to break a few rules, your POVs of the falls are extremely limited. So, to avoid that end, I broke a rule - I got down to the riverbed and proceeded beyond the DON"T YOU DARE GO HERE signs and got under the footbridge that crosses the river just below the falls (see the top picture). There I was able to capture the shallow DOF view presented here -
View from under the Taughannock Falls footbridge ~ just north of Ithaca, NY • click to embiggen
It's not exactly an earth-shattering landmark picture. It is a bit different from the "regular" pictures one sees of this place and I am reasonably happy with that but ... if I were to present just one picture of the falls, it would be the center image from the above triptych. But, that said, why limit myself to just one picture? Itaque, the triptych, which I think starts to say something a bit more complete about the place - the genius being in the detail(s), after all.
PS - my impression of Taughannock Falls is much like that of Oscar Wilde's regarding Niagara Falls - it's nice enough, but ...
“It would be more impressive if it flowed the other way”.
This quote is courtesy of Paul Maxim, the former Landscapist Contrarian. I met Paul on my weekend journey and we had a very enjoyable lunch during which we did not argue about truth, reality, or statistics. And, PS to Paul, the contrarian slot is still available.
Reader Comments (4)
Well, with respect to your images here, I certainly can't be "contrarian". You're absolutely right about the limited points of view - an original perspective is hard to come by. I too have ventured under the bridge, but wasn't happy with my results. And I very much like the middle image in the triptych. I've done those as well but would love to get much closer for a different angle.
And thanks for the opportunity to talk on Sunday. Exchanging jabs on the internet is fun, but meeting someone face to face is a whole different level of "reality". Maybe we can do it again next summer up in your neck of the woods (I'll pass on winter up there, thank you very much!).
I think it is great that you two got together you are both inspiring.
Interesting “It would be more impressive if it flowed the other way”.
When I first looked at the picture titled "View from the Taughannock Falls overlook" I was freaked out. It seemed from the angle or something, of the picture, that the water was flowing towards the falls. I had to keep staring at the picture to convince myself that what I was perceiving wasn't correct. Eventually I convinced me and now the water flows in the right direction.
Love the perspective and sense of scale in the main image. A snap that really takes you there.