Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Island. Lower Mesa Falls, Ashton Idaho

I hiked down for a solid 30 minutes of rocks, boulders, and fallen trees to reach the lower mesa falls. Though the outlook point is very pretty and has a nice view, I was wanting something more up close and personal. This is an image of the rock column that was right by the falls with the mist hitting it softly. It was during the golden hour aka sunset lighting so the side lighting hit the mist perfectly and I had about 10 minutes to soak it in and capture it. After waiting 3 weeks to go shoot the water fall and then once I saw the rocky column I waited another 3 hours till the lighting was where I wanted it, I must say, it sure felt good to capture the image.



As for the message of the image, it's all about atonement, meditation, separation from the world, not clinging to things, allowing yourself to breathe, and being that lush little patch of grass on top of that rock. If we can not worry about anything but soaking in that Living Water, Light, Rock, etc. then we will be able to thrive in a not-so-friendly environment.
While shooting around the falls, it was so interesting to observe how many rocks there were everywhere with barely anything green around it. But once you got right up by the water, there was such a different and diverse ecosystem waiting to be had. There was green, lush grass and moss, insects, streams, trees and bushes. But it wasn't till you got 10 feet or so from the river. Any farther away, and it was as hard and rigid as could be. I felt it was quite the metaphor for our spiritual life.