Posted by Stan Rose on December 16, 2008 at 11:57 PM
Ever since i saw Michael Deleon's amazing post on Rainbow Falls, Here at NPN
Ive had a desire to shoot this location. So, despite having only one good leg, i decided to drive up yesterday when the temperature was close to zero, figuring that would give me some interesting ice. What i didnt anticipate is that the ice nearly choked off the water completely! It was still an eye-opening experience. Quite fun slipping up the creek with one good leg (i used my tripod for an extra leg) and i joined a group of young folks from Detroit who were climbing around the falls--fortunately no spray cans in hand! It was quite obvious that nothing had been done to improve the site since Mike's story last year. This is a shameless promo of a short series im running on the Environmental Photojournalism Gallery.
Posted by Stan Rose on December 16, 2008 at 11:58 PM
Heres a closer view of the choked off falls
Posted by Kevin Trinkner on December 17, 2008 at 7:28 AM
Very sad...
Posted by Paul Wegemann on December 17, 2008 at 8:07 AM
Good job contrasting the beautiful with the ugly. I'm imagining this place without the graffiti and think it would be amazing.
Nice shots Stan! It's great to see other photographers taking an interest in this lost gem. Hopefully one day we can see it in its former glory. I have never been there in winter but it seems like the ice sculptures can be pretty amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing the fugly in a beautiful way - very well done humans trash the landscape images!
Posted by Gabi Lach on December 17, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Very good document and very sad. Such beautiful area and so badly destroyed...
The frozen falls look beautiful! Love the cold feel here. Nice, Stan!
Posted by Joshua Hardin on December 17, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Earlier this year someone sent me a link to a database of scanned, old postcards. The one of Rainbow Falls, how it used to be, caught my eye because I had never heard of it before. When I did some research on it, I of course found out about all the graffitti around it now. Sad indeed. Despite that, you've captured it beautifully here Stan. I've wanted to check this place out myself but haven't been there yet, despite having driven over it for years and not realizing it was there.
Posted by Don Grall on December 17, 2008 at 1:18 PM
That is a great composition showing some "great? color" in an otherwise muted scene. Perfect for showing ignorant man's intrusion into an uncontrolled environment.
Posted by Stan Rose on December 17, 2008 at 1:41 PM
Josh, i had probably driven over it dozens of times too. It is wild seeing those old postcard, i really must find out how old they are; supposedly the overpass was bulit ~70 yrs ago (?)
Well, there were several sets of footprints out to the falls, but right now it is not completely trivial to get to the falls--a lot of icy steps to navigate!
Posted by Jack Brauer on December 17, 2008 at 6:19 PM
I find it really intriguing to see the contrast of natural beauty and urban graffiti. It seems like a uniquely Front Range thing. I just wish it were better graffiti!
Posted by Paul Beiser on December 18, 2008 at 8:56 AM
what a gorgeous set of falls, somewhat surreal and intriguing especially given the bare, dry rock around. too bad about the terrible grafitti...
Discussion
11 repliesHere at NPN
Ive had a desire to shoot this location. So, despite having only one good leg, i decided to drive up yesterday when the temperature was close to zero, figuring that would give me some interesting ice. What i didnt anticipate is that the ice nearly choked off the water completely! It was still an eye-opening experience. Quite fun slipping up the creek with one good leg (i used my tripod for an extra leg) and i joined a group of young folks from Detroit who were climbing around the falls--fortunately no spray cans in hand! It was quite obvious that nothing had been done to improve the site since Mike's story last year. This is a shameless promo of a short series im running on the Environmental Photojournalism Gallery.
The frozen falls look beautiful! Love the cold feel here. Nice, Stan!
Links to the Rainbow Falls cards:
http://www.usgwarchives.org/co/douglas/postcards/rbfalls.jpg
http://www.usgwarchives.org/co/elpaso/postcards/rainbo.jpg
Link to the site with cards from several states. A Rainbow Falls card is misfiled under Douglas County in the Colorado page.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html
Well, there were several sets of footprints out to the falls, but right now it is not completely trivial to get to the falls--a lot of icy steps to navigate!