St. Louis Canyon

I spent some time this past Friday and Saturday at Matthiessen and Starved Rock State Parks in north-central Illinois. I was hoping that the timing would be right for the bluebells at Illinois Canyon at Starved Rock, but it was a good week early. I'm guessing that by the time I get a chance to go back, in about 2 1/2 weeks, that the show will be over this spring.

On Saturday, I met up with Tom Robbins and he took the time to show me some spots in Matthiessen and St. Louis Canyon at Starved Rock, where I'd never spent any time previously despite roughly 10 previous trips to the park. The water flow throughout the canyons was decent, and I managed to get this image of the waterfall in St. Louis Canyon with the ultrawide angle, to take advantage of the natural framing of the canyon walls. I cloned out a bit of graffiti on the foreground sandstone.

D700, 14-24/2.8 @ 14 mm; f16, 1/6 sec., ISO 100 (equiv.)

St. Louis Canyon is a great little place. Sorry you missed the flowers. I would have expected more water over the falls this time of year. But you take what you get.

How was Matthiessen? Any better?

I really like the perspective and the emphasis of the rocks here. Very nice composition. Still, there's something about the angle of the waterfall that seems out of place. With this amount of water, it seems as though the water should be falling straight down as opposed to the angle depicted. I have no idea what's going on here, but it just seems at odds with the forces of gravity I'm used to seeing. Great details and IQ, I'm glad to see you posting some images with the D700.

Darren, Matthiessen had somewhat better water flow (not surprising, since the Vermilion River runs through the park), but the wildflowers weren't any better. In fact, overall I'd say the flowers were better at Starved Rock.

Brian, what you're seeing with the falls is the effect of the wide angle distortion caused by tipping the lens upward from the parallel horizontal plane of the ground. The distortion is easily correctable in PS, but in this case, it enhanced the effect I was going for, with both the sweep of the canyon walls and the way it made the water almost look like a shaft of light, so I left it in place.

That makes sense, Kerry, and it is an interesting effect, because I was thinking
'shaft of light' when I first saw the image. I then read the comments and saw the water hitting the pool and then thought about the angle. I like images that make you think, and this one works on that level really well.

Interesting perspectives. I really like the colors on this one.

Kerry,

I like the results with this one. You were very patient with the young "rock climber" as he clambered around the frame with your gear exposed to the over spray from the falls. Sorry you missed the peak of the early wildflower season, but the timing from one season to the next is a roll of the dice.

I enjoyed the outing very much.

Tom

I like the lines in this image, Kerry. The exposure is spot on. As mentioned, my first impression was "shaft of light" as seen so often from Antelope Canyon. The "ah-ha" moment -- and the reward -- came when I realized it's a waterfall.

Great job Kerry, Ya sorry ya missed the wildflowers. I was there this past weekend also scoping things out and will hit it up this weekend for sure. Finding more and more as I explore the park (getting away from the crowd areas and trail traffic. Nicely done.