I discovered this small ephemeral waterfall on a recent hike to Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It took a return visit to refine my compositions and come home with some unique images. On my first visit, the siren song of the lake kept me from giving my full attention to this little falls. I did check it out though, and took a few photos. When I got a look at my images on the computer, I realized I had a great subject, and I had missed the shot, I had failed to execute the image in my mind.

I did make some nice images of Lake Blanche, but those images are somewhat less distinctive because, although the reflection of Sundial and Monte Cristo in Lake Blanche, especially with ice on the lake in golden sunset light, is as iconic as a Wasatch landscape comes, it’s also a lot more likely to be exactly the same as what’s already been done by me and everyone else; It’s the obvious composition.

Fed by generous snowpack from an above average winter, and delayed by cool spring temps, this cascade flowed later in the year and at a higher volume than usual. However, draining a very small area, it still only lasted a few short weeks. I feel fortunate to have been there when this waterfall was flowing, and to have seen the potential to create some very personal and memorable work. I wonder if any other photographer worked this scene, or did they succumb to the siren song of the lake as I did on my first visit?

The thought of finding a new subject, the desire to express myself more clearly with an image, these are things that keep me going out, things that make me willing to stumble down the trail by headlamp.