The shot above ticks two boxes in that we have the color, plus the leafless shrub that allows easy manipulation of depth-of-field. The shot below is significant in that, for the first time, I used the dehaze slider available in Photoshop 2022, largely removing the blue haze from the background trees and making the colors pop a little more. That feature alone makes it worth the monthly subscription we pay for the latest versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.
Can't help but remember how funny it was to hear the mushroom stories of my Mexican neighbors in Allende, Coahuila, back in 1980. One day we were at Azufrosa exploring (between Allende and Villa Unión) when my friend pointed to a mushroom growing at ground level. He laughed and laughed to think that hippies from the States in the 1960's would come down there and pay good money to collect these guys, which the Mexicans had seen all of their lives and considered to be worthless. But these campesinos just shook their heads and happily took the money for such a simple chore.
Though I was a bit young to have joined the hippie culture, having been born in 1958, I clearly remember hearing about mushrooms and their psychedelic properties among my older peers. I couldn't help but laugh with my friend at how ridiculous it must have been for the Mexicans to see these wild-eyed long-hairs making their periodic pilgrimage to this spot for such a purpose.
This was a day that we bemoaned - of all things - the heat! After eagerly awaiting relief from Houston's 90-degree temperatures, we ended up encountering an Indian summer up there in Minnesota; and while it's true that the daytime high in the mid-70's was better, I was expecting frosty mornings with highs in the 50's or 60's. After all, this is Minnesota, right? Nevertheless, it was beautiful outside and time with family is much more important than concerns about any expectations we had about the weather.
Not surprisingly, these cliffsides provide irresistible opportunities for practicing your mountaineering skills:
The log in the foreground reminded me a little of this shot taken in Colorado.
This bridge traversing the Baptism River - a few hundred feet up from the falls - was interesting, not because it looks neat but because of the sign posted at the beginning: "Do Not Jump on Bridge". I thought that strange, as it doesn't look much like a bouncy or springy bridge. However I was wrong, and in fact had to resist the urge to jump on it once we reached the middle. Little bit of a kid in all of us, I suppose...
Closer look at the foliage below:
This is the scene that greets visitors as they round a bend to approach the falls themselves. An observation deck is visible at the top of this frame, one of several at this location...I had the urge to spend some time at every one of these, but better judgment persuaded me to stick with the group.
Closer-in shot below. It was fairly bright outside, so I felt safe to crank the ISO down to 100 on the Bigger Cahoona (my Nikon D850) while keeping the shutter speed at between 1/15th and 1/10th of a second. It surprised me that the water was a murky brown, which showed where it was deeper. To correct this I did some careful selection and de-saturated the color by about 80% in those spots:
Classic focus-shift of same below:
Then of course there was the culmination of it all, the "high falls" of High Falls Trail, which will be featured closer to the end of this miniseries...
And this is another case in point. These roots may look like a tangled mess, but there is beauty, and even symmetry, found in the meander of where they have grown. Wider shot below:
In this regard those encountered during our trip to Minnesota did not disappoint; the keepers above and below were taken on our Shovel Point hike:
