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Mountain Streams, Creeks and Waterfalls
September 2003
Some summers our streams dry up, the reservoirs are low and everyone is concerned about water being in short supply. This spring and summer has been particularly wet. The waters have come pouring down in buckets, our reservoirs and lakes are full and our streams flowed swiftly down our mountains. That inspired us to feature images of the Catskill Mountain waters in this month’s portfolio.
Our cover photograph by Herb Chong shows how dramatic white water can look when it pours over rocks and flows swiftly downstream. One can almost hear the sounds of the rushing waters as they flow over rocks and splash into pools below. As the waters swirl around rocks they create dramatic compositions for the sharp photographer’s eye.
Herb Chong likes to photograph fast moving water, and on the left side of our first double page spread, he shows us a detail in which water flows and bubbles in a remarkable abstract design that is like a beautifully composed painting with striking colors. Opposite, is an image of flowing water that Gary Wisniewski appropriately names “Liquid Glass” – another abstract composition formed by light shimmering on falling waters.
Then we move onto calmed waters in the next double page spread, where there is not a ripple on the surface of the water. In both photographs, one by Grazyna Kleinman in which a deep blue sky provides a rich accent to the sunlit leaves floating on the surface, and the other by Peter Nicholson in which there is a Monet-like image of floating water lilies. Turn the page, and we are looking again at waterfalls. David Miller catches the spray of fast-moving waters in his image, and Jason Kremkav discovers thin streams flowing over a towering rock, with his view framed by the roots of an aging tree. We end the portfolio with a photograph by Loraine Arnold capturing the detail of an almost metallic or machine-like flow of waters curving downward.
This month’s portfolio is a memorable record of our extraordinarily wet summer and reminds us how beautiful the waters of the Catskill Mountains can be when creative photographers capture them in full flow.
David Finn
Chairman, Ruder Finn Group
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