Stealing Beauty

I was reading an article recently about why people get involved with photography. In many cases, young men get involved to meet girls. For myself, it was the gadgetry and art of it and, okay, later it was meeting girls. I put serious photography down for many years due to monetary constraints and a long relationship with video cameras. I still like video, but it takes sooo long to edit it, that I don’t spend as much time as I would like. Still photography is much more immediate and you can do some pretty amazing things with the new tools, no darkroom needed. (Just Adobe Light-room)

In order to improve myself, I joined a couple of local photography groups to get myself out shooting and hopefully learn a few things. Utah Photowalking is one, the other is Utah Strobist. So, what is a Strobist? I wondered that as well, but it is a person who shoots with a strobe light. Photography is all about shadows and light and a strobe is to a photographer what a lightsaber is to a Jedi. If you can control the light and manage it, you can create amazing images.

On Tuesday, we had a meeting in downtown Salt Lake. It was my first meeting, but I knew many of the people from the Photowalking group. I brought along my niece as a model. I thought it would be fun to shoot her skating on the outdoor rink nearby. We got to the site and I talked to a few of the people there and asked if any were interested in taking pictures of her. A few were interested and we went over to the rink. One of my photo friends, Ann, was very helpful. I am not that great with the strobes yet, but she is quite accomplished. She hauled out her remote triggers and two strobes, hooked them up to my camera and even held them while I shot. We played with light for about an hour, while Caitlin jumped, spun, glided and twirled, always with a smile in spite of the cold. It was pretty chilly, too. She was a real trooper.

The area around the rink was lit with Christmas lights, which made for intriguing backgrounds. By this time, several others had come by and were shooting. Two in particular, Harley and Diane joined us and helped with the lighting. Harley taught me a cool trick with the zoom and flash. I have always wanted to know how to do this kind of picture.

Photographers steal beauty and store it in their little black boxes. There is a magic in it, to be sure, but only if it’s shared. I have stolen beauty from many, including my wife, my daughter and granddaughter. To add another beauty to my black box and then share it with her and her family, well that’s the sweetest magic of all.

Photowalking - Stewart Cascades

Some of you know that I am a photo buff. It’s something I have done since I was 7 years old and I dreamed one day of becoming a photographer working for Life Magazine (for those of you old enough to remember) and National Geographic. National Geographic was my first choice because I loved the landscapes and far away places. I have seen those faraway places in the course of my life, and would like to see more. However, budgets and time commitments limit my visits to closer locales, hence the photowalk. Photowalking is something I stumbled on while browsing through Flickr (www.flickr.com) I have an account there and most of the photos I take are published there. There is an active photowalking group here in Utah and am attending my first event today (www.photowalkingutah.com) out at the Great Salt Lake. Should be fun and I will post here and on Flickr.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine, Jeff and his son decided we needed to go hiking and take some pictures. Mind you, we have been talking about this for over a year and originally wanted to go to Southern Utah to photograph the red rock country there. Time and money again were the constraints, so we put it off for a long time. This seems a better first step.

Stewart Cascades is a series of waterfalls that flow down from the top of the Wasatch Mountains near Mt. Timpanogos. The primary location is called Cascade Cirque and is just above the Sundance Ski resort belonging to Robert Redford. They are the second tallest of all waterfalls in Utah next to Bridal Veil Falls which is just down the road a piece. It was named Stewart Cascades after the Stewart family who had a ranch in the area. I have tried to find out more historical information about the site but this is all I know. The trail is not too steep and can be done by almost anyone who can walk pretty well. Here is an outline of the trail stats and the statistics are below:








Trail Statistics
Map Length: 1.72 miles / 2.77 km
Real Length: 1.74 miles / 2.80 km
Elevation Range: 6888 - 7215 feet / 2099 - 2199 meters
Elevation Traveled: 942 feet (465 up, 477 down)
287 meters (141 up, 145 down)
Elevation per Mile: 541 feet / 165 meters
Activities: Hiking

While we walked up we saw a house that had a glass roof. I wondered if the roof would hold the snow and it appeared that it didn’t. Either that or someone threw rocks through it. In any case, I am sure the inside was ruined. What a shame. We also saw a house that had been destroyed by an avalance. Taken right down to the foundation. What are people thinking? Here is a link to the full story.

There were also several mountain bikers up and down the trail. We wondered about that also, since the trail was covered with trees broken in the pretty heavy winter we just had. However, people do things for their own reasons, we just couldn’t fathom these either.


The falls themselves were magnificent. More than I expected really. Utah is such a dry place and to find these types of waterfalls are rare. You really wouldn’t think they existed. I don’t know how tall they are but here is a picture to give you an idea of the scale. I would estimate they are 300-400 ft. tall.
The main falls are about 150 ft. There is a meadow below the falls that has the most pure and delicious water flowing through it. I sampled it as it came out of the ground in one place. Dasani Water, eat your hearts out!

The stream that flows from the base of the falls disappears underground after a while and comes out lower in the canyon to form a tributary to the North Fork of the Provo river.

Afterwards we walked around Sundance for a few minutes, grabbed a couple of pieces of fruit and a drink, then headed down. We went up early to get the light, but if you want to cheat, one of the ski lifts will take you up closer and it’s a short hike from the top. A great time.