Try and try again.
Last week I hiked into the Great Trinity Forest to photograph the forest with standing water and it was already too low. Last Sunday I went back after more rains and the water was too high.
Yesterday, with the flood levels dropping, I went back and tried again. This time the water level was just right (mostly up to my waist and never over the top of my waders).
But it was not an easy shoot. With floating logs and deadfall everywhere, most of the forest is a bit of a mess. I wanted simple, not messy.
I had to wade all through the forest to find some scenes I really liked. I only stepped into one big hole and did not trip over submerged logs and do a face-plant. (On a side-note, wading through waist deep water for 8 hours is a really great leg workout).
Here is my attempt at a self-portrait.
I finally managed to find a few tranquil scenes, like this one below. The sun came out and lit up the trees very nicely. But it also cast some bright spots onto the water and made the shadowed tree trunks really black, which was hard to work with.
But what sometimes looks too contrasty in a color image can sometimes look really dynamic in black and white, so I photographed with that in mind. Here is the color version.
And a black and white version (below). I like the color version ok, but I really love the black and white. I think it might make a beautiful large print.
