Rob Davies Images Blog

On the first day during my photography trip to Vermont I had wanted to find Northfield Falls.  I’d seen a couple of shots of these waterfalls online, but not many, so I wanted to try for myself.  I used Google maps to try to find them but it led me to the middle of a street, families sledding in the fresh snow – a classic New England winter landscape.  I was given some odd glances as I drove around the block twice looking for an entrance to the falls without success.  I gave up as the light was slipping away and planned to try tomorrow.

The next day I arrived back at the Northfield bridges and asked a local how to find the falls and I was told that Hurricane Irene had destroyed them some years back.  Being a little skeptical I decided to scout myself.  I walked along the river, by the rail tracks and after about 10 minutes could hear the rush of water.  I could see the falls through the trees down a really steep embankment.  At this point I tried to consider going back across to the other side but there would be an obstructed view.  After some deliberation I looked for the less steep part where there would be some trees for support and made my way carefully down.  Half way down I lost my grip and slid a third of the way on my butt.  I used my tripod as a crutch and made my way to the bottom and walked along the cliff edge to the falls.  Glorious sight!

The snow was coming down and blowing around so I needed a good supply of wipes to keep my filters dry.  I took a lot of shots but thought I would need to revisit.  This was the shot from my first trip down.  I came back two more times, trying to get that perfect New England winter landscape.  The last day I arrived at sunset.  I was happy and fortunate that the only clouds in the sky were behind the falls, coloring nicely on a frigid, January evening.

Then back to the car to defrost and drive back home.