This is Catrigg Force in the lovely Yorkshire Dales and I remember taking this shot so well.
It was a lovely morning and my wife, Jenny aka "the Artistic Director", and I decided to have a walk to shoot a few waterfalls. We'd walked along the River Ribble and got a few shots of Stainforth Force in warm sunshine. We then crossed the river and walked up to another waterfall called Catrigg Force.
The way down to this fall is via a narrow, steep path made very slippery from the spray into a very dark gorge. The AD took one look and promptly sat down on a warm sunbathed rock at the top
of the path. "I'll wait here" she announced, "don't be too long".
So clutching my camera bag full of bodies, lenses and using my tripod as a walking stick I very gingerly slipped and slithered down the path trying not to notice the sheer drop on my right.
As I descended it got colder and wetter. On reaching the bottom I looked round for a good place to set up the tripod. There was a path to the side but it was very narrow, very slippery and there was really nowhere big enough to set up.
The water, however, looked quite shallow and the ideal place to set up was actually in the stream directly in front of the fall.
So, I selected the camera and lens I deemed appropriate, screwed them firmly on the tripod and gingerly stepped into the water.
It was cold ............ very cold, in fact ........... !*@%£ cold. And deeper than I thought. Over my boots and ankles.
And it was very, very slippery. Like ice ....... maybe it was ice, it was that cold.
Very, very slowly I made my way to the ideal spot using the tripod as a crutch but trying all the time to keep the camera dry. Carefully I set up the tripod and took my shots.
It was a relief to get it over. It was a bigger relief when my feet went numb and the pain eased.
I made my way back up the path to where the AD was sunbathing.
"Had a nice time dear?" she asked.
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