Looking up towards the very top of Proxy Falls – which is normally left out of most shots of this impressive waterfall in the central Oregon Cascade Range. As the Northwest Waterfall Survey notes, Proxy Falls is "one of the most frequently photographed waterfalls in Oregon and is certainly among the most photogenic waterfalls in the entire country. Anybody who as had a waterfall calendar has undoubtedly seen pictures of this gorgeous cascade. Fed by springs on the shoulder of North Sister, Proxy Creek breaks over a wall of columnar basalt liberally marinated in mosses, veiling 226 feet in two streams." On this day, it was bright and sunny above the forest canopy, which made shadows and contrast a real concern for shooting this fall. So I shot it in segments, with the aim of doing some exposure blending and stitching to put it all together into a full-fall panorama. And I have. But in the process, this particular frame jumped out at me as a particularly unique perspective of this oft-photographed fall, and one that captures just how massive it feels when you are standing right at its base, looking up through the mist.
Blue skies open up with a break in the clouds over the Painted Hills in central Oregon's John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.
