I have a crush on fall colors. I love walking through them. I love driving through them. And I absolutely love photographing them. This photograph features the fall colors at the spectacular Gooseberry Falls State Park along Minnesota's North Shore. The river flowing through the photo is the Gooseberry River.  The river was much higher than normal after some very heavy rains earlier in the week. The river was also very violent looking, which just made this park look even more majestic.

In this photo, I went up to the upper falls and set up to get a long exposure of the scene. The first thing that I noticed is the incredible amount of water flowing over the falls. I have been here before in October and the water was at a slow trickle. As you can see in this image, there was a large flow of water. The area of Minnesota's North Shore had received a lot of rain over the previous week, but even before that the flow of water going over the falls was higher than normal.

This photo is a 30-second exposure. To get this amount of exposure I used some filters to block out the sun. The results are that smooth, silky flow of water you see in the image. It was actually turbulent with the vast amount of water going over the drop.

Which leads me to the next photo...

In this photo above, I went up to the actual drop of the upper falls and set up to get a long exposure of the scene. I love the smooth silk water I was able to capture from the turbulent flow of water that was actually there and combine that with the colorful beauty of the fall colors in the trees behind the falls. Right after I took this photo, a little kid came running over right in front of my view. The kids' father was right behind him and apologized. I wasn't concerned with my photo as I was finished with it, but it was certainly scary watching a little kid racing towards the edge of the falls like that.  

In this photo above, I was up by the upper falls, looking across them towards Lake Superior. I noticed the incredible amount of water flowing over the falls as I was shooting this, it is much more than normal for this time of year. I have been here before in October and the water was at a slow trickle. As you can see in this image, there was a large flow of water. The area of Minnesota's North Shore had received a lot of rain over the previous week, but even before that the flow of water going over the falls was higher than normal.

In this photo above, I was down by the lower falls. The flow of water at these falls was lighter and easier to get closer too. There is actually another area of lower falls where most of the water went to, which is why this part of the falls had such a smaller flow than the upper falls. I wanted to make sure I captured this view with the fall color in the background. As beautiful as this park is, the fall colors seem to work against the photographer. There is plenty of colors throughout the park, up until you get to the falls area. In that area, you get green and yellows. It is still very beautiful, but it would be nice to have some oranges and reds thrown in. But you work with what is in front of you and do your best to get the most beautiful photo possible. 

And also make sure to check out the Multi-Panel Art from this trip! 

I hope you enjoy these Fine Art Landscape photos from Northern Minnesota, and please feel free to share it!

You can see all of my art here: William Drew Photography