Twin Waterfalls

Twin waterfalls pour into Tracy Arm near Sawyer Island in Southeast Alaska, and I photographed them on a bright summer day from a small boat on the fjord. The scene is part of the narrow granite shoreline inside Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness, where runoff drops straight into the cold green water.

I liked how the falls were split into two main streams across the dark rock, with a third smaller rush higher up the slope. The smooth stone gave the water a clean path, and the evergreen trees at the top helped frame the whole line of the cascade. Across the water, the steep mountain walls and patches of lingering snow made the background feel just as important as the waterfall itself. There is even a small iceberg floating in the distance, which says a lot about how close this area is to the glaciers farther up the arm.

I took this from water level, which made the foreground feel immediate. You can see the churn where the falls hit the fjord, and that spray was part of the experience of making the photo. I was close enough to show the texture in the wet rock, but still far enough back to keep the wider landscape in the frame. That balance was what I wanted most.

I used a mid-range zoom for this view because it let me include both the waterfall and the surrounding cliffs without making either feel too small. The light was direct but still soft enough to hold detail in the water and trees. What I remember most is the contrast between the heavy rock, the fast white water, and the quiet surface of Tracy Arm stretching away behind it.