Too excited to wait!

I had fully intended to leave this photo for the grand finale of my Niagara Falls series, but I just can’t do it! I’m like a little kid on Christmas morning who can’t wait to show her friends her favourite present.

Before I reveal the pièce de résistance, let me tell you that I faced some major challenges taking pictures of Niagara Falls that I had never considered beforehand.  First of all, I’m used to taking pictures where I can fit the entire waterfall inside the frame of the photo, but when you stand before the enormity of either of the waterfalls at Niagara Falls, and especially the Horseshoe Falls, you have to decide what is most important to include in your shot because you are never going to capture the whole thing (unless you are taking it from a great distance or you have an extremely wide angle lens).  I had also forgotten how powerful these waterfalls are and how much mist they generate as a result, a mist so thick that it can obscure your view of the waterfalls themselves.  Depending on the wind direction, the mist can create conditions that are dangerous to the health of your camera. They even sell rain ponchos in the gift shop so that people don’t get soaked.

We were actually quite fortunate that the day we decided to visit the observation areas and take photos, the wind was blowing away from us, so I was able to use my camera without worrying too much about damaging it.  I just made sure I had a microfibre cloth handy to dry off the lens periodically.

Ok, on to my excitement over this photo.  We were walking through the gift shop towards the falls when all of a sudden I looked out the window and spotted a perfect, full rainbow arcing overhead.  You did not want to be in my path at that moment because I went flying through the store and out the door like Hugh Jackman was waiting for me outside with open arms.  Then I started snapping photos one after the other.  Frankly, I was so excited that I’m surprised any of them turned out at all, especially since I was not using a tripod because of the crowds!!  Now I know that this shot is not perfect by any means, mostly because of the mist which tends to make it look blurry or undefined, but to me this is one of the most beautiful shots I have ever taken.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and over the next few days I will show you more close up shots of each of the two waterfalls.

P.S.  Look very closely at the top of the photo.  You can just barely see that it was actually a double rainbow.

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