Low Water Gallery With a Touch of California
Capture and Creation
CLUES TO THE STORY
Coast to Coast and Bottom to Top
The banner image above I shot in Big Sur. That and the other California image on the left shot in Sequoia National Park, and others on the website, signify my family life’s reach from coast to coast. “Low Water,” however, refers to images captured at Round Valley Recreation Area near Lebanon and Whitehouse, New Jersey. Work done on the dams meant the water fell to about 30 feet below full pool. Record low levels. These photographs are only a very small sample of a unique collection created during that time. Throughout the four years or so when I visited the reservoir almost weekly to photograph the changing landscape—most of it now submerged—I never saw another photographer with a tripod, very few without one. Perhaps for the life of the reservoir the water will never again situate as low and the circumstances afford such opportunity for photography.
The main boat launch.
Iron is present in sand, gravel, and rocks.
Great cloudscapes complement the rocks submerged when the reservoir's at full pool.
My wife, Patricia, walks Loki, the black Labrador.
The reservoir risen to full pool.
A couple of anglers with a sunfish.
They can just be glad the wind didn't come up.
Wind is usual.
The paddleboard is a ubiquitous reality.
Smoke from Canadian wildfire.
Snow Drama
Low water attracts attention.
It did get even lower.
Aside of the Main Boat Launch.
Round Valley has a big sky, and the clouds can be interesting.
Goldenrod in the foreground and the North Tower in the distance.
Frequently, the reservoir is calm enough.
Exposed points created by low water levels.
Night fisherman. Big eels get caught at night, though he could have had otherwise in mind.
A unique view across the water to Cushetunk Mountain.
The black rock is diabase. Photographed with snow coming down.
One of the trails that still exist when the reservoir is at full pool.
