A photography session in Haddam Connecticut - Little Cascades. Little moments of Peace
It always amazes me when I find new spots to photograph in Connecticut especially waterfalls. The spot I shot a few days ago isn’t entirely new to me, in fact I pass by it quite often on my way to other places. It is also not really an officially listed waterfall but I have always said that it would be cool to shoot here, so I just stopped and did it the other day. Well worth an exploration.
The spot in question is located a stones throw from from where Rte 154 and Rte 82 intersect in Haddam. There is a dirt lot and the cascades are right there to begin your exploration.
This is from near the top of Clark Creek. That small brown patch near the upper center of the frame is where you can park. As you can tell using a wide lens will not cut it here for a standard shot. if you have a wide angle lens you will need to get real close to emphasize the cascades or use a long lens to zoom in close and isolate them.
Speaking of great resources to find waterfalls in Connecticut (we have so many!), stop over to J. G. Coleman’s page @ https://www.connecticutwaterfalls.com/. He has done a great job of photographing and cataloging all of our beautiful waterfalls.
This angle is from the reverse of where I was before. You can better see the steps of the cascade but as stated before, you will need to get close to really show off those cascades.
The creek was running great this evening with all the rain we have been having. It was not deeper than my hips in the deepest areas but I would still suggest waders to help you explore the area and if you have them, micro spikes come in very handy here. That green on the rocks is all over the place and make it slippery as ice.
Make sure you have some lens wipes with you as well. Because you will need to get close, there is a chance that some water droplets will get splashed onto your lens or polarizer if you have one attached, which you should in order to control glare and bring out the colors of the moss and surrounding woods.
Be careful in the lower part of the falls about your angles and height. the road is clearly visible from certain angles and you will have to make sure you don’t get a random vehicle in the frame that you have to clone out later.
I didn’t have any other visitors during my time here so I had plenty of time to walk up and down the creek to capture the bits I found interesting.
This is about midway up from the bottom of the cascade area facing into the woods away from the road. The 20 mm lens really helps to exaggerate these step cascades. An even wider lens would probably look even more dramatic.
This is as far as I went up as the light began to get very low. There are possibly more cascades if you travel up creek even farther but that will have to be for another day.
The fading light stopped me from exploring further up the creek. I will have to come back on another day.
So if you want to photograph some beautiful cascades that don’t require hiking through miles of woods, this one is easily accessible. A very enjoyable evening at Clark Creek in Haddam Connecticut.