Bash Bish Falls

Author's Comments

The drive out to Mount Washington feels like leaving the state entirely, which in some sense you are - this is the corner of Massachusetts that nobody quite remembers exists, tucked against the New York line in country that feels older than the rest of New England somehow. The falls themselves split around a wedge of rock and fall in two parallel ribbons into a pool that is genuinely clear, the kind of clear that photographs want but rarely deliver. The hemlocks do most of the work. They close the gorge in and filter the light to something soft and diffuse, which is exactly the light a long exposure needs. I prefer the New York approach. The Massachusetts trail is steeper and the descent is fine going down but punishing on the return, and the lower lot puts you at the falls without the grade. Either way, come early. The pool sits in deep shade until mid-morning, and that window between the gorge brightening and the sun hitting the water directly is when the photograph is there to be made. After that the contrast goes harsh and the highlights on the cascade blow out before you can do much about it. Bring the tripod. Bring a polarizer if you have one - the wet rock and the hemlock needles both gain something from it. Spring is highest water and the most dramatic, but I have made my favorite frames here in early October when a few yellow leaves end up on the dark rock at the base of the falls and the whole composition resolves into something almost still. Wide for the gorge, longer for the split itself, and detail work on the moss if the light cooperates.

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