Splash Dynamics

It seems to me that failure has been a constant teacher in my life, and with recent tight deadlines finally met, I decided to set out once again and try to photograph salmon - this time along the Lewis River in Washington.

You will notice that there are no photographs of salmon in this post. I came close this time, they were actually jumping up a large waterfall. In order to get a good image however, it is necessary to have the fish jumping with some regularity and on this occasion one would jump, and perhaps ten minutes later, another would pop out of the frothy water. After ten minutes, my attention would diminsh, and my reflexes would be too slow. Timing is everything, and so far mine has been not so good.

So what are the images below? A fun little study in water dynamics. It took quite a while to figure out how to pull this off and get the timing of the rock and splash just so. I like the results however, and I find it interesting how the rock pulls air down into the vortex created by its impact.