It was a very cold and snowy February. We had heard stories and seen photos of Niagara Falls nearly frozen over, so we decided to visit Niagara Falls, Ontario on February 27-March 1. We arrived late Friday night and we walked down to look at the falls, "a few blocks" according to the lady in the hotel, and we literally froze our butts - a very cold walk downhill to the dark falls. We could hear an incredible roar of the falls and barely see it. I set up a camera and tripod and took some time exposures and got a few nice images, then we hurried back up the hill to the hotel as quickly as our frozen feet would take us. |
Saturday morning I got up early to take sunrise photos of the falls, this time equipped with all of my cold-weather clothes and toe and hand warmers. I was shoulder to shoulder with photographers looking over the Horseshoe Falls on the Canada side of the river. The falls were flowing quite strongly but very frozen along the edges and the river below, with a rolling cloud of fog and mist boiling up from the bottom of the falls. I tried exposures from many different angles and then when to eat breakfast. |
We came back out after breakfast to a huge crowd of visitors and photographers looking at the falls and taking pictures. I was surprised at the number of visitors on a cold February weekend and the large number of international visitors. The late morning and afternoon sunlight caused a rainbow over the river that lasted all day. I heard some say that it is visible all year around on a sunny day. We took more photos of the Horseshoe Falls on the Ontario side and with the telephoto lens photos of the American Falls across the far side of the river which were much more frozen over and flowing more slowly. |
We came back at night to see the light show that starts after sunset until about 10:30 PM. Hugh spotlights paint the falls with changing white and colored lights on both Horseshoe and the American Falls. While it was pretty, I preferred the natural beauty of the falls. It was a long day of taking pictures in different lighting conditions. But very beautiful and stunning to see. [See more photos of Niagara Falls here.] |