S is for Smith

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Smith Rock, Oregon. One of the hottest climbing spots in the country, if not the world. I'm sure you can see why. For the sunrise, the forecast was for mostly clear, so I decided to give this type of vantage point a go, which gave me the ability to include mostly land in the composition, and exclude most of the sky. Early in the morning, I hiked the trail up to the top of the rocks. Once up there, I went out to the furthest point, and while leaning out as far as a could and stretching my arm out over the edge as far as it would, I would snap, snap, snap... and then review the images to see if I got the comp right, handheld without looking. It was extremely unnerving... I'm not a fan of heights. Also shot these at 14 mm, so there was some massive distortion, which took many many hours to correct in post. It's still a little odd I think, but it works for me. I get the sense of how it felt to be standing up there looking down on this amazing landscape. I love how the ridge of rock flows down, hugging the S curve of the river below.