I have been looking forward to this photo shoot! Looking forward to doing it, looking forward to editing it, and now looking forward to sharing it.

"Grotto Falls" is my name for a site I discovered a few years ago at Mount Rainier National Park. It is not on any trail and difficult to get to hiking cross-country, even though it isn't terribly far off the road. And yet, as you can see, it's incredibly beautiful -- a tiny grotto surrounded by sheer rocks, with gnarled firs clinging to cracks and crevices and lichens of every color and configuration painting the walls. In the middle is a deep emerald-green pool, probably 15 feet deep, fed by a low waterfall, beyond which you can glimpse a much larger waterfall so hemmed in by steep cliffs that I have yet to find a safe way to approach it. At the bottom of the grotto the water flows out through a jumble of rocks, like teeth at the mouth of a whale.

I'd shot twice already with Tiana Marie and their partner Corey, a rope bondage shoot in Pack Forest this winter and later on the Boundary Trail at Carbon River in Mount Rainier National Park. At our last shoot I told them about this spot and we immediately made plans to visit it when the weather was warmer, as I've learned from past experience that before the end of July the water at this spot is just too frigid to tolerate.

So we met at the end of July and made the short but steep scramble in to the site. Even as warm as the summer has been, the water was still super-cold, but the lighting was magnificent. The high mid-day sun filters in through the gnarled and twisted trees rimming the grotto and fills the space with diffuse light.

We shot first on a narrow ledge with the waterfall behind Tiana, using a wide lens in the tight quarters to capture Tiana in the foreground with the pool and waterfall behind. After some traditional figure images, Corey tied Tiana and I took some additional photos featuring the rope bondage.

Then we moved to the outlet of the grotto, with Tiana posing on the rocks. These were the most challenging images, as intense sunlight kept breaking through, making Tiana's pale skin shine brightly against the darker background in shadow. But then the light shifted and returned to a more diffuse pattern, with reflection off the water to fill in shadows nicely. Tiana's poses were amazing, like a feline, a lynx crouched on the rock, increasingly merging into the wildness of the landscape.

We finished with another rope set, and this one was the best yet. We debated where and how to do the tie, until I suggested we take advantage of a branch of driftwood stretching all the way across the grotto, pinned among the rocks and polished smooth by the water. Tiana sat in front of the branch, extending their arms to either side, sitting a rock with her feet in one of the channels where water was swiftly flowing. Corey tied their arms securely to the branch, then bound one of their ankles up to the branch for good measure. I couldn't take enough photos, wanting to be absolutely certain that I captured every element of this amazing scene on camera. And the pictures, in my humble opinion, are breathtaking, with Tiana in the foreground and the grotto, pool, and waterfall behind. They are both frankly sensual, even erotic, and also incredibly beautiful at the same time, my very favorite type of art photography.

I'm very proud of these photos.

After the shoot was over, Tiana and I skinny dipped in the deep, cold water, neither of us lasting very long in spite of the warm air temperatures!

This was a day to remember, with photos to match.