There’s just something to be said about the term ‘worth it’. It conjures up the philosophy of comparisons, of an equal share of risks and rewards, of something given for something gained. The troubling thing is that without an actual monetary exchange the concept is completely subjective.
And there you find us, in the mix of this hot debate at the top of a 130ft waterfall in Uganda, Africa, where every second, 11,000 cubic ft of water violently fist fights it’s way through a gorge only 23ft wide. There are very few railings and even fewer warning signs. You can literally walk right into the falls if you want. Which is kind of what I was hoping for, but with a little less ‘tumbling to our death’. Needless to say, my model, Tessa, wasn’t quite as excited as I was about the photoshoot location choice.
We had attempted to shoot in a few other places on the hike up to the falls. I wasn’t happy with those and was very obviously pouty about my own inadequacy in making a cool shot. Tessa is the easiest person in the world to photograph and the skirts she designed with some local Ugandan seamstresses look amazing even waded up on the ground, so I couldn’t blame any of it on them. So, after a cleansing soak of waterfall spray from a lookout platform a little lower on the falls, we made our way the remaining 10 minute climb to the top, hoping we could try again up there. I’ve been to these falls before and knew there were some flat rocks at the top with the river in the background that, with the right light, could make a pretty cool backdrop. At that point, with the remaining dark gray clouds of a recently passed rainstorm and no light rays filtering through, I figured we were going to have to take our chances with the flat rocks and the river being extra beautiful that day.
Turns out, days and days of rain had actually incorporated the flat rocks into the outlying edges of the falls themselves and water was streaming over them in a haphazard pattern of on again off again gushes. Not exactly what I had hoped for.
Far better than I had ever envisioned.
A little spark ignited inside and I rock hopped my way quickly down onto the slippery rocks just in time for one of those gushes to completely soak the little channel I was standing in and catapult itself into the rest of the spitting whitewash. Yes. If you can’t have post raincloud sunbeams, then you definitely need violent waterfall spray. I motioned for Tessa and pointed where I wanted her to stand. She hesitated as another gush of water careened over the edge. ‘Really? Are you sure it’s worth it? I mean, we can shoot on another day.’
Is it worth it? Worth the risk of falling to an untimely and watery death all for a shot that will last on peoples tech screens for less than 3 seconds?
Worth that? No. But, worth the elevated heart rate? Worth the smile of adventure? Worth the lessons learned from the discomfort of doing something new? Worth the story that will come from it after you don’t actually fall to your death? Worth the necessary action to live up to our trip inspired mantra, ‘This Is Africa. Do this’?
Just relax, my friend. Yes, it’s totally, 110% worth it.
(And…a little marketing teaser: these skirts will be available a week before Christmas at The Nest in Reno in support of an ongoing program called Threads of Hope. Buy one.)
