as promised, the story of the weekend begins today! Forrest @lostintheforrest and I were ready and on our way at 7:00am and driving straight to the Washington side of the gorge we made it base of park service road by 9:30am. Of course, given the winter conditions we were unable to proceed further as there was about 1.5 feet of unpacked snow! so, putting our game faces on we trudged off into the snow & wilderness. about an hour or so later we made it to the first pitstop, 2.3miles in (if you caught the snapchat, there was a wonderful pnw a-frame 😜). We knew the falls was only another 1.7 miles, so we picked up the pace! along the way we chatted about taking photos, processing, composition, and everything in between. I also caught a glimpse of the above scene, which I knew I had to capture on the way out! we made it to the falls around 11:00am, and were definitely blown away! we spent the following 2 + hours scrambling all over, sharing different perspectives, trying different compositions and creating a learning environment you don't typically get out on your own. it's truly amazing what you can learn just from being around other photographers. On the note of learning, lately l've been using the @skillshare app to check out some of their courses on photography, processing, business management, etc! They are currently running a contest for 3 people to win 1 year of premium membership! and their is still time to enter if you'd like to check it out yourself! Here's how: 1.) follow @skillshare on IG 2.) use my code "jhamilbader99" or click the link in my profile to take advantage of their current promotion, 3 months of Premium access to over 2,000 classes for just $0.99! 3.) Snap a pic of a new project you're working on in 2016, tag it to #monthoflearning and @skillshare & tag two creative friends to keep the learning going! You can submit as many NEW pics as you would like to increase your chance of winning, up till the 31st at midnight! Here's to learning, and have a wonderful day!