A little bend in the river caught my attention, and the resulting photo captured the deep, rich greens and blues of the scene with surprising accuracy. This was one of those moments where I knew the picture would never do justice to the view… and yet, in the end, it does.

The August light played beautifully and gently on the water’s surface; that much is clear from the photo. But what’s missing is equally important. From behind the camera, the feeling of being so small and so insignificant in the face of the vast scope and scale of nature was overwhelming.

And that shared human experience is ultimately beyond the reach of the lens.