Behind the Shot: My Unforgettable Experience at Great Falls

Hello everyone,

My apologies for the late blog I been super busy and been having a hard time making time to get this blogs done. I went camping for the first time over the weekend and got back on Sunday in time for the 2 finals. My picks for the euro were pretty good England did make it to the final but wow did we just see the World Cup champions in 2026. This Spanish team caught me off guard I had my doubts before going into this tournament mostly because this young players hadn’t really been under this much intense pressure and boy did they deliver. Lamine Yamal is a stud the way he controls the ball and put clinical passes reminds me of a young Lionel Messi. Nico Williams what a baller he is he is so dangerous in attack. I saw him had 1 bad game this tournament but that was the game where Yamal made history scoring that gorgeous goal. Fabian Ruiz what a tournament he had he was so clinical in front of goal and was a key player in creating chances for this young kids to shine he had an amazing campaign. Danny Olmo was great coming in for an injured Pedri we really didn’t see this team suffer even when down there starting players. Rodri as well was so clinical in the midfield he seem to always be there cutting those passing lane his positioning on the field is elite he was always OPEN. The back line as well they were so good that they only suffered 4 goals in this tournament. Laporte, Normand, Carvajal and Cucurella what a backline this is. They played almost like 5 in the back but its because Rodri did such a good job filling in the gaps. If I had to say one negative thing about this Spanish side is the goalie I really have my doubts about Unai Simon. The 4 goals Spain suffer I feel like at least 2 of them was due to poor positioning on his part. If this backline wasn’t as good as it is we could have seen this Spanish side get scored on quite a bit more. Spain just proved that they are the real deal, Luis De La Fuentes truly has a potential dynasty in the works.

As for Copa America I believe I predicted this final very well. There’s not much competition in South America is a bit sad to see. This tournament was so boring and predictable. Argentina in my opinion didn’t even deserve this trophy they played horrible. They were not as clinical in front of goal as we are use to seeing. Messi was a let down his injuries are really catching up to him and the fact that MLS doesn’t let him fully recover really concerns me going into this next World Cup. Will he play? what version of Messi will we see? Will he even make an impact or would he even start? The future is looking a bit grim for Argentina. The only positive I see of this team is there defense. They have a stacked defense and a great goalie they kind of kept Argentina in this tournament. Enzo I feel like the move to Chelsea kinda got in his head. He was awful there was a game I watch were I think he didn’t connect 1 pass. I question why he was even starting I get Paredes isn’t as good as he is but at that point are you really missing out by having a player like that out on the field. De Paul was alright he barely did anything in every game there was some games where he would just disappeared. Even Julian Alvarez was a huge let down he had a hard time finding the net. I question this coach decision knowing Lautaro Martinez is coming in as a sub and being clinical in front of goal why not start that guy? This Argentinian side was so frustrating to watch. I believe Colombia deserve this cup they really put in the work getting to the final. They were so good shout out to James Rodriguez for having a stellar tournament. Watching him played reminded me of the James Rodriguez we got in the 2014 World Cup. I have really high hopes for this team is one of the most entertaining teams to watch for sure. The 2026 World Cup is definitely going to be a fun one I hope to get tickets to watch this Spanish team.

I apologize for the long review on both of this tournaments I just really enjoyed this summer we got some entertaining football for sure. This week I wanted to talk about this photo which I absolutely love. As you may know I been doing bird photography for the last couple months. I have challenge myself to work on my landscape photography with everything I have learn doing bird photography. The results have been amazing I can’t even believe it myself. I am stun on how good I feel like I’ve gotten in this journey of my. It’s definitely come with a lot of sacrifice but I am happy with the results. My instagram is almost at 1k followers so if you don’t follow me there stop right now and go follow @capture_moment5. As you may know I been using Great Falls as a reference point as to where I am in my photography journey. I have gone back time and time again since the beginning and photograph it to see my process. I always try to switch it up I been working so hard on composition and I feel like that has also improved so much. It seems just like yesterday that I was so confused to what composition was. This photo is so special to me specially because of the story behind it. I been thinking of doing a story time behind some of my favorite shots as I feel like my adventures are so fun. As you may know I live in Northern Virginia and for the last couple of weeks is been really hot here. On this day I got up at 6am as I wanted to be at Great Falls by the time they open as they open at 7am. I got all my gear ready and headed out and made it to the gate by 6:59. I quickly went to park got my camera gear as I wanted to be quick because I only have a small time frame before the sun becomes to harsh and ruin the colors in the photo. I went to overlook 1 and quickly started snapping photos. As I was walking to overlook 2 I noticed the sunlight was shinning through the trees making the overlook path look stunning so I took a photo which you could see in my portfolio. I took my photos of overlook 2 so I decided to move on to overlook 3 I noticed a path I hadn’t seen before and was curious as to where it ended. I was so focus on going to all 3 overlooks though so I headed over there and took the pictures that I wanted to capture. It was here when I noticed I didn’t bring any water.

I really started to think in going back home as I was growing concern of the heat. I decided though to go to Scott’s Run Nature Preserve. I couldn’t help myself though my curiosity was killing me so I decided to follow the path. I got to an incline and noticed a bunch of rocks going down. I saw the bottom of the waterfall so I got super excited. I started putting my camera in my book bag and started climbing down. Once I reach the bottom I was so surprise on how easy it was to get to the bottom I started setting up my camera and this was the result. What an angle I was able to get I am so glad that I did this as the results made it all worth it. I snap the photos I wanted and started to put my camera away as I knew I had to climb up. The way down sure was easy the climb up wasn't. I started to climb as the heat was getting unbearable. I was half way up when I started to hyperventilate as I felt like the heat was getting too much for me. When I made it up I felt so dizzy and took some time to recover. I then walk to my car and headed to Scott’s Run. I did the whole trail got all the photos I wanted and I started feeling like I was going to faint half way on the way back to my car. If you ever go hiking please remember to bring water specially if it’s really hot outside. I learn my lesson for sure. It was all worth it though I look back at it now and I have another story to tell. I will definitely be going back to Great Falls in the future. This place holds such a special place in my heart for what its done for me. I hope to start my photo album soon and this photo is definitely going In there for sure.

I hope you have enjoyed I had a lot of fun retelling the story behind this shot. I love it so much and I hope you all like it as well. If you want to support me and my photography I have a donation button in my homepage any donation is greatly appreciated it and helps me upgrade my equipment to bring much more stunning photos. Go help me reach 1k on IG @capture_moment5. I will be back Friday for fun fact Friday until then I hope you all have a great rest of the week.