Drought-Season at Ken Lockwood Gorge

I had a plan for Ken Lockwood Gorge: fast water crashing over the boulders in the South Branch Raritan, rendered silky-smooth on a long exposure. The plan didn’t survive contact with reality.

That morning, I woke up and decided to go, then wasted the rest of the morning working out settings, timing, and light direction for the shot before I’d even left the house. By the time I was ready, I’d missed my window for morning light, so I pivoted to the afternoon. When Bhavna woke up, I talked her into coming along by promising a beer at Esker/Hart afterward.

We arrived at the gorge around one o’clock. Persistent drought conditions across New Jersey meant the river wasn’t what I’d pictured. The South Branch Raritan was running low and slow, with nothing close to the dramatic flow needed for the shot I’d planned. The last time I’d walked this stretch was back in May 2015, a Memorial Day picnic with the whole family that turned into a longer wander past the old stone footbridge, chasing a fly fisherman and a very patient frog with the long exposure. Eleven years on, the river looked nothing like it had that day.

We walked the trail north for around forty minutes, well short of the old stone bridge, stopping wherever the water looked most promising. None of it matched what I’d hoped for. One good moment stood out, though. An angler walking past asked if he’d be in my shot. I told him honestly that he’d add interest to a frame that would otherwise have been fairly dull — and I meant it.

An angler casts a line at Ken Lockwood Gorge, which sits between Califon and High Bridge in Lebanon Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey · Sunday 21 June 2026
FujiFilm X-T5 · ISO 125 · 1.0 sec
XF27mmF2.8 R WR · 27 mm · f/16

Bhavna’s feet were aching by the time I called it. Before we’d left home, I’d offered Esker/Hart as the reward for talking her into the walk, so after a quick stop for gas at the Quikstop Fuel in High Bridge, we drove six minutes up to Esker/Hart Artisanal Ales to collect on it.

I shot the Fujifilm X-T5 without the Urth ND64 six-stop filter I’d brought with me, using shutter-priority at around one second to keep pace with light that kept shifting as clouds passed overhead. Despite the slow water, two frames from that session held up. One built around a natural arch of overhanging branches, with the rocks leading the eye downstream, was the strongest composition of the set. The other caught the angler crossing the rocks mid-frame, giving the scene scale and a bit of narrative the empty landscape shots lacked.

The final edit in Adobe Lightroom Classic was simple: Adobe’s built-in Adaptive Colour profile. I had no emotional energy for more detailed adjustments.

The river didn’t give me what I came for, but the day wasn’t a complete loss — two usable frames, and a clearer sense of what to check before driving fifty minutes on a hunch. I’ve since found the USGS gauge for this stretch of the South Branch and worked out roughly what discharge I’d want to see before trying again. Worth doing that homework before the next attempt, rather than after.

I also carried the Minolta XD-11 that day, loaded with Atlanta Film Co. 50D. Those frames are still a month or more away — I’ll link the post here once it’s developed.