Wedding and Portrait Photography Blog in Colorado Springs

High School Senior Picture at Rainbow Falls

How many high school seniors have had their photographs taken at the Rainbow Falls tucked under highway 24 just west of Manitou Springs? It’s been a popular location for years with photographers, appearing as the backdrop for high school senior photographs, rock band CD artwork and model portfolios, but that might soon be coming to an end.

I love to photograph there but it is soon to lose a lot of its photographic appeal in an effort to restore the area to an impossible bygone era. Recently the local paper announced there are plans to clean the graffiti off the bridge and rocks.

Although you may have driven over it hundreds of times, comparatively few people visit the falls, you have to choose to go in there and see it. There is no other similar resource for photographers in this area but there are many waterfalls that are graffiti free. Manitou is an artistic community and, while not everyone can see the art in random scrawling on the rocks, collectively they provide a backdrop that has been used by almost every professional photographer in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs for years.

I could understand if they were still an area of outstanding natural beauty but they are a shadow of their former selves. I’ve seen the photos from before the bridge was built and they once were beautiful, I know people who remember the viewing platforms that have since rusted away, but the falls have evolved. They are now a place of artistic expression for photographers and kids looking to contribute to the whole scene. Every person I’ve taken there is awestruck by the amount of collaborative effort it has taken to transform red rock and gray concrete into a cacophony of colors that blend into an urban trademark, laid over a natural canvas. If this was graffiti at St Mary’s Falls, or Helen Hunt Falls surrounded by trees I could understand the desire to clean it up, but this fall is in under concrete, hidden from view by engineers.

What is the plan to stop the graffiti from reappearing? Are we to expect more rules and regs banning us or fences keeping us out. The Sheriff is thinking security cameras are the answer, invading the privacy of everyone who goes there. The graffiti will likely return despite the authorities best efforts and with it the photographers. I’m sure in due course the cleaning trucks will return too. The area was cleaned in 2006 by a team of volunteers but you couldn’t tell today. Public funds are simply providing a blank canvas, any efforts to keep it that way can only be more damaging to the area. As purse strings are being tightened all across the state, how is this even a financial priority?

The tranquil beauty of the falls was not destroyed by the graffiti, but by city planners when the highway was built right over it. It was forgotten until rediscovered and reinvented but societies drop outs, looking for a place to call their own. It was a place the hippies came decades ago and now is a place for today’s miss-fit kids who just want a place to hang out. Let them decorate their place, their way and let those of us who appreciate it continue to visit it and share it with others. If the graffiti offends you, this is Colorado, you have endless other places to visit.

I wonder how much trash is generated by the Manitou Carnival and the Coffin Races? How much effort goes into cleaning up after those events. Does the trash at Rainbow Falls through a whole year come even close? Sure there are some cans on the grounds and probably enough trash to fill a couple of trash bags but it’s not a stinking refuse dump by any means. I propose we leave the graffiti, but those of us, especially photographers, who see this place as a resource, contribute to cleaning the area up and keeping it that way.

L’Aura Montgomery Rutt of the Manitou Environmental Citizen Action, commented in the Gazette on the plans to clean the area, “Now we will be able to take action to restore Rainbow Falls to its former splendor,” Careful L’Aura, I think removing the bridge might upset a few people.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 1:08 pm and is filed under News, Photography, Portraits, Senior Photographs, Senior Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.