At first glance, this photograph reminds me of a rainstorm battering a mountain valley. But it’s not. This is the impact point of the Big Slap, the highest waterfall in Plitvice National Park. The Plitvica River plunges 250 feet over a cliff, and this is where it lands. The amount of water may vary by season, but it always makes a big splash when it strikes bottom. I was able to get fairly close to this point, needing only about 100mm of telephoto reach to fill my frame. I used a medium shutter speed of 1/250th of a second to extend each drop of water into a streak of flying liquid. The grasses bend under the weight of the deluge, while the huge rocks become miniature waterfalls in themselves. This image harnesses a moment in time expressing the fury and force of nature in all of its energy.