Here is the 2nd image.

Both of these were hand held at around 1/30 of a second and I was glad to see that both came out OK.  There was a bit of noise in the darker areas which did surprise me since I was shooting at ISO 125.  However the shadows were considerably darker in the raw file, as I was more concerned about blowing out the highlight of the sun in the fog.  So far the Canon 5D MKII has been very forgiving in regards to noise as long as the ISO is kept below 2000.

After this series of shots, I headed over to the millpond.  Michael Dougherty, of ArkansasNaturePhotography.com had mentioned to me that there was a lot of wildlife activity around this area.  He was right!.  I spent the next 4 hours working around the millpond.  To those that don’t know where I am talking about, the millpond is about 2/3′s of the way to the Hwy 21/43  junction and is the pond that is associated with the “old mill” that is now off limits (I would love to get back there).

The millpond is known for the Trumpeter Swans that are permanent residents, but it also has an amazing number of other animals that frequent it.  While I was there, I was able to photography two types of hawk, some blue wing teal (amazing results), several song birds, hummingbirds, monarch butterflies, and a beaver.  In the winter eagles can often be found in the snags.  One of Michael’s best shots of an eagle was taken here last winter.

I had planned on shooting the Elk, but at this time of day, they were not out.  They have been frequenting the replanted fields near the Hwy 21/43 area, fields I know well.  So after working the Millpond I headed back to Steel Creek to see if the sun had come out on Roark Bluff.  The sun  was starting to poke out of the clouds at the millpond so I had high hopes.  Unfortunately, by the time I got to Steel Creek, the clounds were back and it was starting to rain.  I made a quick decision to go ahead and hike to the top of Roark, one of my favorite (and everyone else) spots.  The downside to this hike is ticks.  This year the seed ticks have been terrible each time I have hiked to the top of Roark bluff.  Really terrible,  around 100 or so visible on me by the time I got to the  summit.  The problem IMO is that the horse traffic on the trail along the Buffalo has given the ticks a year round supply of food.  Plus the area is so overgrown right now, with plants over my head, as you walk through there and brush up against the plants, the ticks  just drop off on you.  I dreaded the hike back, knowing I would have as many on me by the time I got back.  I am not sure what the solution is, as had sprayed a large amount of deet on my legs, neck, and arms.  If you have a dog,  I would not take them in this area right now as they will be misreable.

As I got to the summit, the sun started to back light the clouds so, I went ahead and set up.  I ended up taking a lot of shots as the light kept changing.  Here is a shot from the summit, time of day is around 2:30 pm, taken with a Medium format digital back. Right before the shot, 3 deer were down in the fields, but by the time I got ready to shoot they were gone.  Notice in the line of gum trees along the river, there are signs of leaves already starting to turn fall colors.

It actually rained on me again and then the sun broke out.  However the haze was really harsh and started to interfere with the scene.  The view behind me was much better, however even though it’s of Bee Bluff, the horse parking area and all the roads seem to detract from it.  I still have some really old 35mm slides of this area right after the park took it over and you can still see the huge horse barn and fences.   One other note, you can continue along the make shift trail on the top of Roark, however it’s not an easy hike and does involve some height exposure.  You can access the far end easily by crossing the river right below the camping area and hiking up into a small hollow which is visible in this image, look for the light brown bluff at the end.  There is a great waterfall here  however when it’s running, the Buffalo River tends to be too high to cross without a canoe.  To get to the summit from this end, requires one tricky move, one that 20 years ago I made without thinking, now I would want a rope.  But later in the afternoon, it’s a better spot to be as the sun is working with you.

After this I headed back to the Hwy 21/43 junction and found a nice herd of Elk.  The bulls have all lost the velvet and are getting ready for the rut.  The herd I was able to work, had one large bull, a 7×5, strange rack, and several spikes, and then at least 50 cows and calves.  The calves are still nursing and I was able to watch that drama unfold.  For the first time, I heard a cow call, it’s more of bark than the bulging sound of the bulls, but one cow in particular kept at this until her calf reappeared from some brush at the edge of the field.

It will be most interesting to see what and when the fall colors fully materialize.  A lot of the trees along the river are starting to turn fall colors and I saw some of this also up by the millpond.  I was surprised by this since it was the last week in August.

There is never a dull moment in the Boxley valley.

Foggy trees on the Buffalo River.

Macro shot of moss.

However the Spring colors were just not there. I have traditionally loved the early Springtime in the Ozarks. You can get some just amazing colors due to the various shades of green as all the trees leaf out. I call it the powder puff effect. As you can see from this shot of Roark Bluff, the tops of the ridges look as if they are still in full winter and you can only see some very very slight budding out with the trees along the river. In this photo see if you spot the campers.

Roark Bluff

The Buffalo River was running around 126 cfs which is a good enough level to float. By the time I came back to the crossing at Steel Creek, there must have been over 200 canoes either launching or waitng to launch. It was good to see that many people coming up to float.

I briefly drove through the Boxely valley to see where the Elk might be. I found one large herd of cows at the field closest to the Ponca put in on the Buffalo. I spoke to Michael Dougherty later in the day and he mentioned that there were a few Bulls in the smaller fields closer to the Hwy 21 bridge.

Besides the dogwoods and redbuds, I felt it was considerably too early for the photography I like to take of this region. Hopefully the water will hold through full springtime so the waterfalls and streams will be at their best levels. This is a time of the year I love to work as Dogwoods are one of favorite subjects. I am always looking for a new angle on their beautiful blossoms.

A single Dogwood, captured near the upper Buffalo River.

I also stopped by Broadwater falls to work some HDR images of the falls, which I hope to post on my website later this month. The waterlevel at Broadwater falls was a bit low, but there were signs everywhere of how high it had been just the week before when the Buffalo was over 1000 cfs at Boxley.

Sunset

I also stopped at the Sam’s Throne area and the Vendor valley. As was last year, the Sam’s Throne area is way behind the Jasper area and still has great potential for color. The trees there are turning more in unison and so far seem to be turning more traditional colors. I saw some beautiful Maples and Oaks just starting to turn. The Black Gums are prime to just past prime at Sam’s and this too is just last year. The walk along the bluff is one of my favorites. It’s interesting that most of the climbers seems to pass up Sam’s for Horseshoe Canyon. The state has really fixed up Sam’s Throne and now the drive in there is nowhere as a treacherous before.

Bluff View from Sam's Throne

I have yet to travel to the southwest part of the state, but hope to get there soon.

Over the past weekend, I spent some time up at Ponca AR to photograph the Elk herd. The Elk in Arkansas are considered a great success as the heard now has grown to close to 500 animals. The viewing of the herd has become a big item at Ponca and on the weekends you can expect to get a lot of traffic along Hwy 43 as people stop to look. There were more photographers out looking for the Elk that I expected. Enough that it reminded me of photography in Yellowstone during the fall rut.

The Elk will come down into the main fields near Ponca early in the morning and later in the afternoon. I found that the later afternoon shooting provided the best opportunities for my shooting style. If you are working the fields around Boxley Valley, you are limited to the fence line. This means that most of the visible Elk are between 100 to 200 years out. Even with a 400mm lens, the distance was really too great to take a photo to feature an elk without an extreme amount of cropping. To really bring the animals into view, you would be better suited with at least a 500mm lens, even a 600 or 800mm. There were plenty of people using these huge pieces of glass. Enough that it reminded me of a sporting event.

As you determine the best shot, you run into the question of which lens to use. If you have the ability to use a large fixed telephoto like a 500mm F4 lens, they you can add a 1.4x tele-converter and extend that range to 700mm at F5.6. The only issue here is the cost of such a lens which is around 5K. The other option is to use a traditional zoom telephoto say a 100 to 400mm. This will not give you the same low light abilities, but with the same 1.4x tele-converter you can get to 560mm at around F6.7. This solution should still give you a good crisp image, but will not work as well in the early morning low light. The other thing to consider is your ISO setting. I shot most of the images I took at around ISO 160 to 250 since I was using an older Canon 1Ds MKII which really doesn’t have a great high ISO performance due to the noise that is created. Some of the new cameras out there will operate all the way up to 3200 ISO or higher and that is a real plus for this type of mixed lighting shooting.

It became obvious to me that the real trick is to find a spot where the Elk may appear outside the normal fields in the Boxley Balley. When you are shooting into the fields you basically have a canebrake and fence line as your backdrop. Unfortunately for me, this means getting up the area more often and most likely not on the weekends. I am hopeful that as winter approaches, the Elk may migrate into different fields that will allow for a better photography opportunity.

I was lucky to spend Saturday with Michael Dougherty, a photographer living in Compton AR, who has become a local expert on the Elk. Michael has created a large knowledge base about the Elk in Boxley Valley, and keeps a running blog on one of his websites that contains a great amount of information. You can find the blog here.

If you are considering a trip up to either view or photograph the Elk, make sure you check out Michael’s site, Arkansas Wildlife Photography.com/, before you go.