11/18/15 Featured Arkansas Landscape Photography–Foggy view of Roark Bluff

Foggy morning at Roark Bluff on the Buffalo River

Taken with a Nikon D810, Nikon 24-120mm Lens, hand held  @ 320iso for 1/100 of second, F 5.6

When I think of the Buffalo River, I tend to think about Roark Bluff and the beauty around that part of the river.  Here you have two of the largest bluffs on the river, Roark and Bee both of which are well over 300 to 400 yards long.  Each bluff has a unique character to it and the colors of the limestone comes alive in the early morning.  At this time you have the valley totally fogged in.  The fog will last for a while after sunrise and the best time to photograph the mornings is when the sun has started pop through the fog and adds a very unique light to the scene.  Now add fall colors you have a real prime setting for sure.

On this morning, I was amazed to have the entire beach to myself, and I will take that when I can get it.  It was a Sunday morning and the colors on the top of Roark Bluff had already turned brown, however there was still excellent color along the river.  The top of the bluff seems to be mainly hickoy and maple, but on the riverbank there is a lot more variety.  Here you will find oak, sweetgum, maple and gums.  The display this morning was perfect.  I had a tall gum tree on the upper left of the frame still showing the brillant yellows and reds, and across the river was another gum tree, but in pure yellow.  In the foreground the river birch is starting to turn from green to yellow so overall it was a nice setting.  I framed the shot with just a bit of the fog on the top of the shot.  I still wanted to be able to see through the fog to make out the colors along the top of the bluff.

Roark is a great place to drive and spend the entire day.  You can watch the sun move across the valley and enjoyed varied shooting situations during the day.  Roark is one of my favorite spots for night photography, either star trail work or the milky way.