08/23/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Rocks and Leaves on the Cossatot River

Rocks and small pool on the Cossatot River
Rocks and Small pool on the Cossatot River

Rocks and Small Pool on the Cossatot River in Southwest Arkansas

Taken with a Canon 1ds MKII, iso 200, Canon 24-70 Lens @70mm, 1/60th of a second.  The Cossatot River is one of my favorite spots to hike.  You have all sorts of photographic subject matter to work with.  The Cossatot River is in the southwestern corner of Arkansas Ouachita Mountains.  You can find some of the best photography in the area known as the 6 falls or Cossatot Falls.  Here the river turns due south and drops over 6 separate ledges, each of which have unique rapids and names.  The rocks around Cossatot Falls are sandstone and have been worn totally smooth by the action of the water.  You can find all types of interesting formations, such as the one in the photograph above where lines of quartz are running through the rocks.

08/09/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Swirls in foam on the Cossatot River

swirls in foam on the Cossatot River
Swirls in foam on the Cossatot River

Swirls in foam on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas

Taken with a Canon 1ds-MKII, Canon 24-70 lens, 24mm, F9 for 1/125 of a sec, iso 100.  The Cossatot River has a wide range of photographic subject matter.  When the water is running high you can make a trip down to catch the kayakers running Cossatot Falls, and when the water gets lower, you can look for unique spots along the riverbank to work.  Most of the rock along the river is sandstone and tends to have a reddish hue in most places.  The best place to catch the kayakers is at Cossatot Falls.  Here you can perch on one of the rocks for the best view.  The falls consist of 6 separate drops and each has a unique name.  The most famous drop is the “washing machine” which tends to get the most attention.   The only problem with the Cossatot is the fact that it’s about a 3 hour drive from Little Rock so a trip there makes for a rather long day.

Swirls in foam has been printed on both canvas and Canon Platine rag.  It makes an excellent print and can be displayed in both the horizontal and vertical orientation.

07/25/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–6 Finger Falls on Falling Water Creek

Six Finger Falls on Falling Water Creek

Six Finger Falls on Falling Water Creek

Taken with a Phase One P45+, Mamiya 35mm F3.5 lens @F14 iso 50 for approximately 1 second.  Falling Water Creek is one of the many jewels of Arkansas.  This particular spot is one of the more popular spots on the creek.  Here you find a ledge that runs all the way across the creek and is broken in 6 spots, thus the name 6 finger falls.  The total height is about 10 feet and it’s a very unique spot on the creek.  The rocks in the foreground on this shot were all washed away in a recent flood and now there is only a sandbar.  The creek above the falls has a long flat bedrock bottom is a nice spot to wade.  If you want to photograph 6 finger falls, I would recommend you plan on being there in the morning in the afternoon, the sun will be shinning in your face.  Of course if it’s a day like this one, overcast, it won’t matter.  This area is about 2 hours away from Little Rock.

 

07/06/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Winter vista of Sam’s Throne

Sam's Throne wintertime vista
Winter vista of Sam's Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Winter vista of Sam’s Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Taken with a Canon 1ds MKIII, Pentax 35mm FA lens, Zork adapter,  iso 100, F11.  Sam’s Throne is one of the more iconic spots in the Arkansas Ozarks.  It’s geology is also a bit unique in that most of the exposed rocks are sandstone.  Sam’s Throne is the large hilltop in the left of the frame.   There is a long exposed Bluff line that runs for about 1.5 miles opposite Sam’s and this bluff line is one of the premier climbing spots in Arkansas.  I like to work Sam’s throughout the entire year, but this wintertime shot was a rare opportunity.  Arkansas had a major snow event the night before and as I got to Sam’s the clouds were just starting to clear.  I was blessed with a bright blue sky poking through the clouds and a great coating of snow on everything.  It would have been great to be there early in the morning when the trees were still lined with snow.  I took this shot in a series 3 vertical segments with a Zork adapter and a Pentax 35mm FA lens and then I stitched the images together.  You can get to Sam’s by traveling north on Arkansas Hwy 7 to the Junction with Hwy 123.  Stay on Hwy 123 for about 12 miles, the turn off for Sam’s Throne will be on the left.

05/08/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Cossatot Falls State Park near Mena Arkansas

Cossatot Falls on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas
Cossatot Falls viewed from BMF rapid on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas

Cossatot Falls viewed from BMF rapid on the Cossatot River in Southwestern Arkansas–click on image for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 1ds-MKII, Zork adapter, 35mm Pentax FA lens, F11, iso 100 for approximately 1 second. The Cossatot River is one of the great scenic spots in the southwestern corner of Arkansas.  The Cossatot runs due south and eventually creates Lake Greason.  From there is continues to run into Millwood lake, one of the largest impoundments in the southwestern part of the state.  This photograph was taken much further upstream in the area known as the six falls.  Cossatot Falls is unique to Arkansas rivers as here you will find 6 distinctly different rapids that have cut through the sandstone ridges in different places.  Each spot has a unique name, BMF, and the Washing Machine are two of the most famous.  This photography is looking back upstream from BMF and features 3 of the falls.  I took this shot with a Canon digital camera, with a Zork adapter that allows you to to 3 separate portrait frames as stitches.  I then will combine the 3 frames into 1 landscape image.  You gain a tremendous amount of resolution by shooting in this format.

04/12/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Midday autumn calm along the Buffalo River

Autumn midday view of sweet gums and maples on the Buffalo River
Autumn midday view of sweet gums and maples on the Buffalo River

Autumn midday view of sweet gums and maples on the Buffalo River

Taken with a Nikon D800e, Nion 24mm 1.4 lens @ F7.1  1/250 of a sec shutter speed, iso 200.  On this day, the conditions were constantly changing.  I had been up on top of Roark Bluff most of the morning, but a large mass of clouds rolled in and pretty much shut things down for the morning.  I had gone back to my truck and I was figuring out where to head next when the clouds started to part.  The blue sky came out and within 20 minutes all of the clouds were gone!  I prefer to have some clouds in the sky when working with large masses of blue since the clouds will help break up the sky and allow for the use of a polarizer on a wide angle lens.  If I had just been shooting a solid blue sky, even at 24mm,  due to the angle of the sun I would of had the classic dark to light polarized effect that wide angle lenses can create.  However on a day like this with muted sunlight, you really want to have a polarizer on since it will make the colors in the leaves really stand out.  The polarizer also defeated any refection I was going to get on this shot but I felt it was a fair trade off.

 

03/26/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset over Sam’s Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Sunset over Sams Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks
Sunset over Sams Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Sunset over Sam’s Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks

Taken with a Phase One IQ-180, Schneider 43 Super Digitar lens, F11, iso 100, exposure time 1/30 sec.  This was a strange day, as the wind was blowing about 20 to 30 mph and just standing around trying to take the picture was a bit dangerous.  Sam’s Throne is a great place to spend a day and or night as there is now a informal maintained campground.  Sam’s Throne is the single large hill out in the distance but the entire valley has some wonderful views.  I like to try and catch a sunset there working to catch the sun illuminating the throne in the background.  This area is frequented by climbers so be prepared to watch some interesting activity on the rocks.  The rocks are mainly sandstone and will take on a deep orange yellow color with the sun shining on them.  The valley is surrounded by oaks and hickory trees which tend to have great display of fall color.

03/10/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle

Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle
Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle in the Eastern Ouachita Mountains

Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle in the Eastern Ouachita Mountains

Taken with a Canon 1ds mkII, Canon 70-300 lens, F11, iso 200, Composite shot taken as a manual exposure bracket. If you get a chance to visit this area you won’t be disappointed by what you find.  Flatside is the 3rd in a series of pinnacles that I consider to be the gateway to the Ouachita mountains.  In Pulaski County, you have Pinnacle Mountain, then just a bit east from Flatside, there is Northside Pinnacle.  These are followed in turn by Flatside and then Forked Mountain.  Forked mountain can easily be seen in the distance from the summit of Flatside.  Forked Mt. is a considerably harder climb than Flatside but the view from it’s summit is worth the hike.   I like to shoot to the west from the summit of Flatside after the sun has dropped below the horizon as you then can pick up the rolling hills out towards the west.  I worked this shot up from 5 separate exposures in a classic exposure bracketed series, which was required back when I was shooting with the Canon 1ds series of cameras, now with Nikon’s newer cameras like the D800, I should be able to get the same shot with 2 or 3 frames max due to the extra dynamic range of the Nikon sensors.  The trail runs up the back of Flatside mountain and right now there are several large trees down that make the hike take a bit longer.  The trail is an easy 1/4 hike from where you park your car.

03/07/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine

Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine
Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine

Midnight skies looking south from the summit of Mt. Magazine

Taken with a Nikon D800e, iso 250, Nikon 14-24 lens @ F4.5, final image is composite of 50 minutes of 2 minute stacked exposures. I had been to Mt. Magazine a about a week earlier but was still learning about the place.  The small ceder tree to the left is a famous landmark on Mt. Magazine and has been recently adopted by the Mt. Magazine lodge as their emblem on all signage.  It’s a easy shot, but tends to be over run with people most times during the year.  On this night with temperatures ranging about 25 degrees, I didn’t have too much to worry about in regards to people, however I did need to watch out for ice.  The bluff line drops down about 80 to 100 feet about 5 feet in front of where I had the camera.  On this night the moon was more of a hindrance then a help as I was near full, just two days past full and very high in the sky.  The day had been very hazy and some of the haze can be easily seen in the distance against the horizon line.  The town in the distance is called Havana, not sure where the name came from and the lake in the foreground is call Blue lake.  All my night work is now shot in stacks since I get so much more control over the final product.  For some reason I still had some gaps that I didn’t expect so I am starting to feel that the Nikon D800e might be buffering out with a long series of raw files, but I need to test this in a control to make sure.  The gaps can be easily fixed with Startracer software so I am no worried.  However I still managed to somehow touch the tripod and move it so that last few stacks were out of line.  This image represents a 50 minute time frame and I took the individual stacks as 2 minute images.  This gave me the best balance of star light against the very bright moon.  However I still added a dark short frame that I took towards the end of the series which helped a lot in closing down the moonglow to the left of the image.  This shot is looking due south and the pattern of the trails was a pleasant surprise for me.

02/23/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Night skies over Area 51 in Western Pulaski County Arkansas

Area 51 and nighttime star trails in Pulaski County Arkansas
Stars and moonlight over Area 51

Stars and moonlight over Area 51–click on the image for a larger view

Taken with a Canon 5D MKII with a 16-35mm lens @ F4.5 for approximately 4o minutes. Area 51, in Little Rock, not out in the desert.  Yes, Arkansas has it’s are 51!  It’s a great spot to view Pinnacle mountain as there is big field in front of the mountain and the area 51 sign just adds to the effect of the shot.  This is a harder spot to work than one might think as the constant stream of cars coming by.  The headlights can really blow out a stacked exposure and to get this shot I had to work in the foreground from several different image since the lights were totally blowing out the image.  I liked the way the sky came out, with a amber color towards the horizon and then a nice fade into a deep blue.  I was barely able to catch the north star in the upper left corner.  I was working against a very bright moon but I was able to finally get into a spot where I could use the large tree on the right to block most of the moonlight.  I love this spot and go out to it many time during the year.

Copyright © Paul Caldwell, Photos of Arkansas