06/30/14 Featured Arkansas Photography–Summertime sunset over Pinnacle Mountain
- At June 30, 2014
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
- 0
Taken with a Canon 1D MK IV, Canon 24-70 Lens @F11, iso 250, Multiple exposure technique used to create photo. In the summer months it’s often very easy to catch a late afternoon thunderstorm rolling in behind Pinnacle mountain. On this evening the light had started out with just a bright sun with very few clouds, but as the evening approached, bank of thunderheads rolled in to the left of Pinnacle. The wind seemed to die down quite a bit, so since I was using older Canon equipment with a very limited dynamic range, I went ahead and shot a 4 shot bracketed exposure. I was able to catch the sun just as it was starting to roll down behind the ridge behind Pinnacle. The contrast between the dark thunderhead and the high cirrus clouds was impressive and I stayed around for as long as could before it got too dark.
02/21/14 Featured Arkansas Landscape Photography–Moonset and sunrise over Downtown Little Rock
Taken with a Nikon D800 Nikon 14-24 Lens at 20mm, F 7.1, 1/20th of sec exposure, ISO 200. Photograph developed from a single file. The view of Downtown Little Rock is a great place to catch a sunrise especially if you can find the Arkansas River still to allow for the best reflections. I made this trip with Todd Smith, another noted photographer in Little Rock. Todd and I were also very lucky to have a setting waning moon directly over the city. This when combined with the sunrise rise lighting the clouds in the background made for a wonder shot. Once again the Nikon D800 did not disappoint me in that I was able to work up this from a single raw file, something that would not have been possible in my days with Canon. In the distant background you can also see a flock of birds that were flying down river. What I liked the most about this shot is how the sun was just starting to rise and was only hitting the Regions and Stephens buildings. In the foreground is the Junction bridge and the Main street bridge is directly behind it. Since late December, Little Rock has been lighting all the bridges at night with a bright red light. Some of this light is responsible for the color on the water in the foreground.
02/01/14 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset from Flatside Pinnacle
Taken with a Phase One IQ160 Digital Back and Rodenstock 28mm lens @ F11 iso 50 for approximately 1/30 of a second. If you have a few hours one winter afternoon, take a drive out to Flatside Pinnacle and work up a sunset. This area is not too far from the city, and takes about 40 minutes to get there. From Flatside you have a view to the west that is one of the best in Arkansas. Here you can see the beginning of the rolling Ouachita mountains and in the distance Forked Mountain. Flatside is not a hard hike so you can bring some extra equipment if you like. It’s also a great place to position yourself to watch a storm roll in from the west in the summertime. Looking to the right just outside the scope of this photograph, you can see the other tallest peaks in Arkansas all lined up, Mt Nebo, Spring Mountain, and of course the tallest Mt. Magazine. Great place to spend to off time.
01/12/14 Featured Arkansas Photography–Wintertime reflections of Pinnacle Mountain
Taken with a Nikon D800, Nikon 14-24 lens @ 18mm iso 100 with no filters. One spot I never get tired of visiting is Pinnacle Mountain. There is always a shot to be taken, either on the climb up or in driving around the mountain. To many a 500 foot tall peak is not a mountain, but Arkansas it does seem to quality since the tallest spot in the state is only 2700 feet, the summit of Mt. Magazine. Arkansas will usually get one or two snows that will dust the higher spots. Pinnacle can be climbed from pretty much any side but most prefer to come up from the west side (the opposite from this picture), the east side which this image shows is a bit more challenging and is more of a rock hop to the summit. I like to try to catch a reflection shot of Pinnacle when I feel the conditions are right. On this morning I had just a bit of breeze but I was still able to get a close to mirror reflection. The pond is a small catchment on the back side of the mountain.
01/05/14 Featured Arkansas Photography–Dry Creek Falls in the good times
Taken with a Nikon D1x (remember that camera?) lens most likely Nikon 28-70 at 28mm, F11, for approximately 1 second, iso 200. There are some places in Arkansas that are special for me. Dry Creek (yes that is the name) was one of the best little hidden gems in the Ozarks. This little creek runs for about 3 miles before emptying into Cave Creek which eventually runs into the Buffalo River. Dry Creek Falls is about 2o to 25 feet tall and is unique in that it’s in a grotto that drops away from level ground so if you don’t know what you are looking for, you will walk right by it.
I made my first of many trips to Dry Creek Falls with Jim McDaniel who lives near by. Jim, I hope you are well. That day was a cold and wet January day and I only remembered that I wanted to come back to the falls with a good camera. The spot is really beautiful and is surrounded by different trees species that in the fall and spring really can add some great color to the scene. There is a classic pool below the falls and it was a great swimming hole for years.
In the past back in the 20’s and 30’s locals would come down to the base of the falls and have church services. I probably have hiked down to Dry Creek falls about 20 times but on the day this picture was taken, it was the best. The water was running at a great level, and the fall colors were just perfect. I was using a Nikon D1x 6MP camera which just did not have enough resolution to really capture this scene. I am glad I caught it that fall since I never was able to get the same wonderful fall scene again. I made several trips during the spring, but all my fall trips were dry runs (no pun intended).
Sadly in the 2009, Arkansas suffered through one of the worst ice storms in recent history. The trees around Dry Creek falls were damaged severely and the scene wonder of this spot was ruined. Now all that is there are broken tree tops and mass amounts of trash and broken off trees that have caught up below and at the edge of the falls. Many of the trees that rim the grotto have broken off or worse died and now are just standing dead trees. I tried to hike down to the falls in 2010 with Bob Shull and almost got lost since the trail had been so badly damaged by the winter storm and what looked like a small tornado. We eventually started to walk down the creek as the road that you normally follow was blocked by so many downed trees. By far the most amount of damage was at the falls themselves. They will never really look the same and it may take 50 years or more for the area to fully recover. One more testimony to just how fast nature can take change the way things look overnight.
10/24/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset from Cameron Bluff on Mt. Magazine (a camera perspective)
Taken with a Canon 6D, 15mm Fisheye, F5.6, iso 250, handheld, iso 250. I love to work various spots on Mt. Magazine for both sunrise and sunset scenes. Mt. Magazine is unique in that it’s the southern most part of the Ozark Mountains and also the tallest spot in Arkansas at over 2700 feet tall. There are literally hundreds of spots to find great vantage points for sunsets/sunrises and I am constantly looking for new ones. On this evening, there wasn’t too much to look for, just a bright orb of the sun, so I decided to try something different and add in one of my cameras which is a Nikon D800. The fisheye effect of the 15mm lens added to the effect. You can definitely see that there is a lot of time before the peak fall color hits this spot.
09/25/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–A quick preview of things to come, Fall scene on the Buffalo River sunrise over Bee Bluff
Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 lens @ F8 24mm, iso 200, bracketed exposures for final image. The Buffalo River has to hold some of the best photographic opportunities in Arkansas, especially in the fall. This shot was taken in 2011 but it’s a great example of what you can expect on the Buffalo. Here you will find almost every tree species that the state has and each one will have a unique fall color, along with the short leaf pines. In this shot you can see a row of sweet gums and maples along the lower part of the bluff and in the background on Bee bluff the oak and hickory trees are making their presence noted also. Fall in Arkansas can be glorious and on the Buffalo tends to peak sometime around mid October. I feel that this year since we have had such a long dry spell that the colors may not be as bold as normal and fall may come a bit earlier than normal. So far no major storms are forecast for Arkansas this fall and the northwest portion of the state is very dry. I was up in this area last week and there were already a few trees starting to turn a bit early. I am hoping that this year will not be repeat of last and the year before where each tree species seemed to turn by itself and there was never a great display of fall color. I was lucky in this shot to catch the last of the morning fog lifting off the ground and still showing up in the maples and gums. I took this shot as a bracketed exposure since I wanted to be able to catch all the light in the sky and not have too much noise in the trees along the bluff.
08/23/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Rocks and Leaves on the Cossatot River
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.
04/21/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunrise over Bee Bluff on the Buffalo River
- At April 21, 2013
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
- 0
Taken with a Canon 5D MKII, Canon 24-70 lens @ 24mm, Image is a composite of several different exposures. There are times that I will remember more than others on the Buffalo River. This photograph is one of those days as I had a great landscape opportunity on this morning. While everyone else was out chasing the Elk, (which are a bit on the tame side) I found this scene near Roark and Bee bluffs. The trees around this area vary from Maple, Sweet Gum and various Oaks. Most often in the fall in Arkansas the various trees tend to change colors independently and don’t come together to give a great color display. This spot near Steel Creek landing features two of the most prominent bluffs on the upper river and in the fall you can sometimes catch early sunrise shots like this one. There was no wind and just a bit of light fog was rolling across the tops of the trees below the bluff. I was able to shoot this scene only by using several different exposures to catch the bright sun and deep shadows in the foreground. I am now finding that with a Nikon D800 many times scenes like this can be taken with just one exposure due to the extreme dynamic range of the sensor of the D800.
03/26/13 Featured Arkansas Photography–Sunset over Sam’s Throne in the Arkansas Ozarks
- At March 26, 2013
- By paul
- In Featured Arkansas Photography
- 0
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.