black-eyed fall

Waterfalls in Arkansas during the Summer basically don't happen. We had about a week of rain, so I figured I'd head out to a bigger creek and hope for the best. I wanted to capture something in the height of Summer. Thankfully there was a little bit of water.

Of course the ride home involved a downpour and lightening storm. I guess I got more water than I bargained for!

new sights

Clark Creek generally runs underground through Lost Valley. I've only seen water flowing through the last 1/3rd of the trail. I was very surprised to see Clark Creek rumbling through the whole Lost Valley. I was so giddy to see all sorts of new cascades and didn't mind shooting in the rain.

chasing ansel

I'm certainly not as good as Ansel Adams, nor will I ever be, but sometimes I take a shot that I think is at least in the spirit of his style. Anyway this was taken with my Holga WPC camera that makes panoramas. This is one of my favorite waterfalls - Eden Falls in the Lost Valley.

the importance of being ernsty

I imagine if you hunt for waterfalls in Arkansas or even if you hike a lot, you've heard of Tim Ernst. His books have made many of my adventures possible. Ernst tends to take pictures of himself standing next to waterfalls. I imagine this is mostly for scale, but his Captain Morgan style pose always cracks me up a little. If I have time, I take my own Ernst pose. It's actually a lot more fun than it seems like it'd be.

tumble

When I'm not shooting waterfalls, I miss it. I miss it in a way I'm not really used to. There's certain hobbies or interests I have, but if I'm not doing them it's sort of out of sight out of mind. That isn't the case with waterfalls. It gets in your soul. I'm telling you.

triple play

Third times the charm!!

This is one of those waterfalls that alluded me. Given the right weather conditions and water conditions, waterfall shooting is pretty basic. Give me clouds and lots of water and I'll have a field day. However, if you don't have the right conditions waterfall shooting is really difficult or impossible.

My first trip to Triple Falls was cloudy, but there was very little water. The second trip had tons of water but tons of sun. I was starting to think I would never be lucky enough to catch this place during high waters and on a cloudy day.

My third trip out involved taking my car down the muddy, steep forest roads. This road is not meant for cars. By the time I maneuvered the roads all the clouds were gone. I was pretty upset about it, but liked the waterfall enough to stay and soak in the view. After about 30 minutes of splashing around in the creek checking out butterflies and rocks, clouds appeared! I was so happy I nearly tipped over my tripod setting it up. (No camera attached!)

I was able to snap a bunch of shots in short window of time the clouds allowed. This was my favorite one and as taken as the clouds were moving out. The water isn't nearly as smooth as I'd like, but I still think it's a good shot.

inspired

Here's a slightly different view of the Glory Hole. This place is really amazing.

pick your poison

Two shots for the price of one. I know the standard way to shoot flowing water is with a long exposure. Sometimes I like the look of a faster shutter speed. I think it works pretty well with cascades anyway. What do you guys think?

95

This is the 95-foot tall Cedar Falls at Petit Jean State Park. This is probably the most popular waterfall in the state. I have at least two I like better, but I do think it's popularity is deserved. Even when the water is low this is a real beauty.

in the spray

This is a more abstract view of Pack Rat Falls at the Haw Creek Falls Campground. It was near impossible to get this without getting water on the lens. This is another place that has tons of awesome views on the hike. However, this is a bushwack hike so it probably isn't for everyone. It's short though, so it's certainly manageable.

I actually busted it making the hike out there the last time. I landed on my knee and my shooting buddy was convinced I had broken something. I didn't feel a thing and it never even bruised up, so his worrying was kind but probably exaggerated. :-D

battles with the sun

This is part of the Davies Bridge in the Petit Jean State Park. I think other than Cedar Falls it's one of the most photographed things in the park. I love bridges and waterfalls, so this is an awesome combination.

under the bridge

Here's another shot from The Lost Valley near Ponca, Arkansas. It's such a beautiful place. I've explored many places in Arkansas that this remains one of my favorites. A bonus is that the trail is easy to follow and not difficult. It makes this beauty accessible to a lot of people.

This small cascade under the Natural Bridge doesn't have a name, and since I'm not very creative I just call it the Natural Bridge Cascade. It works, eh?

wayback machine

This time of year is interesting for me. This marks the start of my second year in photography. I'll also be 100% honest and say it's the same anniversary for my love of nature. I was hiking before this, and I really liked it, but it was still something I forced myself to do. I saw it more as exercise than a way to enjoy the world around me. Anymore, I just want to be outside.

I offered to help a friend of mine learn to use his camera. He suggested we go to Petit Jean. I thought that was a good spot, because it was my first waterfall adventure too. It was interesting to pull out my shots of Cedar Falls from last Spring and see how much my photography has changed.

Here's one of my shots from last year:

keep it moving

Cedar Falls is one of those places I learned a lot of things about my camera. It was the site of my first waterfall photography, and I went back three or four times. It was nice to go back, because I hadn't been since last Spring. Cedar Falls always amazes me. It's 95 feet tall and even when there isn't much water the force is incredible. Cedar Falls is located in the Petit Jean State Park near Morrilton, Arkansas.

boulder scramble

Here's a shot of Longpool Falls in Pope County, Arkansas. To get to Longpool Falls you have to scale over some boulders. This is made even more difficult because the boulders are loose, moss covered, and often wet. If you are an Arkansas waterfall hunter, I'd advice caution while visiting this place. I'd say this is the most dangerous place I've visited yet, but if you plan for enough time it really isn't that bad.

22 degrees fahrenheit

I once thought 22 degrees was much too cold for me, but since I've picked up a photo habit I've yet to find a condition I deemed unbearable. I probably should have considered my camera. When it stopped working later in the day I immediately wondered if the cold got to it. I spent over three hours in temperatures ranging from 22 to 32 degrees. Just about everyone is arguing that that shouldn't have taken out my camera, but I have learned the minimum operating temperature is listed at 32 degrees. I'm sure just ten degrees under isn't enough to do the damage, but if any moisture or weakness was present I imagine the temperature didn't help!

Regardless I got some awesome shots of the recent snow and ice that hit most of Arkansas. When I visited the Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds the snow was still pretty much untracked.

a study of dihydrogen oxide in various states of matter

I mean there was some liquid and solid forms present at least. It was also pretty early in the day so there was a slight fog hanging around. :-)

This is yet another shot from the Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds in Johnson County, Arkansas. This is Pack Rat Falls.

cursed!

I used to have this theory that Longpool Campgrounds was cursed. I've had a few weird things happen, but I just tend to get a bad vibe there. I finally decided I wasn't going to let the place get to me and made it to Longpool Falls at sunrise in Late January. I'm glad I went. It is such a beautiful place.

rats!

I tried to make it to Pack Rat Falls one other time. I ended up follow Haw Creek for a rather long time. I realized my mistake when I came to a bridge over the creek and not a waterfall! I pulled out the guidebook and realized I was heading downstream and not upstream as the book said. I also wasn't even following the correct creek. I joke and say I was lost in the woods. I knew how to get back to the car and all, but I was completely off course.

So having said that, I'm not sure why I felt I could correctly follow directions in the snow and ice. It turns out a man and dog had made their way to the waterfall since the last snowfall. I followed their tracks until I found the other creek and took it from there.

rule of thirds

This is Haw Creek Falls in Johnson County, Arkansas. It's a lovely little waterfall. There happens to be two other fairly well known falls nearby. I attempted to make my way to one of those, Packrat Falls, and took off in the wrong direction down Haw Creek. (Packrat isn't even downstream of Haw Creek Falls by the way. It's actually upstream on another smaller feeder creek.) After going over a mile in the wrong direction I came upon a road and realized my mistake. I wasn't going to tell that story, but it turns out two other photographers that I know have more since then I do have done the same thing. (The guilty shall remain nameless. Haha.)