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.

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?

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

wanderlust

Today I'm starting an eighteen day road trip. I'm going to queue up a few entries so there will be something here while I'm gone. I thought this shot was fitting for my first day on the road. I really do have a wanderlust, too bad wandering never seems to cure it. :-)

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.

shadow

The light through the trees really captured my attention. I was there for waterfall shots, so when the sun came out I wasn't really all that happy, but it did allow me to get some shots of the warm light on the snow. This was taken in the Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds in Johnson County, Arkansas.

leafed out in the cold

This was taken at Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds in Johnson County, Arkansas. I liked these leaves. I can't really explain anymore about this shot.

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.

toto, i don't think we are in (ar)kansas anymore!

I'm a sucker for pictures of roads. Luckily no one was really on the roads on this morning, because I stopped in the road, backed up, and took this picture through my windshield.

I loved this, because it doesn't look like Arkansas at all. It's nice to see the scenery change from time to time.

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.)