CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - JANUARY 2005
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CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL, updated 1/12/05 Thunder boomers in progress tonight 1/1/05 It was a very quiet and early night at the cabin last night - we were all tucked safely away in bed several hours before the new year arrived. During the night I was awakened by a very strange noise - at first I couldn't believe my ears, and I knew I must have been dreaming. It was RAINING!!! And pretty good too. We got about a half inch of glorious rain - what a great way to open up the new year! By daylight I was on my way down towards Boxley Valley to meet up with a fellow photographer to do some lens testing. The rain had stopped, but the clouds hung low and everything was very wet. We spent some time shooting a few photos of the elk heard in Boxley, then went on over to Steele Creek.
When we first arrived at the base of the towering limestone bluff known as Roark Bluff, there was not any wind at all, and we had perfect reflections in the calm river water. But within two minutes - and just before we got all of our camera gear set up - the wind began, and wiped away most of the reflections that we had wanted to photograph. No matter, because we had several other lens-testing shots to set up and shoot. The sun played cat and mouse for the next hour or so, peeking out from behind the clouds just long enough for us to have to change our exposures, then it ducked back into the clouds again, requiring another exposure change.
We spent the rest of the day back at the cabin looking at the images we had shot and evaluating the lenses and techniques I was trying out. I guess it is only fitting that on the day that begins my 30th year as a professional photographer, I would discover an entire new way of taking pictures, and one that I do believe will produce the very best quality images I have ever taken. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!!! Just a little while ago this evening, while going back through one of the new high-resolution images we had shot this morning, I found a teenie, tiny spider clinging to one of the small rocks in the photo - I was blowing the photo up REALLY LARGE to look at the fine detail, and this spider almost literally jumped out and bit me! I could not believe this new lens and technique can resolve so much detail. Stay tuned - I'll be producing some incredible prints from images I will be taking this year. (You will not notice any difference in the online photos though - images lose a great deal of quality when they are downsized to such a degree as I will have to do for the web viewing.) So MUCH FUN to be starting all over again after only 30 years in the business! It is quiet in the cabin tonight - the girls have been up in Missouri today and will be getting home in another hour or so. VERY froggy outside tonight - in fact the thickest fog of the year! (that is both real and a joke) Looks like we are off and running with another great year, and we look forward to spending some of it with all of you - THANKS a ton for checking in here from time to time, and I will try to keep it from getting too boring... 01/02/05 A couple of shots below from a short hike we took after the rain this morning. Quite a lovely day to be outdoors.
1/3/05 Boy did we get a big surprise during the night last night - rain, RAIN!!! All night long and into the day. Several inches. For some reason I could not sleep last night, so it was in the wee hours of the morning when I finally made it up to bed. Lots of heavy winds tossing furniture against the cabin probably kept me awake a little bit. Anyway, I overslept and didn't wake up until it was just breaking daylight. As I opened my eyes I saw a giant waterfall about a mile away across the canyon. This particular waterfall, and another one just down the bluffline from it, are nearly 100 feet tall, and only appear when things get really flooded. It took me a moment to realize what was going on - we had WATERFALLS all around! But when I got up and looked at the river, it was still running at normal level and not muddy at all - that would change in about an hour, when billions of gallons of water that fell during the night finally made it down to the river. I jumped up and started running around trying to figure out how I was going to get all of the important chores done that I HAD to get done today and still get out and shoot some waterfalls. As it turned out, the rain continued until early afternoon, which was about how long it took me to get enough stuff complete so I could leave without feeling too guilty. I headed on over to this neat little canyon about 45 minutes from here, and parked the truck on the side of the road and got out just as a mist begin to fall. Mist or no mist I was out the door and into the woods with a very heavy camera pack. Within minutes I was standing next to the creek, and it was running well and pretty clear. This was the very first time I had entered this canyon with a real camera - only been there once before. I knew there was one waterfall that I wanted to see, and just a few moments later I was standing on the edge of a bluff looking at this falls right in the face. GREAT to be out taking waterfalls photos! My good friend, Larry Roberts, had given me an umbrella that attaches to my tripod - something I've been looking for and trying to manufacture for many years. Today would be its maiden voyage. I found a good viewpoint and set up the tripod and umbrella - that thing worked just perfect - thanks Larry! Even after months and months of researching and buying and testing and returning and ordering more new lenses, and with a camera bag that is stuffed to the gills with the best of those lenses, I was one lens short - but almost. At that very moment my new lens that I needed was sitting in a UPS truck in New York City on its way to me - I should have ordered it last week instead of yesterday! No matter, I got some good shots with a couple of other lenses, plus one with a "fisheye" lens that really give you a great look around the place.
OK, one photo in the bag, time to move on. Actually I just wanted to explore around and see if I could find another view of this falls - it looked really neat down on the creek far below (I had been perched right on the edge of a 30 foot bluff, and only slipped once!). I also knew of another waterfall a couple of hundred yards on down the canyon. This particular part of the canyon is very narrow, perhaps only 100-200 feet wide - and both sides are flanked with towering bluffs that are probably 50-75 feet tall. On my side of the canyon there were two or three levels of bluffs, and I was one up from the bottom, with at least one other above me. It took me a little while to find a way down from the bluff and onto the floor of the canyon - I took one quick look at the other waterfall and decided to stick with the creek (the waterfall is running well, but I just wanted to see what there was down on the creek). The mist began to get heavier, and it seemed like the light was fading - not a real good combination. I decided to drop my camera gear and do some exploring before I set up for the next shot - literally, there was so much neat stuff all around me to take pictures of I didn't have a clue what to point my camera at next! So I looked around a little bit, trying to maximize the short time that I had left. I found another viewpoint that was directly underneath the previous location where I shot the first waterfall photo, and shot a few images there. It began to get a little darker and wetter. Then I hurried up and went back downstream just a little ways and found another spot that I liked, and shot a few images there.
Somewhere in between all of this I passed by this large boulder/chunk of the bluff that was covered with this incredible GREEN and thick and soft moss! There were young beech trees - still holding onto all of their golden leaves - all around the boulder. So I stopped and took a shot of the green and gold.
By this time I could tell that daylight was fading fast, so I splashed across the creek and made my way up the opposite canyon wall to get one other look at the main waterfall on my way out. This canyon feeds into another, larger canyon, and the area as a whole contains one of the largest concentrations of waterfalls that I know of in the Ozarks - at least seven significant falls. Got one of them in the bag today, but I suspect I will return again and again and take hundreds more photos of this one, plus all the rest! One thing I noted was the fact that there were quite a few umbrella magnolia trees in the bottom of this canyon, and some of them were bending over low right in front of the flowing water - hum, let's hope we have a very WET spring! On my way out I passed another waterfall and splashed through several smaller creeks that fed the main side canyon. I didn't have a map or GPS with me, so I had to actually think a little bit about how to get back to my truck. I knew if I just went uphill I would get there eventually, but I hoped to get closer than that. The underbrush was quite thick down in there, lots of small trees and bushes all crowding around to get the best views of the creek I guess. I continued on uphill and just sort of felt my way along, and about 15 minutes later - much to my great delight - I emerged from the near-dark wilderness right at the door to my truck! I was soaked, both from the rain, and also from the climb out. It was good to get in out of the rain and turn the truck around and head for home. Next visit I hope to get past the first waterfall with my camera gear! 1/5/05 I'll have to spend a moment catching up from yesterday before I can get to today. We all woke up yesterday to the sound of booming thunder, rattling windows, and dogs running for cover. It had rained much of the night, and in the early hours well before daylight, the sky lit up and the bombs were going off. All three of us were huddled around the computers downstairs at one point when a huge bolt of lightning hit over on Beagle Point with a very loud CRACK - it sent shock waves towards us the not only shook the cabin, but we all felt like the windows were about to break out and cover us with shattered glass - even the large and thick picture window was bowing in the middle and about to bust. YIKES! And then all of a sudden, that was the very last boom there was. And no more lightning. Just like that. The rain continued, our windows survived, and Amber went off to school in the pitch black of predawn. I had been up for a while by that time and put in about a full day of work before leaving for my "day" job as waterfall photographer later in the day. It was foggy with light rain all during my drive to near the shooting location, but by the time I had parked, the rain had stopped and I was under the fog. But the WIND was howling! (Oh yeah, I forgot that the wind was a gale forces this same morning back at the cabin too.) Many times when I head out into the wilderness to take pictures I don't have anything specific in mind that I am going to shoot - I go into an area that I think will produce some nice scenes and hope that the light and weather and camera gear will cooperate. But on this day I had a very distinct image in mind, one that I had seen on a bright sunny day last spring on my first visit into this lovely scenic area (no real camera with me and the lighting was awful anyway) - it was a view of two thundering waterfalls, one on top of the other. I knew the falls would both be running full tilt now, and I wanted to get what I hoped would be a classic photo of them. I had an idea where the waterfalls were on the map, or at least I thought I did, but I didn't have a good map with me, nor a GPS. I did have a reduced black and white printout of a topo map that showed much of the area that had been all crumpled up in the back pocket of my jeans - I took one look at it before I left the truck and made up my travel plans. All I had to do was drop off the steep hillside to the rim of the canyon, then follow along the top of the big bluffline until I had crossed three major drainages, then stop at the fourth one where I would be able to make my way down through the bluffline to the waterfalls below. OK, let's get going. The hike into the scenic area was very nice - warm temp and easy downhill or level hiking. Once I got onto the top edge of the bluff I could hear and see many thundering waterfalls all over the place, and the creek below was running white. This has become sort of my favorite place on the map at the moment, and every time I come here (this was only my third visit) I find new inspiration and more to gawk at. If only I could do the great beauty justice with my camera! OK, one, two, three drainages - hum, man there was a great waterfall at #3 crossing, but I was on a mission and wanted to keep going until I got THE waterfall shot, then I could look around and shoot other things. It was already mid afternoon, and I would have to head back to the truck by 4pm in order to get back before dark. This was all bushwhacking through very thick and difficult terrain, and no trail. I pressed on, and finally came to the fourth drainage. It was obvious that I would be able to scramble down through the broken bluffline here - there was a nice waterfall up on top, and I could see a couple of others down below me, but wait, this was not THE waterfall spot I had remembered - what went wrong? I spent some time looking around and trying to figure out if I was in the wrong place on the map, if I had picked the wrong spot on the map, or if my memory wasn't was it was a year ago. Hum, what to do, what to do. I started to set up and shoot this neat composition of the current waterfall, but I kept jabbing myself in the ribs - WAIT! I decided that I must have been one drainage short so I wanted to continue on to the next one, and I could either climb back out and stay on top of the bluff, or scramble along as best as I could below the bluffline, which is what I decided to do. That lower route took me a lot longer than I had anticipated, and it was pretty rough going, especially with my heavy camera pack. I hiked along at the base of this 40-60 foot bluff that was gorgeous in its own right - stained with many different colors or reds and oranges and blues, with some giant boulders scattered about at its base (that I had to negotiate around), all the while I was getting wet from the spray that was coming off the bluff from above. One of the problems with hiking along at the base of a bluff like this is that you either have to be right next to the bottom edge - where you are likely to get wet from this spray, or worse, get hit by falling rocks or ice - or you hike down the hillside a little bit, which normally means you are holding on for dear life because the terrain is often VERY steep. I choose to stick with the base of the bluff - besides, it is more scenic up there. As I made my way along I could not be sure if I had been this way before or not - the only other time I had been into this part of the canyon we exited at drainage #4, which means I would not have seen this new stretch of bluffline, but my thinking was that I had not actually reached drainage #4 yet, so that meant I WOULD have seen all of this before - but it just didn't look like anything I had ever seen before. No, wait, what about that big boulder over there, or the little cave up on that part of the bluff - didn't I remember those? I pressed on. After what seemed like an eternity, I came to a break in the bluffline and was able to sit down and get my bearings a little bit. Turns out I had indeed been exploring new country, and that I PROBABLY had gone down right where I thought I had in drainage #4, which meant the waterfalls I was looking for were BEFORE #4 - must have been that one falls that I stopped to look at but moved on so that I could find THE waterfalls! Darn, and the hour was growing late and the shadows (if there would have been any) getting long. OK, what to do next? I decided to climb out and hike back along the top of the bluff, taking a rather scenic route up through some towering pillars as I went. When I landed up on top and started to head off in the direction of the previous drainage, I came upon an unexpected sight. It was just a small stream I had to step across, but looking back up to my right I could see an interesting rock formation - looked to me like a wave about 15-20 feet tall had frozen right at its peak, with the stream running all along the base. This rock formation drew me in, and as I walked along in the stream examining the walls of the wave I heard a waterfall - not a large one, but there was something up ahead. At the very far end of this frozen wave of rock, there was a nice waterfall, right where the mini bluffline formed a little grotto and doubled back on itself. Not a large or splendid feature - the rock wall or the waterfall - but just glorious and wonderful all the same. And son of a gun, I decided to heck with THE waterfall shot and I got out my camera gear and spent about 30 minutes taking several photos of it. You would have laughed out loud if you were there and saw me doing this. For my first shot I needed to set up my tripod right next to this large beech tree - a tree that just happened to be growing about 18 inches from the right-hand side of the bluff. There was not enough room to set up my tripod, BUT a large hole in the lower part of the tree allowed me just enough room to set one leg of the tripod INSIDE the tree! A second leg was raised up and placed on the bluff, with the third leg in a normal position on the ground. It had started misting, so I pulled out my umbrella, but once again there was not enough room to set it up in its holder that was attached to the tripod, but I was able to wedge it overhead up against the bluff and the tree. Looking at my little setup I just had to laugh. And right in the middle of making a long exposure - for some strange reason I will often hold my breath while doing this - I began to hear a roar that sounded like a large boulder had turned loose and would crush me at any moment. But it was only the umbrella coming loose and scraping the edge of the bluff - sometimes when you are so entranced in something an alien sound like that can get magnified pretty easily! Later on I stepped back and shot a wider view of the little grotto falls, and this is the shot I liked the best.
OK, back to my hunt. I followed along the top of the main big bluffline - there were some really terrific views from along the edge, not only out and across this great scenic area, but also to the hillside directly across from me. I could see several thundering waterfalls cascading down hundreds of feet (sorry I keep using that word "thundering" but it really does seem to apply). I could have easily spent an entire day over there exploring and photographing those waterfalls - I've never set foot on that side of the creek. Perhaps next time. At one point I had to step over a large crack in the bluff in order to get out to the edge for a good view. It was sort of weird crossing that crack - it appeared to go a long ways down into the bluff. A little while later I began to explore a section of the bluff that was about half-way down this very same bluffline. And after some tricky footing along a NARROW ledge, I came upon the lower part of this very same crack. The crack was about 2-3 feet wide, and went far back into the bluff. I decided to see where it went, and sure enough, I was able to climb up at a 45 degree angle and eventually topped out at the top of the bluff where I had been standing a few minutes before - but the crack was too small to squeeze through, so I turned around and scrambled back down again. Everything was soaked and getting wetter inside the crack and along the bluff ledge where I had come to find this crack - one day I would return and take some real photos from inside, which is pretty neat. And as I was making my way back out the far end of the bluff, I realized that this was the very same "Bear Crack" that Neil Compton had written about eons ago. I had long wondered about this, and right there it was. Pretty neat spot. I continued on along the top of the bluff until I got back to what I though was drainage #4. OK, now what to do. It certainly would be getting dark soon. The quick way to what I hoped would be THE falls was to hike along the top of the bluff, but once I reached the next drainage I had no idea if I could actually get down through the bluffline there or not. I KNEW I would get to the bottom of the falls if I simply went down through the bluffline where I was, but the going along the base of the bluff would be tough and take longer. I opted to gamble and take the quicker, blufftop route. Seems like I got to the next drainage in a hurry, and I was able to find a way down below the upper falls (the beautiful one I had noted on my way in), but it turns out that this falls was actually a THIRD falls in the group that was high and out of sight from the ones below; and there was no way to get down to the lower waterfalls - my gamble had failed. So I high-tailed it out of there and rushed back to #4, then made my way below the bluffline until I came to the location I had been after all day long. And goodness it was even better than I had remembered! The upper falls was really tall - probably 40-50 feet, and then the stream got wider as it dropped over another ledge of perhaps 30-35 feet in height. I found a spot on top of a giant boulder that had me looking right into the face of the lower falls, yet I could still see the upper falls - and yes, they both were THUNDERING!!! By this time the skies were beginning to darken just a little bit, and the wind started to blow. I quickly set up my camera gear while clinging to the side of this giant boulder. I shot a series of photos with three different lenses. OK, I got my shot. Whew. One thing that always drives me as a photographer is perfection, and while I knew I had a great shot, I wondered if there was a better one? So I climbed off the boulder and went looking around, but I had to find something in a hurry - it was well after 4pm already. And son of a gun, I DID find a better spot, or at least a different viewpoint that I liked a lot - one with an even lower waterfall that I could get in the photo, for a total of three falls in one (the lower one isn't too big, but since it is in the front in the photo, it looks OK). The way upper falls could not be seen from any vantage point below.
OK, so for this shot I had to cram my tripod and myself back up against yet another giant boulder, but at least this time I had two feet on the ground - actually four feet - two of mine, and two that belonged to the tripod. The third tripod leg was resting up on another giant boulder next to me. The spray from the big falls was keeping everything pretty wet, so I rigged up my umbrella to cover my gear, but off to one side to stop most of the spray. And then, almost all of a sudden, it began to get DARK. Oops, I had better get going! I shot with only one lens this time, enough exposures to make sure I had it nailed, then packed everything up and headed back up the hillside to the base of the bluff. Bye-bye thundering waterfalls - long trip to see, but well worth every step! I retraced my steps back to drainage #4, then put it into high gear and headed for the truck that was some two miles away. Oops, just about that time I ran out of gas. Exhausted. Tired. Sore. Thirsty. Hungry. And my feet hurt from all the scrambling with the heavy pack on. But really, I had no choice but to press on, and do so as fast as I could since darkness was falling. At one point I really began to despair - I had been working in this area for four hours and could hardly go another step. Yet I was still a long, tough hike from the truck and it was getting dark. Just about that time I looked up and saw about ten thousand little faces smiling at me - I was completely surrounded and engulfed by a forest of young beech trees, each one covered with hundreds of golden leaves. There was no sunshine to light them up, but somehow they were all lit up, and shimmering, and waving at me to come on. What a pick-me-up they were! My spirit soared as I swam through the sea of golden beeches - they were really THICK! No stickers in the bunch and I slid easily between them. I would return to several more groves of little beeches in the next mile or so as I made my way, step by step, on around the mountain and up the benches towards the truck. And each time I came into the beeches, they picked me up just a little bit and carried me on their backs a little farther. My legs ached, I was out of breath, and it was near dark. Only ONE more hill to go, and this one was UP. But not too bad. And I knew I had a quart of water waiting for me at the top of the hill. And then I got to thinking about an e-mail someone had sent me that morning. He said I had just been picked that day as the favorite nature photographer by the Arkansas Democrate-Gazette newspaper. What, me? Huh? First off, there aren't many real nature photographers in Arkansas, so I guess I could also be the worst one too. But then I got to thinking about all the really great young photographers we do have here in Arkansas - gosh, I've seen some really tremendous work, especially this past year or two. So nice to see their talent. But of course, that very same talent was at that very moment nipping at my butt for my job! And it was a tired and worn out behind for sure. I have never been one for awards - in fact I know a lot of folks who rave about how this or that photographer has won so many "awards" for their work that they must be the greatest - I have in fact never won a single award - I am an award-less photographer! Anyway, my career has not been about competition, it has been about me trying to do the very best possible job on the planet that I could do with whatever I had to work with. I often hear folks talking about how their best work is behind them, how they had peaked and now ready for retirement. And I am often asked about my "best" work. Heck man, if I didn't believe with every ounce of my being that my best work was AHEAD of me, then shucks I might as well just hang it up right now. I strive for perfection, and will not stop until I reach it, or at least as close as I am able to get. I've got thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands of waterfall photos, but on this day I wanted a better one, and I always will. Anyway, as I was about to die climbing that list hill to my truck in the darkness, I thought about all those great photographers who were heading up that very same tough hillside with me. I know many of them, as they have come through my workshops over the years. These are the folks who are after my job, and I could not be more flattered by it. I like to think that I had some small part in what they do. And while I will continue to make the best photos that I can, I will also keep helping others to reach that very same goal. And here just a small note of thanks to each and every one of you who ever got some sort of enjoyment out of my work - without you there really would be no reason. It was very late when I got back to the cabin, and I only had a few hours of wake left inside of me to get a pile of work done and ready to go again the next morning. My plan was to leave out of here at 4-something in the morning and drive several hours to another great scenic spot where I could hike in and attempt yet another waterfall photo. Only this time the waterfall shot was almost right next to the road, so I would not have a repeat of my tough hike from the day before. I drove through heavy rains and bright headlights and reached my parking spot right at break of day - it was raining lightly, and the wind was blowing. I packed up all my gear and headed into the woods. And then within five minutes I was there, standing at the edge of what is one of the greatest waterfall scenes in this part of the United States - three tall and yes, THUNDERING, waterfalls, all within the same view. But son of a gun, they were not running very well! While they were great to look at, it is no secret that in order to make really good waterfall photos they often have to be at flood stage - something these particular waterfalls should have been at after all the rain this week! But nope - not enough thundering water to make a good photo. I sat down in the leaves and took a deep breath. Then I hiked back to the truck and drove home - without ever taking a single photo. It rained the rest of the day and the wind blew and I remained indoors at the computer. Those waterfalls will be there another day, waiting for my camera to take their picture! OK, whew, now we are up to present time. It is late at the cabin, and quiet, and for the moment NOTHING is coming down from above outside. All of the creeks and waterfalls are running full tilt in this part of the Ozarks, the ground is saturated and water standing and running all over the place (just the way I LIKE IT!). The temp is dropping like a rock, and is supposed to be 20 or even down into the teens by daylight. I am all packed and ready to head out the door at 6am - to take Amber to school since her little bus driver (the bus, not the driver) probably won't run tomorrow if the roads are icy as expected. I will take my camera gear with me, as there are several waterfalls I want to look at in the morning... By the way, my young bride spent much of today out putting up blazes on the Ozark Highlands Trail - it was nasty with the temp in the 40's, and blowing rain, some of it heavy at times. But she is a real trooper, and got another section completed. Yesterday marked the beginning of her six-month, 661-mile training for the 60-mile cancer walk in Kansas City this summer. The first day was only three miles, but at a 3.5 miles per hour pace, which all of the miles will be. I hope to be able to keep up with her as the weeks and the miles go on, and by the time she hits Kansas City in June, we both will be in great shape! And, we hope, will be another step closer to the cure... 1/6/05 It was a wee bit chilly this morning - about 15 degrees, with light snow coming down. The ground outside was frozen, but not solid. We decided to make a run for school, at least for the first bus. The roads were just fine, and Amber's first bus showed up almost right on time and off she went. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that we got stopped by a large tree down across the road - that's how I could tell is was so FRIGID outside - I had to get out and try to haul it off the road, and when I could not, finally had to get a large saw and work on it for a few minutes until I could break it in two and then pull it off of the road. As I was packing up my camera gear and ready to head out the door, the phone rang. Amber was on her way home - there was some problem with the second bus. This girl lives to go to school, and so was not too happy when I picked her back up again. Anyway, Pam had a ton of chores to do in town, so she drove off into a heavy snowstorm, while Amber and I remained back at the cabin. I had a lot of office work to do anyway, but did so with one eye glued to the windows just on the other side of my monitor. Later in the early afternoon as Pam was on her way back to the cabin, I snuck out and headed towards one of my favorite waterfalls, and one that I had never pointed a "real" camera at - Thunder Canyon Falls, which is located just off the Cecil Cove Loop Trail. The landscape around the Compton area was quite spectacular as it was covered with gleaming white hoar frost crystals from the fog that engulfed the high country last night. And with the high temp today only in the lower 20's, that ice would remain at least until tomorrow. The Compton - Erbie road is about one of the ROUGHEST "maintained" roads I have ever seen. But one thing about that part of the park - there is great cell phone service, and so just for a lark I took my cell phone with me when I left the truck and started hiking towards the waterfall - something I almost never do - you won't get cell service many places in Arkansas, much less off the main roads, and almost never out in the woods. I was enjoying a delightful little hike along a level trail in the afternoon sunshine - still a bit nippy at 22, but no matter. The sun had melted most of the snow on this side of the hill, but I would be hiking into the shadow of the hill soon and knew it would still be solid snow and ice. There were a bunch of moss-covered and bright green boulders scattered about next to the trail all along this first stretch of my hike - still just a rim of white snow on those green rocks, and it all looked pretty neat. Just about the time I thought about stopping and taking a photo, I caught some movement up in the rocks - dark movement. It took me just an instant to realize what it was - a wild pig! One, two, three, four, five of them, and they were rooting around in the soft earth around those moss-covered boulders and having a nice snack of ants, assorted bugs, and a few worms I supposed. One of them was sort of medium brown in color, another one blonde, but the other three were coal black, with shiny fur. They saw me right of the bat, and got pretty nervous. Just before I left the cabin Amber had cornered me in the kitchen and wanted to know how come I could always read her mind - don't recall what the issue was at the time, but we seem to operate on similar wavelengths often. I pulled out the cell phone (back to the trail and the pigs now) and gave her a call. When I told her there was a pack of wild pigs not 50 feet away from me at that moment I thought she was going to drop the phone - "How WEIRD! The book I am reading is just starting to talk about a pack of wild pigs on this very page!!!" The longer I stood there the more the pigs didn't like it. In fact they started looking for a way out, and were unable to run uphill because there was a small broken bluffline just about their position. For some reason they did not want to go forward in the rocks where they were - we were right at the break in the hill where the sun turned sharply into shadow, and the soft and warm earth was cold and white and frozen - guess they didn't want to get their little pig feet frosted. Anyway, after scampering back and forth for a few seconds, one of the pigs and then all of the pigs suddenly turned and darted right at ME! I don't actually think they were charging me, but rather just trying to get the heck out of there and my way was the only way they would figure. I stepped behind a big oak tree and let them pass, hoping they hadn't decided to have me for dinner! These weren't the largest wild pigs I had ever seen, but they did look fit and trim and just about ready for the skillet. As I walked on I could see where the pigs had crossed the trail - it was torn up pretty badly - they tend to rip up all sorts of things as they plow through the dirt. OK, it was now crunch time, and the landscape was frozen and noisy as I walked. Once I found this little spring (that was roaring today), I left the trail and headed down a steep hillside. About 20 minutes later I had worked my way on down and around and had scrambled down a rocky hillside and landed in the canyon floor, next to a rushing creek that had cut a notch in the bedrock. All of this area was in shadow, but the canyon walls behind me were still getting afternoon sun, and it was glowing. I set up the camera and made a few exposures as I moved closer to the entrance of the canyon proper. There was, of course, a great deal of noise - after all this was THUNDER Canyon! As with my two previous visits, the sight of that tall falls back in the little box canyon was quite spectacular. The slick rocks all along the little creek were solid ICE today and even more slick, so I had to be careful. I set up and took a couple of photos, but it was rather fruitless because there is NO WAY to ever put any real sense of this place down in a 2-D photo. It is one of the magical locations in the Ozarks for sure. I spent about an hour down in the canyon, then climbed hand-over-fist out and made my way along a very steep and rocky hillside to the upper part of the falls area. You can't ever see this entire waterfall from any one location, and in fact the middle part of it is extremely dangerous to be near, so I went on around and found a spot just up above the beginning of the falls where two creeks come together. I spent another hour in that location making several different compositions, trying out my new lenses, and doing the best I could to record the magnificent crashing falls all around me. Just when I was ready to pack up and move on, I realized it was getting dark - hum, where have we heard that before? But then I found another shot I wanted to take, so spent a little while getting it set up. Then I packed up and moved on, crossing the stream for the final time and beginning my steep climb out of the canyon area. But wait, I found yet another great shot, so I had to scramble back down a little bit once again, and set up for my actual last shot of the day. I just LOVE digital - I knew I had nailed the exposure before I left the scene - with film and long exposures you never really knew what you had gotten until the film came back from the processors. The hike UP and out in the near-darkness was not all that bad. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. But I must tell you this one funny story. I wore a stocking cap today because it was so cold (keeps my ears warm). At one point as I was climbing out of the canyon up through boulders of all sizes and shapes, I stepped into a leaf-filled hole and went down up past my knees. As I went down, a small sapling grabbed ahold of my stocking cap and yanked it right off my head. This actually happens quite often when I bushwhack with a stocking cap on - probably a dozen or more times a day. Funny how the trees know just what to grab. Anyway, as this tree was grabbing my hat and I was going down in the hole, the tree bent over just a little bit and when it broke free with the cap the tree whipped back up into the air, taking my cap with it, and flinging the cap up on top of a boulder that was over my head! I would love to have seen that happen! On the way out I came across my little band of pigs once again - it was nearly pitch dark and I could hardly see the trail, but those BLACK guys really showed up there in the darkness. They didn't seem to mind me this time much, and just kept right on rooting. And then about 100 feet past the pigs as I was getting it on at a pretty good clip to make it back to the truck while I could still see, I put my foot down on a large flat rock that was slanted slightly, and was also ice covered - my feet flew right out from under me and I hit the ground HARD! Thank goodness I had my tripod over my shoulder, which is where I hit first, and the foam padding on the tripod legs absorbed a lot of the shock. Still it nearly knocked the wind right out of me, and it took me a few moments to catch my breath. Just then I realized that it was the very first time I had fallen down this week - normally I hit the ground often, but for some reason I have remained upright most of the time, ready for the next tree to reach out and grab my hat! One thing that is really different with digital over film is that when I get home I go immediately to the computer and start downloading my photo files. I do this because I want to get them backed up as soon as possible, but also because I want to see what the images looked like - you never really know if you got it until you see it. With film, I would take my shot rolls to the lab once a week, then until my next trip into town to look at them. But nope, with digital, it is right after I get past the door and hug my wife, then it is onto the computer. A shower and even a stiff glass of bourbon come later. Of course, there is time for all of that while the files are being downloaded. So here we go, a few photos from the afternoon's take. A couple of these were shot with a blue/gold polarizer that intensifies the "alpenglow" that was reflecting off the wet rocks. I love the look of this filter, but it can get a little unreal - more like art. I hope you enjoy!
1/7/05 Just a quick update on this foggy, wet and cool Friday afternoon in the Ozarks. I decided early on this morning that I needed to spend an entire day at home and work and not go out shooting, which lasted about an hour. Then I packed up and headed down into a rather scenic little canyon near here called Dug Hollow. Seems like it is one of the best places to view and photograph ice formations, and I figured after a couple of days and nights of below-freezing temps that would be a great place. When I arrived I found mostly just lots of running water and not much ice at all, at least not sheets of ice like I normally find there. But the waterfalls were at just about perfect levels and pure white, so I spent an hour or two shooting. I did find some nice ice over in another area of the canyon, and shot a few images there as well. The temp remained in the mid-20's for the several hours that I was out, but I remained pretty warm and toasty. After I hiked back out I stopped to greet some folks who had just pulled up into Bob's driveway. I rolled down the window as they got out of the van and came over to me. Try as I might I was unable to form any coherent words - seems that it was colder than I had thought down there in old Dug Hollow and my face was near froze and I was simply hardly able to talk at all - sound kind of funny, like I had been drinking all day and night and day! So the moral of this story is if you ever run into me on a cold day and have trouble understanding me, it probably is not because I am drunk! The temp has been rising a bit all day, and not it up to 36 degrees. Heavy fog has rolled in and it is very wet outside. We spent a few hours today re-formatting the cabin a little bit and installing a brand new laptop computer in Amber's room - she now is wired to the internet! She insisted on getting on the very smallest laptop you can get, and it is very small indeed (and will make a perfect backup computer for my slide programs - oops, did I say this was Amber's computer?). Only problem with all of this is that we got her a nice speaker system to go with it - a system that I wish I had for MY computer! So I guess we won't have any trouble figuring out what she is listening to! OK, so here are a few of the images I got this morning. Sorry to be posting so many waterfall photos, but HEY, we are in the height of the waterfall season right now and I happen to like them! Also a couple of ice shots, good for those of you who will visit this page in the heat of July and August...
1/12/05 We have a horrific storm going on all around us at the moment - some serious thunder, lightning, rain (yea!), and lots and lots of leaks in the cabin - at last count about eight leaks. The Amish can build some great stuff, but not always. We often get these leaks when the storms blow up out of the southwest like this. Unfortunately, the computer equipment is right in the middle of it all (or should I say under it all), and it is kind of funny some of the things we have to catch the leaks - like umbrellas over the monitors that divert the water out onto a towel that soaks down into a pan. The one word that can describe the weather this past few days is WIND! And plenty of it. This morning we woke up to loud bangs on the cabin walls - the outdoor furniture impacting the logs. There have been a number of trees down across the road, but so far we have managed to get them all out of the way without major effort. All of that wind, and not a single drop of rain - at least until tonight. We need at least a couple of inches to bring the rivers and waterfalls back up to speed. I've been slowly but surely hacking away at the pile of paperwork on my desk, and the long list of unanswered e-mails. Getting a few other much-needed chores done as well. That means I have not been outdoors much this past week (the waterfalls have been down below their peaks). I did get out this afternoon for a quick trip into a neat scenic area for a scouting trip, but it cost me a little bit of pain. While the main creek that runs through this area where I was this afternoon is quite wonderful in itself, with scores of giant boulders of all sizes right in the middle of the creek, it is the many side drainages that have caught my eye - so many of them are nearly solid moss-covered boulders, tumbling down steep hillsides. Today most of those brilliant green cascades had little or no water in them, but I could tell they would be something really special with a good bit of water (I'm sure they were wonderful last week, but I missed them - too many waterfalls, so little time). While I was climbing around next to one of these colorful drainages, the earth literally broke loose from under my feet and I took a pretty serious tumble. I came down hard on one of the moss-covered rocks - a flat one about three feet wide and four or five feet long. My chest hit right in the middle of the rock with a great deal of force. At first there was no immediate damage that I could tell, but it nearly knocked the breath right out of me. That doesn't seem to tough, but for any of you who have ever had that happen to you I'm sure you know it IS pretty serious - at least it feels that way. What happens, I guess, is that the force of the blow compresses the rib cage and forces air out of your lungs, and while you are laying there thinking you are just about dead and gasping for air, slowly you are able to suck enough of that great stuff deep into your lungs. For several moments, it really hurts. I've only had this happen to me once before - out on the football field in high school. I collected myself and continued with my chore, and took a picture of the scene I was interested in. It wasn't until tonight that I began to feel pretty bad - like I had ripped a few things loose somewhere down in there! It only hurts when I move though, so no problem. Later on, as I was making my way along a very wet and slick part of the rocky creek (it had rained a little bit while I was there, adding to the slickness), I popped one of my ankles, which sent me rolling and tumbling and crashing to the ground. While my ankles have always been weak and you've read of this same thing happening to me dozens of times here in the Journal, I have been ankle-problem free for quite some time now, and this one took me by surprise. I managed to collect myself and all of my camera gear (most of it was tucked safely away in the padded camera bag) and limp on along, setting up and shooting one other photo before making the steep climb back out to my truck. Come on rain! (outside the cabin though, please...)
One of the main chores I've been doing this week is the annual backup and archival of all my digital images and prints. Folks ask me all the time how I do this sort of thing with digital images - one of the things that I teach in the photo workshops. Basically, I just put everything onto an external hard drive (this year a 250 gigabyte one), then unplug it and store it up at the office. Then I make another backup of all the images and all the files on the two computer drives onto a much larger external hard drive (500 gigabyte). So now I've got at least two, and in some cases three, copies of everything, and in two different locations (if one burns, I've still got a copy of everything). So now I can sleep a little better knowing all of this is backed up. Of course, I do backups all the time anyway, but this is a more formal exercise. I have to tell you one funny note about the very first item that has ever been returned to us for a refund. A lady called the other day and was livid about the fact that her husband had given her one of our calendars for Christmas - she told us that HE KNOWS that SHE buys HER OWN calendar each year and he had NO BUSINESS buying one for her! Boy, wouldn't you like to be married to her! Anyway, we will gladly accept any of our products for full refund, but no one has ever done it before. When the package arrived with the calendar I realized that her husband was a successful lawyer in Ft. Smith. The shipping charges that she had to pay both ways cost her almost as much as the cost of the calender itself. Speaking of calendars, we still have a few of them left, but not very many. And we are ALMOST OUT of the Buffalo River Wilderness picture book that contains my photos and the incredible watercolor paintings of William McNamara. We only have a couple cases of those left - and all of them have been autographed by Billy (and I will personalize them to someone of your choosing). Once these are sold, that will be it - no more will be printed. We have ADDED three new books to our online store, including two by Don Kurz (not new books, although one of them is a second edition, but they are new to our store) - OZARK WILDFLOWERS (the best wildflower book for this region by a long shot - although it was not published by us); and SCENIC DRIVING THE OZARKS, which is certainly the very best resource for anyone setting out to travel around this part of the country and looking for the most scenic routes. You can find all of these publications now in our online store. OK, nuff business stuff for now - I've got to go do some mopping up - please keep your fingers crossed that we get a lot more rain tonight - I've got some mossy stream and flowing water photos to take tomorrow, if the creek DOES rise and it is not muddy! Back to top | ||
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