CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL - APRIL 2005
Cloudland Cabin Cam, 4/22/05, predawn after a bit of rain | ||
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CLOUDLAND CABIN JOURNAL, updated 4/22/05
The April Print of the Month 4/14/05 Sort of chilly outside this morning (low 40's), and there is a fuzzy fog bank covering the bottom of the canyon - not a sharp-edged and well-defined cloud bank like we often see here, but really fuzzy. Perhaps all the baby clouds have banded together and are moving around not knowing exactly where to go, thus creating a soft edge. The eastern horizon is beginning to glow, and I am looking forward to sunrise when the bright rays hit that bank of fog - it will really start moving around then. I spent the last couple of days down south chasing the light and trying to get a few photos. It was a typical photo trip - whenever I wanted clouds, it was bright sunshine; when I wanted sunshine, here came the clouds. I had originally wanted to spend some time at Garvin Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs - which I hear is just gorgeous right now - but they had nothing but clear skies and harsh sunshine so I didn't even bother to make a stop (SUNSHINE is not good for photographing huge gardens like this, and they don't allow entry early or late in the day when the light is softer). So instead I veered off Hwy. 7 over to snap a few infrared photos of my favorite mountain in Arkansas, Forked Mountain. Infrared requires hot sunshine to look its best.
Next I headed on down to Cossatot Falls, and once again found perfect conditions for infrared photos - sunshine, blue skies, and this time, a few puffy clouds above. I ended up spending a couple of hours out there exploring around in the sunshine, and I think got a little sunburned - sort of a change from just the day before when I hiked around for an hour in the pouring rain! I also got a few color photos of this incredible place - that blue sky added so much color I just could not resist. The rock formations there always amaze me, and I got a couple of different compositions that I think will work into my new rock patterns series.
I shot several gigabytes of photos, then returned to the truck and downloaded them to the laptop and sat there in the afternoon shade and took a look at the shots from the day so far. With infrared you really never know what you have so it was great to have the computer and bring up the images in Photoshop and see what they looked like when desaturated like you have to do (the camera actually captures images with color in them, but very strange color, so you have to remove all of the color before you can see what the images really look like). OK, next stop. I had hoped for high water down in the Ouachitas, but the landscape must have soaked up recent rains because the water levels were more normal or even lower than I had expected, so some of my water scenes were off the list. I drove on over towards the Little Missouri-Crooked Creek area and found an explosion of wildflowers - especially spiderworts and violets. There were ENTIRE hillsides covered with these guys! Only problem was the fact that the wind was blowing relentlessly, and that bright sunshine was not good. I found an area that would be in shadow later, and planned to come back just before sunset. In the meantime, I spent awhile exploring along the creeks. As the day grew longer and the running water was consumed by the shadows from tall hills around, that water took on a life of its own - reflecting some really nice colors from the sky and backlit trees along the banks. I have this special filter called a "blue-gold polarizing" filter that I sometimes use with dull light to add a little color, and often produces this same sort of light. But today I did not need it as those colors - if you got down low to the water and in just the right position - were quite vivid and saturated. I was like a kid in a candy store - and my candy was the incredible play of light all around me. I shot and shot and shot and shot and shot, then finally as the sun sank too low and the reflections faded away, I fell back up against a rock - surrounded by a waving sea of wildflowers - mentally exhausted from all the excitement. Then I ran back to the truck to download everything and see what it all looked like.
Next I drove on around back to where the other wildflowers were, and while I never did get a good shot of a hillside of them - nearly impossible with the blowing wind, weeds, and other things that just got in the way - I managed to wait out the wind long enough to get a couple of macro shots of the violets and the spiderworts. Both species of these flowers can have a wide variety of color in plants growing right next to each other, and it was interesting to see the variation right there at my feet. With so many to choose from, I had trouble picking out exactly which compositions to shoot - like being in a store with an entire rack of chocolate! When doing macros like this you do have to carefully pick the flowers so that they will all be in the same plane of focus - the visual depth of field is only millimeters deep when shooting this close.
OK, got a couple of flower shots done - after setting up and waiting and waiting and waiting for the breezes to quit, then frantically shooting shot after shot after shot during the few seconds of calmness. Just as I was satisfied and remarked "OK, I am done with you guys!" and started to put my gear away, I spotted a pair of spiderworts that were engulfed by a fern, so I had to dig out my gear again and take a few more photos.
The light was gone and I was left with twilight, and about 30 minutes to eat dinner and walk around and try to figure out what to do next. And please don't get upset about this, but I sat down on a rock next to a stream and ate one of my most favorite "woods" dinners (I am TERRIBLE with food when outdoors) - a fresh can of beenie-weenies eaten with a stick! I woofed it down and loved every bite. It was nice to just hang around the running water and not have to work for a change - I seldom ever get to do that - there is always a photo to run and take someplace. But there was no light, and so I enjoyed this quiet time. (Just a note here that while the sun has still not show up yet this morning, the sky is very rosy colored, as is the canyon and fog below - a wonderful, serene scene outside this morning.) I moved onto another location and parked for the night, spreading my sleeping bag out on the ground at the base of a towering pine tree. It was getting a little cool as I slipped into my 24-year old sleeping bag (still my number one bag of choice after all these years - they just made them better back then!). There was a sliver of a moon hovering over there in the west, and a few stars out. Each time I awoke during the night there would be many more stars out, and that old pine tree would loom larger and larger with each view. One thing I noticed right off that I don't think I've ever seen before, was that the big dipper was directly overhead and was revolving around the top of that pine tree. Everything was soaked by the time I got up and stowed my gear and headed out for parts unknown just before first light. I stopped and waited for sunrise at a favorite lookout point of mine, but it was very hazy and I didn't get much of a shot. Then I started down a trail to hike into the Caney Creek Wilderness to get a shot that I had wanted to get for many years. After climbing over dozens of dead trees that had fallen across the trail, and seeing nothing but dead trees all around, I got a little bit discouraged and decided to head back to the truck and abort the mission. After looking around at several other locations in the area, I turned the truck north and headed back home - I got a few good images but the bright sunshine and constant winds were just not helping. About half way home I ran into a cloud bank, which renewed my spirit, so I made a little detour and drove on up to Petit Jean State Park. Man that cloud cover makes such a wonderful difference in photos! The dogwoods were in bloom, and they had pretty good water flowing, so I spent the rest of the afternoon hiking and climbing and looking around and taking another several gigabytes of photos in that beautiful light. The wind continued to blow most of the time though. One funny story about an encounter with a fellow hiker. He stopped me and asked about if I had seen his wife along the trail. This guy stunk pretty bad, I mean REALLY stunk! Seemed like a nice enough guy, just needed a shower. I had passed his wife about a half mile back down the trail, and figured she was trying to get away from him since he stunk so bad. After we finished our conversation and the guy moved on, I took three steps and realized it was not him, but rather a dead raccoon that had smelled up the place! Of course, I'm sure he thought it was I who stunk so bad... Cedar Falls was just wonderful, as always, and was running pretty good. The trees down in this canyon were not quite as far along as in the rest of the park - just beginning to pop out. But that light was just marvelous, simply beautiful light to photograph with, especially delicate scenes of flowing water. As I climbed on out of the canyon I met another couple at the top of the trail - both of them taking photos of just about anything they could find. The lady asked how the waterfall was, and when I answered in my very enthusiastic tone about how great it was, the man just shrugged and said how sad it was that the light was not any good - "We need bright sunshine for all that contrast!" I guess it was OK light for snapshots....
On my way down off the mountain I stopped an took a few photos of a dogwood tree - took me about 30 minutes of waiting before I got calm winds, but didn't mind the wait as all around me springtime was exploding and looked pretty good.
Oops, the sun has just now popped up over the horizon here this morning, and I need to go take a deck cam shot. The light is soft, as are the trees that are just beginning to leaf out - we can still see Beagle Point but it is going fast. The air is crisp and still, and filled with the sounds of joyful birds and the music of the river far below. It is a very happy here in the wilderness! 4/16/05 Just a quick note from this morning. First, if you are in the Russellville area today, I highly recommend that you come to a free print display opening and slide show by the soon-to-be-world-renouned nature photographer Larry Roberts. Some of his wildlife images are quite stunning (and the others too!) - the show will be at the Lake Dardanelle State Park Visitors Center off Marina Road. The opening reception is from 6 - 8 pm, with his slide show at 6:30 & 7:30. The prints will be on exhibit there all month. We are having one incredible textbook spring day and weekend here in the Ozarks, and I hope that all of you are able to get out and enjoy! The trees are all beginning to leaf out a little bit now - the overall scene across the wilderness is one of soft hues of greens and yellows and browns, with the trees in that in-between stage where they are kind of fuzzy-looking. The sky is blue, the redbuds are pink, and the dogwoods are coming out pure white. Wildflowers all over the place. A slight breeze moving things around. The air is filled with the sounds of springtime, with birds, squirrels and other critters all about, and the music of the river drifting up from below. My bride took off early for her 14-miles of training this morning for the cancer walk, and in order to divert the dogs from following her, I headed on over to Bob's, over the hill and through the woods, with a bag of goodies in tow. Actually the bag was filled with prints for Bob. He had brought me a tiny black and white print that he shot of his old home place out in the country back in the 1940's - the print was in pretty bad shape. I scanned it and brought it back to life in the computer, then made some prints for him. He liked them so well he ordered another batch yesterday, and I spent some time last night printing them up for him, now delivering them across the hillside this morning - how is that for neighborhood delivery!
The forest floor was carpeted with wildflowers and especially now entire cities of mayapples have sprung up all over the place. No flowers out here yet - well, actually no flowers completely out here yet - I found a couple just beginning to break out of their tight bulb, but also a photo of one here that is not quite open yet. Won't be long now before there will be many millions of white flowers open under those green umbrellas.
The East meadow was on fire with redbuds and dogwoods - perhaps the very best year I have seen yet for dogwoods. I was over at Steele Creek on the Buffalo yesterday afternoon for a board meeting and had trouble driving because the sides of the roadways were lined with these INCREDIBLE dogwoods! The light was terrible so I didn't bother to take any photos, plus I was almost late for the meeting. But it was quite a sight, and I suspect all of the Ozarks will be alive with them this week. As I got closer to Bob's cabin I came upon a lovely scene of a redbud and dogwood and blue sky reflected in the green pond water, framed with golden grass - I shall return to this scene in the next day or two I hope with my real camera!
We delivered the prints and had a nice visit with Benny and Mildred (I say "we" as the dogs opened the door and walked right on in the cabin while the rest of us were talking - both our dogs can open screen doors with no trouble. The day was beginning to warm up as I hiked on back to the cabin. I stopped and took a photo of the first of many thousands of wild strawberry plants that will bloom here this spring - yum, YUM! Strawberry ice cream on the way, I can just taste it now!
Now I am off to go take some outdoor photos of a great beauty that is lurking around the cabin. She is going to graduate from the sixth grade here in a few weeks and needs a photo to show during the ceremony (along with a, hum, shall we say a baby photo of her in her very first Halloween costume). I have no trouble shooting photos for National Geographic - piece of cake. But the pressure to take the PERFECT photo of my daughter is great, and I'm not sure I am up to the task, but I will give it a shot! 4/17/05 We had a great trip down to see Larry's program in Russellville last night, although almost didn't make it in time. As we pulled onto the highway at Redstar we were stopped and the road was blocked - the forest service was doing a big 3,000-acre burn and the place was engulfed in smoke. We were able to talk ourselves into being escorted through it all - along with a truckload of bikers that had planned on riding the route - and made it on over to Fallsville OK. It got kind of scary a time or two as the fire had jumped the highway and we drove through flaming forest on both sides of the road. Larry's program was great. On the way back home we once again drove through the burned area - still some smoke but it was OK to drive, and in the darkness we could see hundreds of little fires out there in the woods, some burning 15-20 feet up into the trees. It is getting close to the end of the burning season here, so we are hopeful that we are seeing the end of it until next year soon. The photo shoot with Amber went well yesterday and I think we got some good images and one to use for her graduation. Here is one sample from the shoot - still kind of unbelievable that I am kin to such great beauty (but then, of course, I married her mom, so it all makes sense).
It is kind of hazy here this early morning and sunlight is slow to fill the canyons - still a lot of that forest fire smoke hanging around in the air. The wilderness is very soft this morning as springtime creeps along. I'm off to parts unknown to capture images for the new picture book - that shooting time is quickly coming to an end and I need to make hay while the sun shines (and while it rains too). 4/18/05 Just got back from another quick trip down south to make a few photos. It was kind of a muted sort of day yesterday, with lots of sunshine, but not really all that harsh. I headed to Lake Chicot State Park in hopes of getting one of the classic sunset-and-cypress shots on the lake, but once I got there and looked around a little bit, decided that was not going to work. One of the rangers at the park suggested I go up to Cane Creek State Park instead because it was "full of trees: - YES, that is exactly what I wanted! After a lot of twists and turns on a back road to get there (another one of my "short" cuts), I made it to the lake and immediately realized that the trees were not cypress trees nor alive - not going to work either. OK, plan C. I knew there was one genuine swamp lake full of cypress trees with lots of that green lichen hanging down all over the place - so I was off, passing through some towns for the third time this day. When I arrived at the lake I found that no much of the water was open - most of it was covered with a solid layer of duck weed, so I would not have the nice reflections that I had hoped for, most of the lichen was dead and brown, and also there were SO many trees packed in there that I would not have a clear shot of the sunset. But that was my last option - the sun was beginning to set, so I stomped around in the swamp a little while and found a couple of nice shots that I liked. At one point I was about waist-deep in the muck, which was just fine with me, except when there were a few larger swirls in my neighborhood in the water that I could not identify. Hum.
And as luck would have it, the sunset was just PERFECT for what I had originally wanted to do - it eased on down into the horizon as a giant red ball - but I had no great scene to put it into. Oh well, better luck next time. I headed on back to the state park and spread my bag out under a pair of giant trees - it was dark when I arrived and I could not tell exactly what the trees were, only that they were nice and big. I fell asleep looking up beyond the limbs of the trees at the black sky full of stars and a half-full moon. (I actually put up one of my tents because the bugs were so bad, but this tent is mostly just netting for the roof with the fly off, and so I had a great view of everything, plus the cool breezes came right on in.) Now I know some of you will not care to hear this, but I am to the point now where I can no longer hide it from you. Here is the way my schedule went this morning - my cell phone rang at 5:30am inside the tent - it was my bride waking me up. After I spent a while shooting the sunrise, I downloaded all of the images into the computer and looked at them in Photoshop while I was in line at the McDonalds drive-thru window getting breakfast - SORRY! I did still sleep out on the ground and not in a motel, so I am not totally soft, but I found it funny I would have a cell phone in my tent and be looking at my images while in the drive-thru. Oh yes, SUNRISE was quite wonderful. It was pitch black when I got up and hit the road. I knew there was not much facing east at the park itself, but there is a highway that goes all around Lake Chicot and eventually turns and faces east, so that is where I headed. As the eastern horizon began to glow I could tell where the sun would rise, but I had trouble finding a good spot that had cypress trees in the water that would line up with the sunrise, and also most of the property all along there was private. I did manage to find one group of nice trees and at a location where I could stand without getting into trouble. I pulled the car over and jumped out with my camera bag and tripod. Over the next 20 minutes I shot about 500 images - that should tell you what sort of scene I had stumbled upon. At first it was just four cypress trees silhouetted against the glowing sky. Then a bass boat pulled up. DRATS! Turned out the fisherman remained in the area around those trees for about 15 minutes and I eventually made him part of the composition. The light was changing fast, and I swapped lenses often, also moved around a lot along the shoreline to either include or exclude that bass boat. Turns out this little group of trees was a good fishing spot as another boat soon joined this first one, but they were not as photogenic as the original boat.
To get the best shot of the day I had to get right on out to the very edge of the bank in order to get above a group of weeds growing along the edge of the lake. I didn't realize it until too late and after I had made most of my photos that all of the area right along the shoreline was sticker bushes of some sort - I had on only shorts and sandals with no socks - my feet and legs were shredded, although in the excitement of the great color and the scene I never felt a thing. Right on cue, the sun began to slowly rise way on out there, and I continued to take pictures until there was not much color left in the sky or in the water. OK, got that one done, no off to McDonalds!
If you are ever down to this area I highly recommend that you take the Levy Driving Tour - there is some really neat stuff back there, and you mostly will have the place to your self. I spent a couple of hours back there and stopped a dozen or so times to photograph flowers, birds, horses, and even a few cypress trees. The beautiful morning light continued for most of that time, but then the sky cleared and the sun became harsh and flat. I did get one little bird photo with a morning glory flower that I like.
With a ton of stuff to do back home, I packed up the camera gear and headed back north, but I did stop once along the way at one of my favorite little tupelo swamps and spent some time making photos there. I've been to this place a couple dozen times and yet I still can't hardly ever pass it by. It was another wade-in-deep situation, and by this time my feet had turned green and would remain that way the rest of the day!
At the cabin this evening the sun is setting low and casting long shadows into the wilderness. There is a stiff breeze blowing and it is quite pleasant outside. The girls are out on the b-ball court (where I just came from), and the dogs are off chasing lizards or bears or something. I'll be hitting the hot tub later tonight to see if I can boil some of that swamp stuff off of my body... 4/22/05 We FINALLY got some much-needed rain during the night - a powerful thunderstorm swept through around midnight. All day long we kept hearing predictions of heavy rain and even tornadoes, but only saw mostly sunshine and a lot of wind. It is all very quiet outside as I am writing this at 5-something am. There is already a bank of clouds way down sleeping in the bottom of the canyon. Soon after the storm passed, the big and bright moon came out and shined in my eyes most of the night. It just set a little while ago, but is still light enough outside to see around in the wilderness a little bit. Last evening a couple hours after sunset I took a hike out into the forest. There was plenty of moonlight to see around with no problem, even in the deepest part of the forest. The trees have enough leaves out now that I could see the shadows of the branches dancing around on the forest floor. The amount of moonlight was just about perfect - I could see into those shadows, but the highlights were not too bright. The air was warm, but the breezes were cool - one side of my face pushed into that warm air while the other side was taught from the coolness - a crisp and refreshing feel about it. The umbrella magnolias are blooming right now, although I have not had a chance to take any photos - I hope to be able to in the next few days while they are out. So great to see these massive white blooms pop out! Many of these trees like to hang around right in front of waterfalls, which make for nice scenes if you can catch them open with the falls running. We didn't get enough rain overnight to make waterfalls run at full tilt, so will need more to come down from above soon. Speaking of waterfalls, we are hearing that a couple of them in the Buffalo National River park are currently off-limits due to easement disputes between the land owners and the National Park Service - these two are Pearly Spring in Boxley Valley and Hammerschmidt Falls at the headwaters of Indian Creek (you can still get to this one from below, but not from above off of the highway). Until something is settled I would recommend that you visit other waterfalls. We spent a very good day this week putting together a raised garden here at the cabin. Built out of all scrap lumber, with some pristine dirt, it will be large enough for us to experiment with different plants to see what will grow and if we will have the time to mess with it, but not large enough to totally consume us all summer. Pam is becoming a wiz at all of this, and it will be fun (and tasty!) finally being able to grow our own produce. The other morning I was sitting in the corner of the drawing room having breakfast (the best view from inside the cabin for sure) and watching the hawks fly around. It was a clear-blue sort of day with lots of sunshine and high winds. The hawks we have around here now are not the normal redtail hawks, but rather a smaller hawk (although Benny has told us there is a redtail hawk nest up near Bob's cabin with chicks in the nest that I must go look at). This one particular hawk came soaring by, or rather flapping by, that had his tail feathers pointed straight down - like an airplane in landing mode. The bird was flapping his wings as fast as he could, and maintaining level flight - was the wind pushing him up so hard that he had to fight to stay level I wonder? Looked really funny. I have an early trip into town this morning so don't know if I will be able to post a deck photo or not - if you see one posted with the cloud bank in the canyon, that means I got off late! Fridays are always crazy around here, and I much prefer the calmness of Mondays. We have a busy weekend on the way, including a photo workshop here tomorrow. Speaking of workshop, I don't know what the deal is with them but almost all of ours are booked solid - only one space left in the June workshop. One of the fall workshops is full with a waiting list too. I have added a third workshop in October. AND we are working with the good folks at Petit Jean State Park to set up a couple of workshops up there next year - they will probably be in February and perhaps in March. I'll be adding a very special black and white fine art print workshop as well, and will probably do one of those up at Petit Jean (they won't allow us to do them during the peak of the seasons there, which is fine because there is so much to photograph there anyway, and most of the workshop will be indoors - but we'll have great lodging and food all weekend right on site). In another week or two I will switch from shooting mode to book production mode. In the meantime I will be collecting the final images for the book, and hope to add a few springtime shots from the Ozarks as well as more from the Ouachitas and south and eastern parts of the state - probably another couple of trips down south and east for those. That will give me a pretty good selection of all new images to choose from that have all been created in the past two years. We'll also produce the 2006 Arkansas Wild & Free wall calendar from those images - all brand new and unpublished. Everything has to be completed and ready to ship to the printers by the end of May or so. PLUS, we are working with another photographer/writer and will be producing and publishing an inspirational-type picture book of his work (he has been published by National Geographic and it will be a lot of fun to design a little book with his images). Looks like May is going to be one very busy month for us, and all of that with Pam reaching the peak of her training for the big cancer walk in June (she has been doing 15-mile days now, and will work up to 20-mile days!). I'll keep you posted on all of this book and calendar stuff, but just as a warning, you will need to start saving now! Oops, looks like the day is about to break, so I have better get moving. The cloud bank down in the canyon is already beginning to split apart and move around a little bit. It is still mostly dark outside, and the eastern horizon is just now beginning to glow. I will try to take a photo of the action down there, but the image will be quite dim. Looking out the other side of the cabin (from my seat in front of the computer I can see out of 16 different windows all around!) I can see the trees out in the forest beginning to glow - I always love to watch the woods come to life early in the morning like this - at first you only see the front sides of the trees that are facing east, then gradually more of the trees are illuminated and they take shape, then trees farther back into the forest begin to light up. At some point if the sun is anything but pure white, those trees right in front will begin to really glow with yellow and orange and red color - it is really quite amazing, and happens long before most people ever wake up. I highly recommend you get up early some day, walk out into the forest and sit down and watch it all happen - no finer way to begin the day! I hope yours and your weekend is a grand one, and I will try to report back next time with a photo or two from under the umbrella trees... | ||
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