Haw Creek Falls by moonlight.

Bob Laster, Mike Cooper, and I headed to Haw Creek Falls last night to photograph the falls by moonlight.  We had made an eariler attempt to capture this image this year, but the weather did not want to play with us.  Last night we had to wait around for about 3 hours for the moon to rise where we wanted it too.  I will have to go back and try this again another time.

Haw Creek Falls by moonlight.

Tea Kettle Falls

I had a great day Saturday going to Tea Kettle Falls.  Here are a few images from the trip.  You can read the Journal as well as all the gear I used when you click on Arkansas Specific on the right.  Hope this new fromat will be easy for every one.

-mark

Me at the bottom of the falls.  It is a great place to visit.

The top of the falls is the place where it goes through the hole and the water spouts out like a Tea Kettle, thus the name.

What a way to start the day!

 Saturday May 9th

Friday night after returning from Haw Creek Falls photographing the waterfalls at night, I noticed a storm on the way. At about midnight we were hit with an intense storm for about 2 hours and the dogs were going crazy. The storm passed and I had my alarm set for 5 am to get up and head to Bowers Hollow to photograph the falls there. Bowers is up in the Buffalo Wilderness Area and is one of the most scenic waterfalls in the state. I hit the snooze a few times and quickly got out of bed and was ready to head out the door in a few minutes. I gathered my camera gear (the first load of gear) and headed to the car to load them into the car. I looked to my right and the BIG 150 year old tree next to our house had blown over from the storm last night and was in our pond. What a relief that it did not hit our house. If it hit our house we would probably not be here! I was a little stunned and woke Becky up to give her the news. I think she was in shock a little, because she was laying on the couch with the dogs during the storm and if it would have hit the house, it would have fell on her. That was scary!

Close call!

I called Bob to let him know it would be a few minutes before I could meet him to leave for Bowers Hollow. Thirty minutes later I was at McDonalds eating some breakfast and talking about the storm as well as our plans for today. We agreed we needed to visit a falls that was going to be flowing good from all the rain we had. Bowers Hollow was just the place we needed to go. I had been there years ago before digital cameras, and now was my chance to catch the falls in digital format. (For information on going to Bowers Hollow I strongly recommend getting Tim Ernst’s Arkansas Waterfall Book, check your local bookstore or go to Cloudland.net to get yours) We took off and headed up Hwy 21 to our destination. We have had at least 7 inches of rain over the past two weeks and the ground is really saturated. The roads we drove on showed those signs too! There is a section of road that is very bad that is about a ½ mile from the parking area into Bowers Hollow. Tim recommends only high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicles attempt this road. You really need to listen to the book on this one! Here is why....

We get to the road and I am telling Bob that the last time I was here with a friend of mine; we got stuck in her Jeep. Bob thinks we can handle the hill and I am a little reserved about this. We make the first attempt and we start spinning. The road looks very nasty and it is VERY WET clay. Bob thinks that if he takes a running start, we will be able to tackle this small hill. We get a running start and hit the muddy area in 4WD and we start spinning and the front of the truck takes a dive into the mud. We are stuck! Bob thinks we can get out, but the more we try, the further down we go. I get out and start gathering rocks to place under the tires. Just maybe we can get some traction, and get out of this situation. As I place the rocks around the tires, I step off into the mud and sink up to my knees. I am really stuck and can’t get out. Truck is stuck, Mark is stuck and I am really thinking we are stuck really bad. Bob pulls me out and I get stuck again. Hell, I can’t walk in this shit, how can some one drive in it! I am a little concerned right now. The main reason I am concerned is Bob is one of these guys that is prepared for everything. Anytime we go somewhere he has his camera gear and a whole lot more. Bob is not prepared! He doesn’t have anything to help us other than a rope and a few D-rings. This is not going to work. We set up a z-drag to try to pull the truck out, no success. We are sunk up to the frame by now and I KNOW we are really stuck!

Via Bob's iPhone / click to see larger image.

via Bob's iPhone / click to see larger image.

Bob has one tool that may save the day, his iPhone! Apple say’s they have an application for everything....we could use the winch app right now! Bob and I use the same AT&T carrier, I have no service, but Bob does. The iPhone may save the day! We try several people, but they can’t help us out. We have one hope, Tim lives near by and maybe if I can get in touch with him he can save us. I call up on the iPhone and Pam answers, I tell her I am really stuck and could they help us out. Tim gets on the phone and I can hear him chuckling under his breath....”I’ll gather a chain and see if we can get you out”. I am relieved, but don’t know if the Acura 4x4 family wagon will pull us out? About 20 minutes later Tim and Pam arrive to save the day (at least I hope). We hook a chain and a few nylon straps together and pull, but we don’t move. Tim tries again and no luck. Bob recommends we give him some slack and then make a tug. After several tries, we get loose and Tim pulls us in the mighty Acura as gravity helps us get down the hill. I am very happy this all worked out!

We were all talking after we were pulled to safety and a friend of Tim and Pam arrive at the scene, Terry from Fayetteville. Terry is hiking into the same area as we are and is interested to see if the ice storm has damaged the trail. As we hike in it is very clear that the ice storm has done some major damage to the trail. It takes us and extra hour or so hike that used to be an easy trail is now difficult. If you go to Bowers Hollow trail, be prepared for the extra time to get there. We dropped off the trail into the hollow and found the falls to be running very nice. We hiked down below the falls and rested from the long hike in. After drinking some water and eating a power bar, I was ready to photograph the falls. Enjoy the images.

-mark

Bowers Hollow FallsBowers Hollow FallsBowers Hollow Falls

Haw Creek Falls more night images.

May 8 2009

Bob Laster and I headed to Haw Creek Falls tonight to see if we could do some night time images of the falls by moon light. There is this interesting image captured by one of the National Geographic photographers while on assignment here in Arkansas. I charged up my batteries for my Canon 1Ds the night before so I would be ready to do after work. We have had rain for about two weeks now, and the ground is really saturated, so the creeks should be running.

We arrived at the Haw Creek Campground and was able to make the crossing through the creek and get into the campground without any problems. The sky was cloudy, so it did not look like we were going to get any moon light images, but maybe we could get some low light images just before sundown. The water was running very nice! I had not been to the falls with this much water running. As we were setting up the cameras, a fog started rolling in and we were going to have some nice images tonight.

With not much light, I was doing exposures around 8 to 10 seconds to get enough light for the exposure. I had wished we had more light, but it was a neat scene and we photographed it anyway. I liked the night time mood of the falls and can’t wait to go back and photograph it again.

-mark

Haw Creek Falls at high water taken at night.Location: Haw Creek Falls

Camera : Canon 1Ds, tripod mounted, noise reduction on

Lens : Canon 17-40mm f/4 with polarizer

Haw Creek Falls at high water taken at night.Location: Haw Creek Falls

Camera : Canon 1Ds, tripod mounted, noise reduction on

Lens : Canon 17-40mm f/4 with polarizer

Haw Creek Falls at Night

Last night I headed to a local area called Haw Creek Falls which is a nice camp area as well a great area for waterfalls.  There was not a lot of water running so I looked at some other areas to photograph in the area.  One reason I was there was to scope out the possibility of photographing the falls at night with a full moon as lighting the scene.  I had no moon, so I was hoping for a nice sunset to reflect in the water.  That did not work out, so I went for "Plan B", and that was to do a long exposure and paint with the flashlight I had.  I used a 21 LED flashlight and painted the water and rocks for a 21 second exposure.  It just so happens it was 21 seconds and has no relationship to the 21 LED's!  LED's tend to be blue light, so I would have to correct this in Photoshop's Camera Raw.  I removed the blue-purple tint and it was not bad.  I will have to perfect this technique later on.  Here is what I got.

Location: Haw Creek Falls

Camera: Canon 1Ds with 17-40mm F4 lens

Exposure: 21 seconds @ f/4, ISO 200

-mark