Alien Falls

This waterfall is one of the most unique places you will ever find a waterfall but the original name makes me cringe! Tim Ernst dubbed this waterfall “Fuzzybutt Falls” in his book “Arkansas Waterfalls #2”. I would name this place Alien Falls, as it reminds me of a scene from an alien movie! Though not even sure that alien falls really encompasses the beauty of this place.

To get here my son and I drove to Six Fingers Falls, near Sand Gap, AR on the Falling Water Creek. We parked on the dirt road and made our way to Six Fingers falls, which is just a short walk down the hill from where we parked. We climbed across the top of the falls to get to the other side of the creek and began our walk to the next waterfall, Alien Falls (aka Fuzzybutt). The walk is fairly short, maybe a ¼ of a mile if that. As you walk along the trail the creek is to your right and there are bluff and rock faces to your left. After just a short hike you will then come to a small drainage creek that is running out of a canyon and emptying into Falling Waters Creek. Here we took a left and as you make your way up into this canyon you will see that the scene changes drastically. Before the canyon you were seeing the forest, but now you are in a canyon that has black rock walls and clear water flowing beneath your feet. Then as you peak around the first turn you see this bright shining waterfall at the end of this dark place. The canyon looks like it is closing in over the top of you and the light coming in from the top is bouncing all around illuminating the scene in a way I have never seen before. It was a magical moment and I got excited as I began to envision how I was going to shoot this scene. The first image is a shot of what I saw when I first saw the waterfall at the back of the canyon. It was a magnificent view and I wanted to capture all that was going on in this scene.

1^st shot: this photo is composed of three exposures. The first exposure was for the waterfall and canyon on the left side of the image. The second shot was for the sky that is peaking through just above the waterfall. The third and final image was for the canyon wall on the right. I shot this separate so I could really capture the textures and detail of the canyon wall. In the image the wall to the right and the trees to the left force the eye to go straight to the back of the canyon where the waterfall is glowing. I really emphasized the light hitting the waterfall to create the point of interest I was looking for. The sky and forest behind it give the image a great sense of depth. You go from the textured canyon wall, along the creek passed the trees into this mysterious canyon where this small beautiful waterfall stands in the middle of it all. I kept the colors of the canyon cool and the forest behind the point of interest has the warm colors. The colors were naturally that way but I really emphasized that in this image to help draw the eye from cool to warm colors. Another part of this image that I really like was the light that was coming in from the back of the canyon behind me, the light coming from above, and the light coming from behind the waterfall. There was literally light bouncing all around. The created that mysterious glow on everything within the canyon walls. It helped to illuminate the dark scene to bring out all the textures and details that are there.

2^nd shot: from there I continued on into the canyon and as I walked along the canyon wall you cannot help but notice the merging of different worlds above you. The dark, cool canyon walls ascending into the air to meet the forest floor and then the trees towering over the opening catching the sun rays above. I wanted to capture this scene to show the full extent of what I was seeing. I got up against the wall and positioned my camera to capture as much of the canyon walls I could with the sharp contrast of the sky above peeking through. The light in this scene is amazing and again the textures are visible because of the light that is reflecting all over. The blue water below helps reflect some of this light as well. There are many elements that I really enjoy in this photo, the lights, the cool colors contrasting the warm colors, the dark scene ascending to the light, but my favorite part of this shot is something that is unnoticed unless you look closely. If you look in the blue pool of water below the falls you can see rocks from the edge but disappearing into the pool. I just love those little details like that!

3^rd shot is made from 3 images stitched together to create a panoramic view of standing center of the falls at the edge of the pool. The light here was slightly different as light was coming in from above in the canyon opening.

4^th shot is a close up shot of the waterfall and the small opening to the forest beneath where the fall sits. Here you can see the water in intricate details and it cascades down the moss covered rocks and drips from the moss itself creating tiny little ribbon like streaks. I especially like the warm light coming in from above contrasted against the cool colors inside the canyon.

5^th shot I walked around the pool and right up next to the water fall. I lowered the tripod to get this image. I like the angle of this shot and how the water is coming from the lighted area. Again you can see the water trickling down the moss on the rocks creating the ribbon like streaks.

6^th shot is looking straight up from the canyon floor to the world above. I really love the contrast of these two worlds, one being the dark canyon and the other being the forest on the mountain side. I positioned my camera and took this photo to create two triangles, each filled with a different subject.

Emotions of Greer Spring

This spring I made a trip to Greer Spring just north of Alton, MO. This is one of my absolute favorite places in all the Ozarks because of how lush and green this area always is. I created a little slideshow with some music of the images that I captured from my last trip. Hope you enjoy and if you have questions on how I edit my images just let me know!

This will be my first official post as a blogger! I've never considered blogging but thought I should to share my photography experience, not just photos. I am not a man of many words so it takes a lot of effort to write out what is in my head... With that said I wanted to start my first post with a photo and description of the hike, the scene, the image itself, and some post processing talk. 

After traveling the US for the last 17 years, my wife and I decided to move back to West Plains, MO where I grew up. We bought my grandparents farm and are in the process of building our house on the property. While on the road I picked up photography back in July of 2010 so moving back to the Ozarks has afforded me to pursue my passion in my own back yard. I grew up in the Ozarks but was never aware that the Ozark National Forest had so many waterfalls! In the spring of 2018 I made a trip down there to photograph some of the waterfalls and was instantly hooked. I was amazed at the beauty of these waterfalls in the middle of the forest. But it wasn’t until this year that I really got a vision of what I wanted to do with the 200+ waterfalls I just learned about through Tim Ernst book, Arkansas Waterfalls #2. I began making a list of the waterfalls I wanted to shoot first and I came across a picture of Sidewinder falls. I was intrigued by its shape and ruggedness. So on the afternoon of March 9, 2019 I sat out to photograph this intriguing waterfall.

To get there I had to drive about 3 hours from my house. I arrived at the parking location mentioned in the book and began the hike. The hike first takes you across a small field next to a highlands swamp. This place in itself is worthy of another trip to photograph the swamp on top of a mountain. From here you begin the descent which is really steep. You go down to the base of the mountain where all the drainages are creating what is called Bear Creek. Upon arrival the first and only thing you can hear is water falling. There are waterfalls everywhere! 4 major waterfalls all within a  few hundred yards of each other. One of those being Sidewinder. I explored the area and waited for the sun to go down. As the sun began to set I waited for it to hit the horizon so I could get the sunburst effect I wanted off in the distance with the waterfall underneath. As the sun cast its light through this waterfall canyon the leaves and moss began to glow. The waterfall makes a natural “S” shape through this rugged terrain leaving behind this incredible texture on the rocks. It was an amazing place and I will have to return to capture the other waterfalls in the area.