Spring Photo Trips
June 12, 2005
Once again this last journal post for the
season is a collection of photos from several brief outings
made during the last few months.
I had to got up awful early Saturday
morning, April 2 to beat the 6 a.m. sunrise. We hadn’t
gotten enough rain to get the waterfalls going, and besides,
the forecast called for bad photo weather (sunny skies) so I
just drove down to Lee Creek near Rena Road to see what was
going on. I snapped some pictures of the sunlit fog coming off
the water, then went back home to get some more sleep.
One week later I hurried down to Lee Creek
Park to shoot the sunset. I was at least 10 minutes late, and
barely caught the sun before it sank behind the mountains. In
fact, I had to stop the truck in the middle of the road to get
that single shot.
Thursday afternoon, April 14, Joey and I
drove up to White Rock to take in the great view and hopefully
get some sunset shots. When we first arrived, the gold, yellow
and light green newborn leaves were glowing from the side light
of the sinking sun. That plus the long shadows and the white
spots of a thousand dogwood blossoms in the understory made for
a compelling scene, but by the time I got the camera setup the
sun had faded behind a thick haze above the horizon. I snapped
some photos anyway, including the shot at the top of this page,
but the magic had already passed. The sun turned a deep red as
it sunk behind the mountains, thanks to a thick layer of smoke
from some controlled burns by the forest service.
Two evenings later I returned and was
treated to a repeat performance by the sun.
Joey kept telling me about all the cool
stuff along the nearby Crack-in-the-Rock trail at Lee Creek
Reservoir until Friday evening, April 15, I finally went with
him to see for myself. There are two nice waterfalls a
short distance apart. The smaller one was still running from an
inch of rain we’d received at the start of the week. The
other fall is a tall skinny one that makes a true drop over an
overhanging ledge about 15 to 20 feet above a small pool. It
wasn't running enough to make a good photo, but I have no doubt
it runs well after a good rain.
Saturday afternoon, April 16, Stacey and I
took the boys fishing at the city park lake. Cliff was more
interested in exploring the hillside behind us, and he called
me over more than once to see lizards scampering around.
My trip to Graves Creek Canyon on June 12
was an all-out hike down and back up the side of a mountain in
hot, humid weather. This was the last desperate attempt of the
season at maybe catching some waterfalls in action - it seems
the Big Piney area was the only one consistently receiving much
rain.
I had one heck of a time finding a spot to
enter the canyon. The southern bank of the creek on my side was
a ledge at least 10 feet tall for a long section. I took the
picture at right from above the ledge. I finally found a way
into the canyon, and though I lugged around my backpack,
camera, and tripod, I never took another photo. Sometimes
I’m just not in the right mood.
Friday evening, April 22, I made yet
another trip down to Lee Creek park. I must have completely
missed the sun setting, because all of my photos from then are
similar to the one below. I do remember that I parked my truck
next to a gate blocking an abandoned picnic area, then walked
the short distance down to the Arkansas river bank. As I was
setting up the camera I heard a shout behind me - it was Joey,
who had been down at the boat ramp taking pictures. We stood
there shooting the bull for at least ten minutes, not really
paying attention to the sky, when I glanced through the camera
viewfinder and realized there was a pretty nice shot in front
of me.
What I most remember about that evening was
the great mood I was in on the drive home. Your spirits can be
lifted quite a lot by a peaceful half hour outdoors with nice
scenery. That’s the real reason I go on all these short
photo trips.
