Got a chance after Christmas to spend a day shooting with our own resident Arkansas landscape hound Barry H as he made his way back from Cali. Great day, great guy!!
Conditions were clear skies and no snow . . . really about the most boring you can get around here in the winter. But one place that never fails, damn near as consistent as Cathedral Rock/Red Rocking Crossing every afternoon, is Slide Rock State Park in the early morning.
Park at the pullout slightly upstream from the park entrance and walk back down the trail alongside Hwy 89A to gain access before the park opens. Watch for the direct light as it hits the two thousand foot sandstone cliffs above and is reflected in the waters of Oak Creek below. With longer exposures, the water turns pure gold while the waterfall fingers reflect the pale cyan of the clear, dawn sky. Reflecting pools, waterfalls, pouroffs: all very pretty but you have to work fast as the direct light makes its way fairly quickly down the walls of Oak Creek Canyon. Careful of the icy rocks creekside!!
Sharon, are you referring to the piece of the foreground that's picking up the beautiful gold hues from above? That is an ice pool. Everything else (red rocks etc) is all typical Supai sandstone thru which Oak Creek mostly runs. The grey boulders in the background are Basalt Lava, which 'live' two thousand feet above and have, ahem, made their way down to creek level either by tumbling (Whoa!) or by being pushed in flash floods (Whoa again!). Their polished blue-gray is a nice color contrast to the reds of the Supai sandstone layer.
I don't think you need the first one, since the second one improves upon it in terms of lightness and feeling. The last one is OK, but not terribly interesting. What is interesting to me is that you found this area in Arkansas. I didn't know stuff like this was there. It looks more western.
Oh man, these are great! I love that golden glow with my favorites being #2 and 3. #3 for me though is the one that just shines, it looks like a puddle of gold laying there... just incredible!
I agree though that #2 is more scenic to me and surpasses #1, which makes #1 sort of redundant. But I like all three and was searching for that on the frozen Colorado today with no results.
These are very good Dereck, all three. I gathered and appreciated images #1 and #2 because it displays the progression of light which to me was interesting. My favorites of the set would be the 2nd and 3rd with my choice going to #2. And I'd like my print cropped from the top and in a pano format!
I'm with you, Barry is a heck of a guy!
Randy
Nice set. I really enjoy photographs that make me want to get in them and I would have definitely enjoyed being here. Although the glow on the second is very nice, I enjoy the empty pool at the bottom of the first one. It does something for the large rock in the foreground, whereas the crop of the second crowds that same rock a little bit.
Really enjoy the contrasts and composition of #3. Ice and water, red and blue, sandstone slabs and granite boulders. Great captures. This place is on my list.
Man, that looks familiar!!
Lovely takes, Derek. Your catch of the icy little pool in the 3rd totally blows me away!
Thanks for sharing this gem of a spot.
