The Legend of Skull Bluff - A True Story

 Arkansas' Buffalo River not only possesses an abundance of scenic wonder, it has a rich history of folklore, strange stories, and unusual happenings. Back in 2013, I and two friends of mine took a 4 day, 3 night, float trip on the river and what transpired on that trip brought The Legend of Skull Bluff to life.

Please enjoy...The Legend of Skull Bluff

On The Edge of Light

 I was not sure what to expect. Pretty much all day long not a single cloud invaded the cobalt blue sky which glowed with a keen sharpness, a winters sky for sure, one that possessed a clean edge to it. The sun had broadcast a wide yet low angle brightness across the landscape throughout the day, and as I made the half hour drive to my intended shooting location I thought maybe I should wait until there might be more texture in the sky. 

I arrived a few minutes later, not long before sundown, where a small grove of trees, a few smaller ones bracketed by two larger ones stood high above the horizon, and I realized that maybe the conditions just might work after all. As the sun dropped below the skyline just left of the group of trees, an orange glow filtered upward into the stark blue of an approaching night sky, an edge of light that filled the air and spread across the background with an amazing contrast of simple color.

One of the key elements I search for when photographing landscapes is what I call Edge Light.

Edge light is an angle of light that creates a sharpness, an isolation of, an almost purposeful ability to allow for the translation of a scene based on the impact a particular moment of light generates. This impact often creates a simplified moment where time, place, and light fall into place to offer an artistic opportunity to capture subtle yet powerful images of nature. It is not isolated to specific times of day such as sunrise or sunset. As powerful as those moments are for offering edge light, edge light can be found almost anytime of day. It's a matter of recognizing it and looking for it.

Edge light imparts a sharpness to a scene far exceeding normal everyday light. It more readily defines what the subject is. It outlines what is there in conditional specifics where an artistic eye will readily see and understand what is happening. Framing it, exposing for it, eliminating what is not needed and focusing in on the true story of the moment, is the photographers job. It's not always easy, sometimes even good photographers miss it, but with experience, seeing edge light becomes easier and more productive. Being able to visually recognize the story amongst all the clutter come with practise. Many times the adage of being able to visually remove what is not necessary in a photograph before ever firing off the shot certainly applies to using edge light.

A good photographer has the ability to see the image long before he ever captures it. Sometimes it is obvious, but most of the time it requires looking beyond the big picture to identify the smaller more important elements. Once a few years ago I was hiking in a woodland area. It was late morning and the sun was quite bright. Certainly not the best conditions for photographing a woodlands as the light was also quite harsh and spotty generating layer upon layer of contrasty conditions. I asked myself, what is capturing my attention...where is my eye going...what am I truly seeing. That is when I noticed a clump of grassy elements growing out of the edge of a moss covered stump. A beam of light spotlighted it against the dark background. Using a long lens, I zoomed in on the scene and instantly recognized how this was the photograph I was looking for. It was a simple composition cast across the more complex elements within the wider woodlands area. Edge light that separated the subject from all the clutter was the key.

Edge light works for most any kind of subject, but sometimes luck plays a part as it was with a little buck whitetail deer late one evening. I was well hidden and camouflaged and the wind worked in my favor as the little buck walked toward me across the edge of an old cornstubble field. About 40 yards or so off, he stopped, looked into the woods, and froze for several seconds. The late afternoon edge light partially backlit him against a dark background. Dried grass along the edge of the cornstubble field caught the light and his small antlers and neck were illuminated by this low angle light. He was looking away from me, but that was okay as the moment turned out to be very special, and edge light was what helped to make it so.

Edge light is often what makes or breaks a photographic moment. Recognizing it when it is there is key to understanding how to use it to your advantage.

 

The Ansel Adams Project: Sky, Clouds, and Water - Finding Opportunities Close to Home

Sometimes I wish I could just take off and spend a summer and/or fall driving across the country visiting all those amazing locations we hear about and catch tantalizing glimpses of through videos and photographs. Oh, over the years I actually have been able to visit a few of those amazing places, but those visits happened a good many years ago. I have friends of mine now who have recently been able to do at least a portion of that kind of adventure and their photographs and stories about what they encountered are so very interesting.

The Ansel Adams Project has jump started a desire in myself to explore nature more closely and to visualize the landscape with a renewed mindset. It is through that visualization process I begin see beyond the color cast of the natural world and gaze more deeply into the structure and graphic potential of black and white. Ansel, of course had Yosemite and pretty much all of the American west to fulfill his creative abilities. I, on the other hand, have no such resources like those richly endowed scenic wonders. Yet, instead of pining away my time wishing I could do the things I am currently unable to do, instead I pursue what I can do and explore the resources I find nearby. Places like Mammoth Cave NP, just up the road less than an hour away, is a great place for backcountry hiking and backpacking especially in the fall. There is also Barren River Lake east of here about a half hour away along with a favorite place like Shanty Hollow about the same distance northwest of my home. Both are wonderful locations filled with opportunities. Plus there are abundant creeks and meadows, woodlands and farmlands with their big sky arenas just waiting for someone to tap into their photographic potential. This project has reopened my eyes to that potential, the kind of potential that lives just outside my backdoor. I'll probably create a video program later on in the season about this Ansel Adams Project and share some of the images and experiences I managed to grab along the way.

Recently, I paddled my canoe on about a 15 mile loop on Barren River Lake. Been a while since I paddle a canoe that far in one day (that was on the flowing waters of The Buffalo River in Arkansas). The week before I had made an overnight canoe trip on Barren River Lake, about a 6 or 7 mile round trip. During that outing I decided to find time and see just how far I could go in an all day trip whenever I could get the right weather conditions. Less than a week later, the weather forecast was for light and variable winds, and partly cloudy skies mid-week along with moderate low 80's temperatures, so I loaded up the canoe...I remembered to bring my paddle this time...and headed off early one morning. 

Mother nature did not disappoint for the lake was just about as calm as I have ever seen it with only occasional gentle breezes generating ripples on the surface, and the skies were filled with all kinds character forming clouds. It was a bit hazy early, but most of the haze cleared to present some interesting cloud formations...the kind of day I call an Ansel Adams kind of day.

Seems I've concentrated on big sky photos mostly during the Ansel Adams Project. Ansel of course photographed all kinds of subjects, so do I actually, but the sky presents such a varied and powerful opportunity, it is difficult to pass up when it presents itself as it so often does in Kentucky. Mostly I just paddled, but would drift for a moment to capture a scene and during my breaks, the sky would shout out, "Look up this way...come...experience what I've made for you."

On this short post, I'll share just a few images from that trip for they represent the essence of what nature presented that day, plus I'll include a few other images taken recently while searching for photo opportunities around the lake. 

In shooting the images I looked for several things; an interesting foreground, character in the sky, and a background that represented the nature of what can be discovered on and around the lake. Sometimes, the foreground was simply the surface of the lake for it was quite calm and offered some nice reflections.

Normally, I would concentrate on the light when attempting a landscape composition. The good thing about black and white is that it allows for creative shooting all day long. I also tend to slightly underexpose the images especially when there are cloud formations as this helps to prevent blowing out the brightest parts of the clouds. A slightly underexposed image still retains enough information so any dark areas can be brought back to life rather easily. Doing so also helps to bring out details in the clouds creating a bit more contrast between the lighter and darker tonal values. A good black and white image will usually retain tonal elements ranging from almost white to almost black. Even white clouds need to have some tonal values in them to suggest the nature of being white, but still being able to display details.

I've included two views of the scene shown on the right and again at the top. Both have certain appealing elements to them. The blown down dead oak tree offered a wonderful foreground element and the ridge across the way a characteristic background, plus the sky was constantly changing its character. Sometimes it is difficult to expose a scene like this one for the sky was quite bright as was the weathered old tree trunk, but the background and the water were considerably darker. Again by slightly underexposing the frame(s) and using a polarizer filter to darken the sky, I was able to bring all three elements into play rather closely. Then in post processing I was able to add some light and brightness to the darker areas. In essence, I exposed for the sky and allowed the rest of the composition fall where it may and corrected for it later.

The photo on the left was actually taken early last winter on a blustery day where broken clouds filled the sky yet allowed just enough sun to poke through to cast long arms of light and shadow across the landscape. Across the lake along the tree lined ridge, a line of winter bare trees caught the light just right. The foreground included an exposed sandbar with curved lines created by wave action made over time as the lake level slowly dropped to its winter pool level. The clouds added their own textures to the sky. When it was converted into an Ansel Adams style black and white, the image came alive with its own sense of drama and real world appeal, and represents the kind of scenic flavor that is available on this lake.

The image on the right is a long range shot made of that same ridge in the previous image. Ansel Adams loved to photograph trees and used their rhythm and stately graphic charms to full advantage. As a result of this project, I am starting to identify with his love of using trees as a subject.

The day turned out to be a wonderful adventure, although I was quite tired by the end of the trip. There was so much more to the adventure than I can share. Hopefully sometime soon I'll return again to continue exploring this location.

Sky, Clouds, and Water make for amazing photographic opportunities and nature can offer all three in abundance.  All we need to do is find time to look for them, they can be just outside our backdoor.