Conway County
- Enoch Powell.
The stouts point overlook at Petit Jean SP has two main views. One view overlooking the farms and forestlands of the Arkansas River valley and another of the mighty Arkansas River itself. I posted an image of the valley viewpoint a couple of days ago. Today’s post is an image of the Arkansas River view. This area is a popular spot, and getting a panorama composition without people in it was a challenge. Another aspect is that in mid-day shots like this, getting diffused light is a challenge. The day we had some cloud cover, but the sun was intense, so I had to wait for a large cloud to come in and cover the sun before taking my shots. Between the people enjoying the view and waiting for cloud cover, I spend almost an hour at this location to get the picture right.
- Ansel Adams.
Cedar Creek is one of the star attractions of the beautiful Petit Jean State Park. There are two significant waterfalls on this creek, one of them natural and another artificial. Cedar Falls is a natural waterfall, and it's pretty massive and has a trailhead from the visitor’s center to reach the bottom of the falls. The dam overflow from Lake Bailey is quite impressive, especially when the water flow is relatively high. It also has an excellent compositional opportunity using the stone arch bridge to frame the falls.
I took today’s post while walking to get to the location that will allow me to compose the dam overflow with the stone arch of the bridge. The trail was nice and flat, following the creek closely. After taking the shot I wanted, I decided to make a small hike out of it, explored the trail a bit further, and reached these cascades. It seemed like a gentle drop where the trail crosses the stream. The recent spring rain had transformed it into a mini cascade. I liked how the trees on either side of the riverbanks looked. I composed the image to use the river as a leading line into the forest. A tiny bit of Orton effect and a little dodging helped finish off the composition.
- Rumi.
A couple of weeks go I had a chance to head back to the beautiful Petite Jean State Park. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time before sunset, but I wanted to see how the viewpoint looked under softer sidelight. My first to this beautiful overlook was during mid-day, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the outlook before sunset, but we had the area to ourselves during twilight. We had some heavy cloud cover that day to the west, so there was very little light post-sunset.
But what stood out was how beautiful the landscape looked under softer reflected light. The calm Arkansas river perfectly reflected the pale blue color of the sky and the reddish-pink tones in the rocks seemed to pop out much better than daytime. Another factor was that without a colorful sky to compete against the stones with their vivid color and texture had a better chance to take centerstage.
- Publilius Syrus.
When I planned our trip to Petit Jean SP, one of the key attractions was the lovely Cedar Creek, an overflowing stream from Lake Bailey. I waited until after a storm passed through to ensure a decent water level. Our planning was not a futile effort. The lake was full, and the stream was flowing with peak strength. From Google Maps, I have learned that a small artificial waterfall exists right next to the Cedar Creek Bridge, and I have had the waterfall framed by the Bridge’s arch in my mind during the 3-hour drive to the park.
Turns out I planned this a little too well. The creek at full flow was not crossable, and the best viewpoint to take the shot of the waterfall through the arch is by standing in the stream. I had to walk a bit further for the stream to bend south for another shot at the same view. Unfortunately, it was not an unobstructed view. There was a huge fallen tree and some overgrown shrubs in my way. I also foolishly hadn’t packed my 70-200 for this trip and this composition required at least a 100mm focal length to give the waterfall prominence. Thankfully my d850 has enough megapixels to crop without too much of a problem. Hopefully, I get some more chances to try at this beautiful location.
Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Conway County!
Most notably Sandeep Thomas.