Pope County

• William Wordsworth.

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Chances are, if you have ever picked up a travel brochure of Arkansas, you have come across a photo of the stunning falling water falls. Unfortunately, it is pretty tricky to find for such a prominently featured waterfall. The waterfall is located in the Richland creek recreational area and is relatively easy to miss, as I found on my first venture. However, I was much more determined on my second visit and finally found the waterfall.

At most waterfalls, it is often difficult to compose a unique shot. The main culprit is the actual fall itself, being such a prominent subject often forces the photographers had when it comes to framing. But that’s not the case at falling water falls. The surroundings are very picturesque, and it's possible to compose images from atop the falls or from either side of the easily crossable stream. I also had the added advantage of fall colors and many very colorful leaves in the water. My main challenge was recovering some of the bright spots in the frame, but I like how this image turned out.

• Richard Bach.

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As I have mentioned in my earlier posts about the trip to Richland creek, my main focus was to find the stunning Falling waterfalls. Thankfully, I found the waterfall without any issues the second time around. Unfortunately, the conditions that day were not suited for waterfall photography. We had bright blue skies with light shafts coming through the foliage. It’s a bit frustrating as this part of Arkansas is mainly known for overcast skies, but such is the life f a travel photog. I had a plan, though; I knew since we were for all intentions in a canyon past noon, the mountains would block the intense light to the west, giving a bit more shade at the waterfall.

Thankfully my sense of direction was spot on, and once the sun started to go behind the mountains, I got perfect even lighting at the falls. And as a bonus, the strong sidelight on the trees gave me some vivid colors on the foliage. My only technical struggle was losing the details on the rock behind the fall. So, I bracketed the image, and thankfully that worked out perfectly. I am glad I waited for better light, as this is one of my favorite images of the gorgeous falling waterfalls.

• John Muir.

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Last year I made a trip to the beautiful Richland Creek area of the gorgeous Ozark National Forest. Unfortunately, I misjudged how rural this part of the state can be and ended up only finding one of the seven or so locations that I had in mind for the day. So naturally this I did some extra prep and decided to try my luck one more time. Falling water creek is one of the most exciting locations on this scenic drive, mainly because it's just a few steps from the road. The stream didn’t have the same water flow as last year, but it was still a wonderful place, and the patches of fall color made it even better.