As I mentioned in my August 2024 recap, I recently made a trip to Dardanelle, Arkansas, to stroll along the bank of the Arkansas River. The other two times I’ve been to this location, I was presented with completely different conditions, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived this time. This was actually a good situation for me to be in because I couldn’t have any preconceived ideas of what I wanted to photograph while I was there. I would simply have to adjust to whatever I found.
When I arrived, right at sunrise, I noticed there was quite a bit of driftwood along the riverbank, so I knew I was going to be spending some time checking it out. Getting out of my truck, I noticed the cooler temperature, the slight breeze, and the heavily overcast sky – all the ingredients of a perfect day to me. Because of the heavy clouds, I was confident that I would want to avoid including it in any images, but I didn’t mind that restriction at all.
I had walked along the riverbank for just a few minutes when my attention was attracted by a piece of driftwood in which a large piece of it was jutting into the air. The only way I could separate it from the background trees, though, was to get low, which would include a vast swath of sky. That’s when I noticed the clouds weren’t just a smooth gray cover; rather, there was texture and color in them, which eliminated my concerns about including the sky in any images.
A piece of driftwood along the bank of the Arkansas River, Dardanelle, Arkansas
I continued my stroll making my way a little further down the river where I discovered this piece of driftwood pointing toward the river with a part of it reaching toward the sky as if it was asking for help to get up. This time, with its color and texture, I had no reservations about including the sky.
A piece of driftwood along the bank of the Arkansas River, Dardanelle, Arkansas
Moving on, I discovered a third interesting piece of driftwood that reminded me of a wave. As I tried to figure out how to photograph it, I started to feel a few raindrops falling on me, but I wasn’t going let that run me off. I finally realized I had to get very low to get the image I had in mind. So, how low was very low? So low that I had to take the camera off the tripod and work it into the rocks and pebbles in front of the driftwood. Then, because my Canon 5D Mark IV does not have a tilting screen, I had to lie on my stomach to see the screen on the back of the camera well enough to compose the photograph. The whole thing might have looked a little strange, but I was able to create this image.
A piece of driftwood along the bank of the Arkansas River, Dardanelle, Arkansas
By now, the rain was beginning to come down harder. Not knowing if or when a real downpour might happen, I began to head back to my truck to wait the rain out. But, the loose rocks, pebbles, and sand made for frustratingly slow progress, and it seemed that the faster I tried to walk, the slower I went.
I finally made it back to my truck and stowed my gear. The rain, which ended up being very light, passed quickly, but the slog back to my truck exhausted me, and I decided to head home.