DeValls Bluff is a small Arkansas town that covers just a little over one square mile, and its population has never reached 1,000 people. The main highway, US 70, goes through what was probably once the town’s commercial hub, but that hub vanished from existence a long time ago. The businesses that once lined the highway are closed, and some of the buildings have been demolished and torn down. The buildings that are still standing are on their last legs and likely won’t be there in a couple of years. It’s a common scene in many of Arkansas’ small towns, but it’s sad to see nonetheless.
When I go home from a trip to Dagmar Wildlife Management Area, I will drive through DeValls Bluff. Other than quietly lamenting the town’s slow death, I don’t pay much attention to anything other than getting home. But, as I drove through the town after my recent visit to Dagmar, something caught my eye: a series of vines that were climbing up the wall of one of the town’s remaining commercial buildings.
As I drove by the scene, I thought it could make for an interesting abstract image. But, after a small break in the clouds earlier in the day, the sky had become heavily overcast again, and I decided I could photograph the vines and wall the next time I came through town. As I continued on my way, I began thinking about all the times I had made the same decision to come back another time and photograph something. But, then I never went back, and the photographic opportunity was lost. I didn’t get very far down the road before I realized I might not have this chance again. I quickly made a few turns and made my way back to the wall.
Finding a small area to park, I grabbed my camera and 24-70mm lens and walked across the street to the wall and its clinging vines. As I approached the wall, I realized that it had actually been an interior wall that had separated two adjoining buildings from another; the other building had been torn down and hauled away sometime between May 2018 and August 2022 according to Google Street View.
I identified a section of the wall that contained a moderate amount of vines combined with peeling paint to create texture and a slight hint of color. Thinking I could maintain a fast enough shutter speed to handhold the camera, I left my tripod in my truck. However, the overcast sky required the use of slower shutter speed than expected even at a moderate aperture. I returned to my truck, got the tripod, recomposed the image, and pressed the shutter button.
Processing the image, I increased the exposure by approximately 1/3 of a stop. Then, I increased the contrast to emphasize the texture of both the vines and the peeling paint and provided a further boost by using the Texture and Clarity sliders. I had originally added some vibrance to the colors in the scene, but, deciding that actually distracted from the textures that had caught my attention, I reversed that adjustment and kept the colors very subtle. I sharpened the image and, finally, cropped the final image to a 4:5 aspect ratio to eliminate an out of focus vine at the bottom of the frame.