Collins Creek, which is near the Greers Ferry Fish Hatchery just outside Heber Springs, Arkansas, is a naturally intermittent stream, but the water flow has been enhanced by a buried line that brings approximately 40,000 gallons of water to the creek every hour. This creates several small waterfalls and cascades that are easy to get to and easy to photograph.
I haven’t been to Collins Creek in over two years, so I made the trip one morning last weekend. The first time I went, I arrived late in the afternoon. This made for a difficult photographic experience because there were a number of other people there, and they had a tendency to get in the way of my shots. On this trip, I arrived before sunrise so I could avoid any crowds. Arriving early also provided another benefit – it prevented extreme lighting contrasts that can cause areas of the photograph to become overexposed.
This is one of my favorite shots from the trip. I really like the way it captures this series of cascades as the water falls from one level to the next, and I think of falling dominos when I look at this image. I had been at the creek for about two hours, and I was just a few minutes from leaving when I finally saw this composition. In terms of exposure, this was a pretty easy picture to make. A very slow shutter speed created the silky blur of the water and the smallest aperture on my lens ensured complete depth of field.
Settings: Canon 5D Mk II, 115mm, 1 sec, f/22