We had an ice storm recently in Hot Springs.  The mountains in particular looked amazing with all the glistening ice on the trees.  I decided to head up into the surrounding mountains to see if I could capture some of the magic. This was the first shoot with my new Nikon D800.  First, I tried going up to West Mountain.  They had the road closed off though.  I guess some trees were down over the road.  So, I headed towards Hot Springs Mountain.  Score!  It was open!  I was a bit worried though as the ice had all melted at the base of the mountain.  Thankfully, the higher you went, the more...

Yesterday morning our town was covered in fog. I decided to drive up to a nearby mountain top with a clearing facing the east. I lucked out as the fog cleared at the top. I was treated to an amazing sunrise over a sea of fog with just a few mountain tops showing. The mountains looked like islands.  I did my best to capture the moment, but I don't think the pictures do it justice.  God certainly knows how to put on a display of beauty!

I had been chomping at the bit to get outside, explore, and take some pictures.  I had surgery just before Christmas which has kept me indoors for the most part.  I finally found time to break away and visit Petit Jean State Park!  The crazy thing was, it was mid-January and almost hit 70 degrees that day!  Typical Arkansas though... 1 day later and we're looking at possible flooding and maybe even ice storms on Sunday.  My brother joined me again as we set out on this journey.  We only had a few hours so we went at a pretty quick pace! Our first stop was Bear Cave Trail.  This leads...

I've learned that landscape photography puts you into some interesting situations.  If you really want a certain shot, you have to be willing to look a little crazy!  I've been wanting a sunrise shot over Lake Hamilton for awhile but wasn't quite sure where to go.  I used my favorite website, SunCalc, to see where the sunrise was coming from this time of year.  I guessed that the boat dock for the Clarion Hotel would be ideal so I headed that way when I noticed the great cloud formations in the sky this morning.  People really underestimate the time and effort that goes into planning landscape...

I decided to dabble in mostly architectural photography today.  I've learned there are certainly some unique challenges to architecture photography.  You end up with some very defined lines and if you aren't perfectly straight on or if you're using a wide angled lens (I was), you get some bending and skewing.  I tried my best to correct this in Lightroom and Photoshop.  Hot Springs has some very cool, old buildings.  During this trip, I only used my 16-35 mm lens for wide shots.  I hope to go back soon with my 70-200 mm for some detail shots as there are some incredibly ornate areas along...

In Hot Springs, we are blessed to have some wonderful, caring people.  One local man, Dr. Kevin Hale, has built such a reputation in our community.  He lives just down the street from me and was gracious enough to allow me to take pictures on his property recently.  The land is gorgeous and I couldn't wait to get some photos of the mist rising from one of the ponds in the golden glow of a sunrise!

I often take Fridays off from my "real job" and enjoy some photography time.  I was hoping to find some fall colors before it was too late.  Oh, and this was my first time shooting since I got my Nikon D600 back from repair!  :D

This may be my last shots from my beloved Nikon D90.  I bought a D600 which I had for about a week before I... gulp... dropped it.  I had never dropped a camera before in my life, but as soon as I had my new baby I dropped it and broke some parts.  It should be back tomorrow from its 6 week stay at Nikon as they repaired it.  

I had a little time this afternoon to visit a place known for some incredible rapids: Cossatot Falls.  This isn't really a waterfall as much as just some crazy big rapids.  The word "Cossatot" apparently is a rough French translation to "Skull Crusher."  Expert kayakers like to brave these rapids... crazy!  Imagine all these rocks with roaring waters over them!

My brother and I decided to hike near Forked Mountain in search of a couple of waterfalls.  This mountain is simply amazing!  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It's a lone hill that towers over all the other surroundings.  At the top are some incredible bluffs.