I hit the road at 3:30 this morning hoping to find some fog, and decided to make a quick run over to Tea Table Rocks. Turned out to be one of the best mornings for shooting I've had in a while. The wind has blown 20-30 mph solid, even at night, for the last week or more, so the calm morning was most welcome.
D2x
12-25mm
f/11; 1/25 sec
Posted by Tim Buchanan on June 11, 2008 at 9:03 AM
I like the soft palette of this image, Bill - very subtle colors and a lot to look at.
Nice job Bill. I also like the fog and sky. Really makes this one. Funny how we call a 3:30, then drive and then hike a quick run. People just don't realize what it takes to get good landscape shots.
Just FYI, Edd French has finally put a price tag on his property next to this (he is the reason public access is being granted right now, via hiking across his property), and if it sells, public access to Home Valley Bluff may disappear (a lady who owns all the rest of the land in that area - including the road in - won't allow the public on her land - she is in a fight with Edd right now about him allowing folks to access his property via her road - which he is allowed to do - but she is trying to stop everyone from visiting). These rocks are actually on national forest land, but there is no way to get to them without crossing private land (unless you came up from Limestone and climbed up the face of the bluff). This site has already been removed from the Arkansas Nature Lover's Guidebook, and will be removed from the next printing of the Arkansas Waterfalls Guidebook as well.
Oh yes, and you probably don't need to know the price - he has priced it so high that he hopes it won't sell, but I have a feeling it will...(I heard this second hand - some guy from Colorado has been pestering Edd so much to sell it to him that he decided to put a price on it - I don't know if it is on the open market officially or not).
Glad you guys like it. Before I left, the 2:45 am updated conditions for Deer, AR on weather.com reported the dewpoint to be 59 and the temperature 60, with the visibility at seven miles. I came close to not going, but hoped things would change by the time I got there. I wonder where the observation station is actually located in Deer, and how it gathers visibility data.
Tom - I must say it is pretty nice to be able to live the life of a full time nature photographer for at least a couple of months during the year... if the wind would just quit howling!
Tim - it is hard to understand how this lady from out of state (Connecticut, right?) thinks she can sever Edd French from his property. If I'm not mistaken, it's his right to ingress and egress. Further, I would be surprised if Edd did not have a dedicated easement recorded at the county courthouse. I saw no signs of trash or camping anywhere around, so I guess this lady must be a very selfish person. I could understand if she actually lived on the property or was having a problem with it getting trashed-out.
Yes, Edd has the deeded access. She is saying he is not allowed to have anyone else visit his property but him, which is not so (too bad AETN just did a feature story on Home Valley Bluff!). She went back and forth with me several times over the past year - one day telling me how she bought the property so she could share it with everyone; the next day telling me she did not want anyone on the place. I never knew which side of her brain was going to call...
Living the life of a full-time nature photographer? That means being in the office 90% of the time! You get to go shoot much more now than if you had to make a living at it for sure...
Posted by Glenn Carter on June 12, 2008 at 12:41 AM
Nice image Bill. Edd could give a public easement across the property. I could survey it and write the easement for him. How do you get in contact with him?
The problem is that in order to get to Edd's land you have to cross her land for nearly a mile via a road that belongs to her - Edd has an easement along her road to reach his property - she would never agree to a public easement down her road. Edd French owns Buffalo River Realty in Jasper.
Discussion
10 repliesD2x
12-25mm
f/11; 1/25 sec
Oh yes, and you probably don't need to know the price - he has priced it so high that he hopes it won't sell, but I have a feeling it will...(I heard this second hand - some guy from Colorado has been pestering Edd so much to sell it to him that he decided to put a price on it - I don't know if it is on the open market officially or not).
Tom - I must say it is pretty nice to be able to live the life of a full time nature photographer for at least a couple of months during the year... if the wind would just quit howling!
Tim - it is hard to understand how this lady from out of state (Connecticut, right?) thinks she can sever Edd French from his property. If I'm not mistaken, it's his right to ingress and egress. Further, I would be surprised if Edd did not have a dedicated easement recorded at the county courthouse. I saw no signs of trash or camping anywhere around, so I guess this lady must be a very selfish person. I could understand if she actually lived on the property or was having a problem with it getting trashed-out.
Living the life of a full-time nature photographer? That means being in the office 90% of the time! You get to go shoot much more now than if you had to make a living at it for sure...