So many times I've been to Turner Falls in Davis, Oklahoma and never visited the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in Sulphur, just a few miles north and east on highway 7. I went, I saw, I was very impressed.
The first thing I noticed is the sound as you approach Little Niagara Falls. I remembered what I loved so much about waterfalls. There is a rhythm to water falling and rushing and that rhythm connects us to nature in a very necessary but intangible way.
I had to stop shooting and just sit on an exposed root to listen to the sound and take in all the richness of color and light. Unfortunately, the light wasn't quite right for most of my trip.
After I had taken the tour of several waterfalls and was already overheated, the light changed. It is amazing to me how much light changes everything. The problem is we are forced to shoot on natures' timeline not ours.
I remember driving with family on highway to the sun in Glacier National Park. Everyone assured me we'd get the shot on the way back but you know that never happened. Light changes, conditions change not within hours but within seconds, the image that shows itself so beautifully is gone.
This is why so many wonderful vacation snapshots turn out just okay-light is everything and it creates a pathway for the viewer to experience just a glimpse of what you saw. Light leads the eye of the viewer, explains dimension and form on a 2 dimensional frame and contrasts light to explain temperature, place and distance.
I visited the waterfalls to reinvigorate my love and water. I wanted to get back to the passion of painting the many facets of water. Chickasaw is a beautiful maize of waterfalls, ice cold, spring fed water and great places to hike. I will definitely return. I will also do another post with more detail, this was more for my passion and enjoyment and the reason I went in the first place.
I forgot how much I missed the sound
No it’s the color
And the sound
Rushing fingers of blue and silver, like mercury
Beautiful and pure
I smell sulphur and earth
From somewhere deep
I compare the dimensions of water
Like the many facets of people
So many faces, moods and colors to describe
I’ve come back seeking
The beauty of what captured me before
Those steps to the tops
Of the cascades
But I was young and full of wonder
I was intoxicated by the sound
And the green rushing waters
Seeping from the ground
She was there
And that meant everything…
Now I barely listen
Had to pause the shutter to keep my place
a rich green story
where I always lose my page
distracted
the heat
the sweat
and the beauty and peace
I barely remember
And I forgot what I missed
It was the sound
No the color
And the sound…
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