Pic of the Week 11/13/20

“Grandview Vista Sunrise”

Location: Grandview Vista-Rich Mountain, AR

Date taken: 11/9/14

Grandview Vista Sunrise © Ben Jacobi

So, it has been quite a while since I last posted anything on the blog. While I haven’t been posting much, I have been out shooting pictures. I took a road trip to Lubbock, TX, Then to Copper Breaks State Park, a local hike along the Wichita Valley Rail Trail, Jim Bob Art Park and Truscott Lake, and lastly I just returned from a weekend trip to Roman Nose State Park and Red Rock Canyon Adventure Park with the Red River Photography Club. Needless to say, I have a massive backlog right now—this is in addition to processing my 2021 calendar orders. It might be a while before those images make it to my websites and social media platforms.

Now that all of that is out of the way, lets talk about this week’s Pic of the Week. This photo was captured six years ago on a road trip with my mother to the Oachita Mountains in southern Arkansas. We spent the previous day driving and exploring the Talimena Scenic Byway. My goal was to find a good sunrise location along the way, and I chose the appropriately named “Grandview Vista” as my sunrise location. I awoke that morning and drove my mother’s Volkswagen Bug up the steep mountain. I arrived just in time and watched as the early morning sun begin to rise over a layer of fog on the valley below. With my camera, tripod, and bag in my hands I reached my designated overlook and set up a composition.

The sun broke through the fog and sent rays of warm golden light across the valley. My position to the sun allowed for dramatic side light to spill over my subject. This dramatic and moody lighting made for a very dynamic composition keeping most of the foreground in the shadows and illuminating everything in the background with a soft glow. Strips of light leaked onto a few hills and spotlight some of the summits adding even more depth to the scene. Off in the distance, lake Wilhelmina was shrouded in a thick blanket of fog giving the photo a sense of mystery. Farther back even more of the Ouachita mountain range can be seen stretching all the way to the horizon, its terminus invisible.

I stood on top of Rich mountain staring down into the valley some 1700ft below as the town began to wake. Cars began entering the highway and in a single file line they all drove the same easterly direction heading towards the town of Mena, AR—likely heading to Sunday morning church. I sat on the mountain for a few hours before the sunlight became too harsh for my photography. This is still one of my favorite shots from that whole trip. It has been a while since I’ve been on a fall foliage trip maybe I’ll revisit the Ouachitas soon.