Pic of the Week 5/6/22

“On the Red River”

Location: Red River, Texas

Date taken: 4/10/22

It has been quite some time since my last blog entry. Things in my personal life have dampened my spirits lately and its hard to feel motivated to create new work. While I have started a new post processing method, I am still working out all the kinks. Some images I feel the need to share and others are more of experiments and practice. I am very excited for some images that I captured in April that will hopefully be making their way into the blog in the coming weeks. That being said lets go ahead and jump into this week’s Pic of the Week.

For the longest time I have wanted to visit the Red River up close and last month Ashlee and I got the chance. Along Highway 79 in the northeastern part of Clay County the Red River flows almost straight north to south as it exits the bend. This area is a designated OHV/ATV trail and access to the Red River. So we should have nice light in the morning and plenty of trails to explore.  We had hopes of capturing a nice sunrise over some of the bluffs and cliffs of the area, but the sunrise didn’t really do anything photogenic. When we arrived at the river, we made our way to a spot I had scouted out via Google Earth earlier that week. From this location, the river flows underneath and around a sandbar. This creates some fantastic patterns as the river creates small inlets and exits of water around the sand.

One particular view caught my attention that featured a strong curving line of water broken up by small islands of dirt and sand. The red cliffs stretched throughout the composition underneath a pleasant sky.  I had found a nice composition with excellent depth and texture. Unfortunately, the light left more to be desired. Still, I pulled out my camera and captured the scene. I really enjoy the numerous light to dark transitions that help move the eye through the photo.

On the Red RiverExploring the sandy shorline of the Red River near Highway 79 in Texas.

© Ben Jacobi

Photographing sand can be tricky, if you walk through your composition, you’ll have to remove the footprints in post processing. With that in mind, I inched my way up the riverbank admiring the shimmering sand in the late morning light. As I followed the shore, I spotted a peculiar looking piece of driftwood. It was half-buried under the sand and the wind came through and created stunning ripple patterns along the little dune.

I began to experiment with different focal lengths and heights to find the best composition making sure not to walk too far into the scene. I really like the wavy patterns in the sand and how they lead the eye to the center of attention in the photograph. Just for fun, I processed the image in both color and black and white. Which do you prefer? Although I only captured a handful of images, I left the Red River feeling accomplished and excited to return again. Next time, however, I’ll be sure to have better light.

© Ben Jacobi

© Ben Jacobi