november 2009 (best of)

I had a great day with my Dad. He took me to the airbase so I could get some pictures of airplanes. I suckered him into bowling. We shared three games, a pitcher of beer, some stories, and some laughs. I snapped this picture without telling him. I ended up printing it out to give to my parents as part of their Christmas gift.



I really just found this so funny when I was told about it. I packed the Holga before leaving the house knowing I'd shoot this. The camper in the background was icing on the cake.



I'm a sucker for pictures of long, winding roads. I also like fog. I don't tend to like being roadkill, but I took my chances since this was taken on a cold Monday morning. I hadn't seen a car on the highway in a while, plus behind me was a pretty straight stretch. I figured I could risk it.



This is a fun little waterfall. The hillside to get to it is an adventure all its own.



My mom actually called and told me about this church. I like that my parents are so supportive of my photography obsession. She even said I should stop and shoot this on my way home for Thanksgiving. I was already rushed to get home in time for lunch after work, so it was nice she was basically telling me I could be late if I wanted to stop.

october 2009 (best of)

I'd never been shooting in the fog, so when Brian Cormack suggested we go I figured it was worth a try. It was a soggy night, and I had a lot of fun shooting something new. Above is the Arkansas State Capitol.



One of the drawbacks of my hobby (for others not me) is I tend to get distracted and show up late to things. If I have to be somewhere on time it's just best I leave the camera at home. The shot above was taken at Lake Conway while I was on the way to a Halloween function at a friend's house. I went exploring to find a good spot to shoot the awesome sunset and ended up being a tad bit late.



I love the Lost Valley. It's such a beautiful area. I made two trips there, before the leaves fell. There's so much to explore along the one mile trail and in the area around Lost Valley.



Here's a shot of Lower Eden Falls in the Lost Valley. This was one of my first decent black and white conversions. It's still something I struggle with.



I had wanted to shoot the moon for a while, but I only have a 55-200mm lens. It doesn't really do the moon justice. Well on this night there were lots of fast moving clouds. I figured I could get something interesting with the clouds. I sat in my front yard with a tripod, camera, and beer for about 30-minutes. It was just enough time to freak out all of my neighbors.

september 2009 (best of)

It was hard to pick just five shots from September. I took a vacation to Illinois and Indiana during this month and came away with a lot of shots I'm proud of.



The main reason for the trip was so I could finally go to Wrigley Field. I took the Holga along with black and white film loaded, to capture the timelessness of the place.



What a view! I timed going to the Sears Tower/Willis Tower at dusk. I was hoping to get a nice sunset. Lucky for me the sky played along. Chicago, isn't she lovely?



My mom was obsessed with going on a sailboat ride. Did she wants to sing, "I'm on a boat!?" Did she want to see some uber cool views of the city? No, she liked the name of the boat. "The Tall Ship Windy." My name is Windy. The boat is Windy. Ha. Ha. It worked out though. I tried to plan this for near sunset as well. I wanted some cool pictures of the skyline.



While exploring Indiana I happened upon the small town of Nappanee, Indiana in the middle of their annual apple festival. I took my mom back the next day, because she loves that sort of thing.



This was taken on the way back home from Indiana. I'm glad my mom wasn't too worried about getting home. She didn't complain at all that I stopped more than a dozen times before even getting out of Indiana.

august 2009 (best of)

This was taken in Monroe County, Arkansas. It's part of a plantation that's being remodeled.



One of my favorite shooting locations so far as been this abandoned high school in Helena, Arkansas. The place was full of things to photograph and it was a ton of fun to explore.



Speaking of cool places to shoot, this is one of them! This is 217 feet above the River Market District in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was a breathtaking view.



Collins Creek in Heber Springs, Arkansas is really cool. It's beautiful and it runs year-round. I spent a few hours splashing around in the water getting some cool shots. August was a fun month for shooting.



This was taken the same day as the trip to Collins Creek. This is from Woolly Hollow State Park in Greenbrier, Arkansas. It was the perfect end to an amazing day of shooting.

july 2009 (best of)

This is one of the risks I took with the Holga. This is actually a modification where I fed two rolls of 35mm film into a camera meant to take 120 film. The results were great considering I used electrical tape, foam from a swimming pool noodle, and pieces of felt to create this mod! This was actually taken at a firework stand in Vilonia, Arkansas as my dad and people that worked at the stand fought a brushfire about 300 feet away! I reasoned they had it under control. Luckily they did...



Ahh, music photography. I love it. Most of the shows I go to don't allow cameras. A dSLR is too large and expensive to try to sneak in. Luckily the folks at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville, Arkansas didn't mind. I was able to get this shot of the singer from Heartless Bastards that I'm rather proud of.



Another shot from Big Dam Bridge! This is actually three shots blended together to create ghostly people.



I took a trip to Blytheville, Arkansas with my parents so we could visit family. It turned into a walk down history lane for me. My aunt and mom took me around and showed me some of history of Blytheville. My parents both grew up and dated in this town, so it's packed with history for me. The shot above is taken inside an abandoned Dry Cleaners where my dad's parents first met!



The roadtrip picture. For me this is what roadtrips are like as a passenger. You look out the window and the rearview a lot. This was also taken during the trip to Blytheville.

june 2009 (best of)

I make so many mad dashes after sunsets. I was actually out practicing portraits with Tillie, and it was shaping up to be a nice sunset. I abandoned the shoot and her and I took off after the setting sun.



My mom brought her new puppy over one day. I figured it was a good reason to practice using my new fixed 50mm lens. The puppy just wanted to play with me and had no interest in photography. She stared howling because she was sad I kept pushing her away. This turned out to be my most "interesting" picture on Flickr and currently still is.



I love old Bugs. It seemed fitting to get a picture of this one that's abandoned in Casa, Arkansas.



A cool church I found near Perryville, Arkansas. This was the first time I'd used a texture.



Enter Miss Holga! This is from the first roll of film shot with my fantastic plastic Holga camera. Adding film to my photography obsession really did change things. I started taking a lot more risks and got more confident.

merry christmas charlie brown

I haven't had the most enjoyable holiday season. I even refused to put up a tree at home. I did put up one at work. The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I sit right next to one of my best friends, Tillie. Her and I had planned a hot pink tree with lime green ornaments. When we went to get this tree, I found the Charlie Brown tree and I was in love. You see, I've always been more of the sarcastic and cranky type. Tillie is very happy and energetic. So for the past month her hot pink tree has sat next to my Charlie Brown tree. Our personalities proudly displayed through holiday decoration.

Work has been a bear and almost everyone up there is cranky. I've taken to saying, "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!" anytime someone is cranky. It started because of my tree, but seemed to fit because Charlie Brown was always so gloomy. It's morphed into a cuss word substitution that's caught on and others say it now, too. It's sort of funny.

No matter how cranky I get, Tillie doesn't tend to give up on me. Anyway, I went to lunch with her today and she gave me a Christmas gift. There was lots of cool stuff including the ornament seen above. The "sprinkle, sprinkle!" is an inside joke, but it was the first thing that made me wish I had a tree up at home to put it on.

I guess the whole time I was turning "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" into a cuss word, I forgot the end of the story. Sure Charlie Brown was sad. Sure Charlie Brown had a crappy tree, but his friends saved the day. Remember? They all took stuff from their tree and made his better. Then they all stood around and sang together. I guess maybe it isn't always that clear cut, but sometimes we all do end up with a Merry Christmas after all, Charlie Brown.

Merry Christmas, Tillie!

may 2009 (best of)

The shot above was taken at Toad Suck Daze in Conway, Arkansas. I had just sprained my ankle, but that wasn't about to stop me from shooting fair rides. A lot of random annoying teenagers were hanging around my tripod. This was the first time I'd taken pictures in a crowd so I was very nervous about it. My friend Tillie was my tripod bodyguard and helped keep people from bumping into it or me!



I love a good drive. I love that I'm now willing to get lost on the roads and in a day. I have so much fun just exploring lately. This was taken somewhere West of Little Rock on Highway 10.



I love the Little Rock skyline from these vantage point. This was taken on the Junction Bridge.



I was driving home after shooting the Little Rock skyline and this sign just stood out. I had to stop and photograph it! To this day it's still one of my favorite pictures.



I like how sunset light looks on the Main Street Bridge. I know golden light tends to make everything stand out, but this bridge really pops because of the light color.

april 2009 (best of)

I decided to do five shots max for each month. It made the decision pretty tough. I have a huge attachment to so many shots (even with technical flaws) just because I had so much fun doing it.



As I've said, Big Dam Bridge was the home of a lot of my photography practice. It's a nice place. The lights on the bridge, the river, and views of Pinnacle Mountain means there's tons of stuff to shoot. The only real downside is there's a ton of crazy people on BDB. If you go out there at night (guys or gals) I recommend taking someone with you.



I actually got up before dawn to get pictures of the Little Rock skyline. It worked out nicely, because I had a good sky. I also had enough time in the day to head to Petit Jean to get some waterfall shots!


This shot was taken the same day as the skyline above. I had been on a camping trip to Petit Jean the week before. Due to the light I didn't get any good waterfall shots. I decided I had to try the next week just to prove to myself I could capture a waterfall! I refuse to admit defeat!


The Natural Dam was the first time I'd driven more than an hour from home just for pictures. The drive was really cool and created an interest in making more trips like this!



A co-worker told me about this abandoned part of Highway 300. I figured I'd go out there to check out the old one-lane bridge that was bypassed in 1981. The overgrown nature of the road really grabbed my attention. It has the world without people feel to it. (BTW, this is one of the first shots taken with my 40D!)

march 2009 (best of)

On to March. March marks the month I took on photography "for real."



This was taken at the Wye Mountain Daffodil Festival. I had just gotten my Canon G10 and was excited to take it on an adventure. Lucky for me this was the first of many adventures I've taken around my lovely state.



I love Hot Springs. It's the sort of town you don't mind getting lost in or where a detour is never a bad thing. There's just cool stuff everywhere. I don't know what I like about the shot above. I just did I suppose.



The Big Dam Bridge is where I learned the most about extended exposures. Not only can you practice shooting lights at night but from certain spots you can try to capture the motion of the water from the dam. It's pretty cool they change the colors from time to time and keep it interesting.



I love me some bridges. This one was pretty cool because it's a suspension bridge so it provided a lot of interesting details. This was taken while I was on vacation. It's in Winamac, Indiana.



I'm not a fan of water. I get anxious being around open water. The great thing about photography is that I ignore a lot of fears. I'm a lot better about heights and water when I have a camera in hand! This shot was taken near Michigan City, Indiana and is of Lake Michigan.

january/february 2009 (best of)

I've decided to do a best of 2009 series. This should be interesting as it will be a trip through my first year of photography.



I actually used to go on shooting trips well before I had any interest in learning camera settings. I enjoyed being a tourist in my own state, as I called it. Above is an example of something I learned how to do by accident and loved (shallow depth of field). Of course, I didn't know what it was called or really why it happened that way. This is from the "Art of the Chopper" exhibit that was at the Clinton Library through most of January.



I always carried my little point and shoot with me when I'd go somewhere interesting or when I was going for a workout. I had a lot of little photo adventures this way. I wasn't really confident enough to admit I wanted to learn. The shot above is a view of Pinnacle Mountain seen from the Big Dam Bridge. Funny a few weeks later this camera was stolen and replacing it started my obsession with photography!

games people play

Title reference.

Sometimes you just capture a shot that sums up an event, mood, or person so well. That's what I love about photography, when you can capture something like that. This was 100% candid.

Here's another shot from that night when we were at the Arkansas State Capitol waiting for the fireworks show.