all that glitters

Taken: July 11, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.2 sec (1/5)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 640

This is the Big Dam Bridge again. One of the most impressive and photogenic things about this bridge is that they light it up at night. It changes colors every month or so. In the past it was usually static colors on each column. Lately Little Rock and North Little Rock have been treated to flashing lights. For Independence Day the bridge flashed red, white, and blue. The latest and greatest is a purple and green combo that looks like Mardi Gras.

When the bridge stayed one color it was pretty easy to set up a camera on extended shutter speed and get some cool shots. With the lights moving it's a bit harder (and fun). The game plan was to keep the shutter open as long as possible but still miss the series of flashes. Otherwise red, white, and blue makes one muddy purple mess.

two hundred and seventeen feet

Taken: August 23, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.5
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 23 mm
ISO Speed: 800

Sometimes you just get lucky and end up shooting at a place you never expected to be. Such was the case with the above picture. As the title suggests I was 217 feet up on a roof with a one foot lip. I was so excited; it's lucky there's 2 second timers on cameras or all my shots would have had camera shake! My only real wish is that this had been during the day or at dawn or dusk. Since we weren't really trying to get shots from here the light wasn't a concern. Be sure to click on the picture. There's a few more shots on that page.

return to the dark side

Taken: August 3, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 640

When I shot this I trying to capture the feeling I have when I find a place like this. I wanted the darkness to seem inviting but for there to be hesitation about entering. There is a certain mystery and wonder to these place. I always want to know who lived there and how they turned out? Why the place was abandoned and when?

cracks in our foundation

Taken: July 26, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This was taken in the abandoned Blytheville Laundry Cleaners in Arkansas. The place has special meaning for me, because it's actually where my dad's parents met! It's sad to see places like this burned/abandoned. The light in here had a life if it's own though.

attack

Taken: August 8, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 30 sec
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Flash: Fired - On Camera

This was taken at the Maumelle River AR 300 Bridge. This bridge was closed to traffic in 1981 when a new two-lane bridge was built. It is now being used as part of the 223 mile Ouachita National Recreation Trail. Since people backpack this trail it never closes. This made it an excellent spot for light painting.

I happen to love light painting. It is pretty silly but so much fun! If you haven't done light painting it probably seems a little confusing. Here is a tutorial by one of my Flickr contacts that explains it.

no more teachers' dirty looks

Taken: August 9, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.2 sec (1/5)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 27 mm
ISO Speed: 400

I loved this old school in Helena, Arkansas. It was amazing to get to explore it. I shot full manual (expect focus), because I was having camera issues at the time. It was an excellent learning experience. Sometimes it's easier to capture the mood you want in manual than with the camera senor helping. I doubt I'll ever be a 100% manual type, but I like knowing how to do it.

28 years and 28 faces of windy

Taken: August 12, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm

Today is my birthday. I did the above silly self-portrait collage to celebrate. It really is hard to make 28 different faces!

sixth sense

Taken: July 17, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 1 sec - Actually it's three blended images at 1 sec each making this a total of 3 sec.
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 37 mm
ISO Speed: 400

As I mentioned above this is actually three imagines blended together using Photoshop. It took me a while to get the editing down on this. It was really hard to get a natural looking sky color. This was taken on Big Dam Bridge which connected Little Rock and North Little Rock over the Arkansas River.

riding the rails

Taken: March 25, 2009
amera: Canon PowerShot G10
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 6.1 mm
ISO Speed: 80

I keep posting shots from my vacation to Indiana. I guess I'm reading to get out of dodge for a bit! I'm counting down the days until I leave for Chicago to catch some Cubs games! Anyway, when I was in Indiana, I did a lot of bridge hunting. This one was my favorite and also hardest one for me to find. It the Tippecanoe River 75 East Bridge built in 1890. I loved how the bottom was completely gone. It created some awesome lines. Lucky I found this then instead of now. Now there isn't much that would have stopped me from climbing out on it - then I was pretty chicken!

sky's the limit

Taken: March 2, 2009
Camera: Canon PowerShot G10
Exposure: 15 sec
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 18.1 mm
ISO Speed: 80

How about a blast from the past? This was my first night series, ever! They make me smile. I look at it and I see a lot of flaws and a lot of areas I've grown. I'm still learning, which is why I retitled this "sky's the limit." I got my fancy little point and shoot that morning. I charged the battery. Then I conned someone into going with me to stand in North Little Rock, Arkansas in 32/33 degree weather. Some things have changed about my photography, but my motivation has yet to change!

plum full of potential

Taken: June 26, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 800

I love how the right light can turn something ordinary into something beautiful. My mom had this basket of plumbs sitting on the carport. I have no idea why they were there, but it seemed like a good picture at the time.

how holy water is made

Taken: March 26, 2009
Camera: Canon PowerShot G10
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 30.5 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Sometimes you just need a laugh! My mom and I drove past this probably fifty times while on vacation in Indiana. I guess we both noted the oddness of it and finally said something about it. I mean, this was in a now closed store window. Mom pointed out the soda bottles and how it appears he is praying over them. I told her that's how holy water is made.

the spark seen 'round the world

Taken: July 4, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/4.0
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400

I had a lot of fun captures fireworks on Independence Day. I may not have captured the grand scale that a lot of people managed to do, but it was still fun. I bet you can just picture me crawling around on the ground trying to capture this up close. :-)

can you handle it?

Taken: June 6, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Sigma 55-200mm f/4-5.6
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 72 mm
ISO Speed: 400

I just happened to be in the right place at the right time for this. I was already out shooting, and the sunset turned out to be an amazing one. I made the mad scramble to a location fitting of a sunset. I drove back this shovel and jumped out and grabbed a few shots. It's still my favorite silhouette that I've used. This was near Toad Suck Lock and Dam in Conway, Arkansas.

justice looms

Taken: May 27, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This was another shoot I mulled over for a while. I liked the sign a lot, but I didn't know what to do with it. Finally I drove by one day and there were this dark ominous clouds. It seemed to fit with the idea of justice. At least Wild West style justice.

urban legos

Taken: July 14, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Sigma 55-200mm f/4-5.6
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 640

I left home with only one lens. Actually I went out with the lens I'm least comfortable shooting with. I find 55-200mm is hard to shoot with. I'm a wide-angle girl. After walking around downtown Little Rock for a while I started seeing the small urban fragments I wasn't seeing when I was shooting wide-angle. I came up with an urban lego concept of shooting almost abstracts of the city. Sort of like the building blocks. I originally wanted to cartoonize all of them, but I decided the originals works just as well. Here is the cartoonized look I had originally planned:

i'm on cloud nine

Taken: June 8, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 27 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This is one of those shots I had in mind for a while but needed the prefect conditions to shoot. For one thing it's about an hour from home, so I needed time off during the day to shoot it, plus I needed fluffy clouds. The street name was just too funny not to capture. This is close to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

enlighten me

Taken: August 9, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.125 sec (1/8)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 640

Here is another one from the abandoned school in Helena, Arkansas. This place gave me the creeps. I tend to find empty schools sort of spooky anyway though. I always love the light in abandoned buildings. There is something to be said about the way the light falls and the softness.

barn

Taken: March 25, 2009
Camera: Canon PowerShot G10
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 10.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80

Here's another one from my vacation to Northwestern Indiana. I had a ton of fun there driving around and getting lost.

hay fever

Taken: July 4, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400

I have a minor obsession with hay bales. I think they make great landscapes. The angles you can create with a field full of these is endless. My dad drove me around Independence Day and let me take a few pictures around my hometown - Vilonia, Arkansas. I could have driven myself, but stop and shoot photography is so much easier with a driver.

old skool school!!

Taken: August 3, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This is an old high school in Helena, Arkansas. I was amazed at the grandeur of the place when I finally found it. I was having camera issues when I shot this, which ended up being user error. There was heavy editing and also the use of a texture to save it. I actually like the edit after all is said and done, because it helped create an eerie feeling for the place.

Thanks to Brian Cormack for the editing advice and general encouragement. Thanks to Matt Kennedy who always gives me useful camera advice and doesn't even pick on me for being a beginner. Finally, thanks to Skeletal Mess for providing awesome textures.

holgasaurus rex

Taken: July 4, 2009
Camera: Holga 120N and two rolls of Kodak Gold 200 35mm
Exposure: ~1/120 sec
Aperture: f/11
Focal Length: ~38mm

With photography you always want to take a pleasing photo. Sometimes it's fun to experiment though. One of the main reason I got a Holga is there are some amazing modifications you can do to the camera. One of the most interesting is feeding two rolls of 35mm film through it instead of using the 120 size film. This was my first attempt at this. One day I hope to try it again.

This was taken in Vilonia, Arkansas at a fireworks stand on Independence Day.

If you are interested in the modification here is a link to my version of it.

joy

Taken: June 29, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF-S 18-55mm
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 24 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This was taken at Cooks Landing in North Little Rock, Arkansas near the Big Dam Bridge. I was headed back to my house after spending the day with my parents. I noticed it was going to be a nice sunset, so thought of a good place to pull over. The best spot happened to be here. I was actually making a mad dash to the bridge, when I noticed a car was pulled over at this spot. I looked over to see the view they were checking out and was nicely surprised. I decided to hop out and join them.

the loneliness of gold

Taken - July 26, 2009
Camera: Canon EOS 40D plus Canon EF 50mm f/1.8
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/1.8
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400

This is from the abandoned Blytheville Laundry Cleaners. My paternal grandparents actually met here. I find that gold light creates a warmth when there's people in the shot. However if you photograph something that has been abandoned by people..it creates an eerie feeling. Apparently in more cases than one......gold isn't everything if you don't have people around to enjoy it.