january 2010 (best of)

I've been terrible about updating this blog. It's time to do the best of 2010. Looking back on the photography, I have to say my favorite part of the year was everything I saw and all the places I went. Photography became secondary...





Ward and I went to Holla Bend. We got there too late for birds, but did luck out and catch an amazing sunset.



My dad wanted me to go take pictures of this church. I ended up having some time to kill one afternoon while waiting on a friend, so I headed over there. Luckily I had perfect skies.



There's something about Longpool that gives me the creeps. I don't know what it is! The waterfalls are pretty though. :-)



This is the lead singer from The Fiery Furnaces. My friends talked me into going, "You can take pictures."

awkward kids

I went shooting with my favorite shooting buddy, Ward, the other day. (Yes, I have favorites.) Ward is also one of my best friends, but he doesn't tend to like shooting in the heat. I've gotten to the point I don't even ask if he wants to go shooting in the Summer or late Spring. He suggested we make a trip out to Woolly Hollow State Park near Greenbrier, Arkansas. My expression was something like this. o_O

We headed out, but the waterfall out there wasn't running. DANG YOU SUMMER! We both decided it was much too hot. However, he managed to slide into the creek before we left. I threw my shoes across the creek at him, rolled up my jeans, and said, "A country girl can survive." I walked across the creek without falling. I put my shoes back on and promptly stepped in a giant pool of mud. "I thought you saw that," he said. No, no, not so much.

We left, and quickly realized it was shaping up to be a very nice sunset. We always seem to catch some good ones. So we stopped on the side of the highway for a few shots.

creepers of the corn

I headed out to Scott, Arkansas for a little ramble with Kathy. I wanted to use up some Holga film, and I find Scott and Keo to be excellent places nearby for such a mission.

Our first stop was finding an old plantation out there. I had no idea where I was going, and Kathy joked that I was probably taking her out there to dump her body in the woods. Ha!

We found it along with some other cool stuff nearby.









At some point she mentioned that she looks a bit like the girl from the Ring with her hair in her face. Then we spotted a corn field. I asked if she'd be willing to take a few creepy shots. We had to trespass a bit to do so. SHUSH!









I got a bit lost finding my way back out onto the main highway and headed up finding this really cool abandoned house. I loved all the colors.







After I got my barrings we headed out to Keo. I love Keo. It's hard to explain, because there isn't much there, but everything is interesting to me.

zombie hole??

There's this place in Arkansas near near Jerusalem, Arkansas in Pope County called the Blue Hole. A follow photographer dropped his camera in the water but it survived! It's since been rumored that zombies come from the Blue Hole.

I hadn't been shooting with Zack in ages. We decided it was about time to fix that. I currently have one of my dad's old trucks. It's a 4WD Ford F150, and I was pretty excited to take it out.

Our first stop was an overlook on the way to the Blue Hole.



After that it was time to get down to some serious business. I suppose if you are in shape the hike down to the Blue Hole isn't rough. I'm not in shape nor am I the best hiker. I fail at bushwacking. Half the trip was very, very steep downhill and didn't have a trial to speak of. We battled spiders the whole way down. Zack used his tripod to knock down about 50 webs. EEEks! I took a slide down the hill and grabbed a tree, a dead tree, which ended up falling over. I swear it landed a few feet from Zack. He handled the whole thing well. Brave boy!

Zack and I never have ideal light when we go shoot. It's just our curse, I think. We got to the first cascade pretty early and were able to use the sunrise to our advantage.





I hated this shot at the time, but managed to turn it into something I rather liked. I just really liked the light rays...



ZOMG, Zombies!!



Here's a few from another cascade at Blue Hole.







I stopped about a billion times on the hike up. As always, Zack was pretty patient about it. I took the chance to grab a few shots heading back.



We had to travel a lot of dirt roads to get out there, and I doubt I could find my way back without Zack. We took a side trip to a cemetery, because I like cemeteries. We managed to accidentally trap a deer in the fence with us at the cemetery. The poor little thing as so scared it just kept jumping into the fence. The deer was still very young and wasn't able to jump over. Zack tried to herd the deer out, but instead it darted around and for a split second looked like it was going to charge him. We decided to leave hoping the deer would settle down without us there.

This cool sign was on the dirt road.



Here's yet another sign. I thought it stuck with the zombie theme. Zombie children probably would play slow.



I got my feet pretty wet while hiking. I drove home barefoot. I guess this makes me a country girl. Since I didn't have shoes on it made shooting things on the way home rather difficult. I solved this by shooting from the bed of the F150. I know, I know I'm weird.

rock hounds

I haven't decided if I'm going to stick to a more traditional format or not, but I figure I'll give it a try. I end up forgetting to tell so many stories because I post shots out of order.

My friends, Jennifer and Eric, are rock hounds. You know, they like to dig around in the dirt and look for random rocks and minerals. I do not understand this AT ALL. I do try to be supportive and generally like all things outdoors. I told them my trail guide mentioned a place that has quartz crystal and ended up being their tour guide for the day.

Winona Forest Drive is near Perryville, Arkansas and carves through a portion of the Ouachita National Forest. It's nearly 26 miles of fairly decent dirt road that connects Highway 9 to Highway 7.

If you travel from the East to West the first stop is the Nancy Mountain vista.


After that you can stop and do a short trail up North Fork Pinnacle. I didn't find much of interest through Eric found a fossil that's apparently pretty old. The only thing I spotted was a massive spiderweb.


Our next stop was the quartz crystal stop - Crystal Mountain vista. This is where we managed to get a creeper story. We hiked the short 0.2 miles up to the vista. A few hundred feet from the end of the trail I started hearing things. I stopped to figure out what direction it was coming from and who it might be. I realized it was definitely a radio but one set to talk radio. We got closer and spotted a trunk parked deep in the brush, doors wide open, no one inside, and a church sermon blaring from the speakers. I decided to ignore it, since there was three of us and two dogs. I knew the dogs would probably alert us of trouble. I got this shot from the vista while Eric and Jennifer tried to figure out where the quartz would be.



By this point a storm as moving in, and we were thinking it'd be better to rock hunt on a cooler day. Suddenly an old guy tromps through the brush towards us. "Y'all looking for crystals?" I said we were but didn't know where to go. He pointed at a very overgrown path and ran along the side of the hill. He said the crystals where that way. Jennifer and Eric weren't really prepared for a trek through bushwack. We ended up deciding to go and come back in the Fall or Winter.

The next stop was the Forked Mountain vista. Forked Mountain is probably the most famous mountain that you can see from Winona Forest Drive.





The final stop before ending up back on paved road is the Oak Mountain vista. This one was probably my favorite. It could have been the light and the new storm clouds that made the view, but I liked it the most anyway. :-)


After that we got back on Highway 10 and headed towards Little Rock. I was majorly preoccupied with the mist/fog created by the rain and requested that my friends make a few stops.

We actually turned around at this cool old barn I had shot once before (back in the point and shoot days). I was pretty excited to see it in better light conditions.


There's something about railroad tracks I will probably always be drawn to. The fog really gave it a creepy feel I think. Also check out the holga-like edit.





My final stop was trespassing onto some shooting range to grab some shots of hay bales. I wondered if I'd be shot, one being on a shooting range and two for trespassing. However, it was raining and NO ONE seemed to be around, so I took a risk and stayed near the road for a few quick shots.

a light to fill the voids

Here's another shot from Mt. Zion. I really loved the light in this shot.

alter

Catholic churches are amazing. Architecturally speaking, I'm in awe every time I step foot in one. This one was amazing. I was only able to grab a few shots, because I was illegally parked outside. Oops! I meant to go back, but they were having Mass the few times I happened by.

framed

I tried to get a different view of the Louisiana State Capitol. I made a few ducks pretty angry, who did not like me encroaching on their territory. Luckily they only made a small fuss before moving and letting me stand at the edge of the pond. I was already running through my mind what I was going to say if I was chased off by some mean ducks. :-)

the barn is always cooler on the other side of the fence

Why is cool stuff always behind a fence??

will you remember me?

Leaving a small stone on a grave is an act of symbolically placing a marker for someone. I think of it as a way of showing remembrance for the person. It's a tradition I really love.