red, white, and blue

This was taken during a Christmas celebration at the Arkansas State Capitol, but it seemed to fit for Independence Day too.

wanderlust

Today I'm starting an eighteen day road trip. I'm going to queue up a few entries so there will be something here while I'm gone. I thought this shot was fitting for my first day on the road. I really do have a wanderlust, too bad wandering never seems to cure it. :-)

celebrity treatment

I don't really know how to take portraits. It isn't easy to transition from landscapes to people. It's hard for me to tell a person how to pose or to get them to smile differently. Also the lighting and stuff tends to be a bit different, because you are worrying about how it makes a person look, etc.

My friend and co-worker, Raney, hesitantly agreed to let me practice on him. He happens to be attractive yet camera shy. I found it was easier to just tell him stories and wait for him to let his guard down and snap a few shots. He was a pretty good sport about standing around in the cold while I fretted over the sunlight and fiddled with camera settings.

We drew enough attention to ourselves that people started to think Raney was famous. Someone even asked him for an autograph!

**I edited this again, so I'm pushing it to the top of my blog.

boulder scramble

Here's a shot of Longpool Falls in Pope County, Arkansas. To get to Longpool Falls you have to scale over some boulders. This is made even more difficult because the boulders are loose, moss covered, and often wet. If you are an Arkansas waterfall hunter, I'd advice caution while visiting this place. I'd say this is the most dangerous place I've visited yet, but if you plan for enough time it really isn't that bad.

whatcha got cookin'?

Here's another one from my self-portrait series. I've actually had this idea for a while, I just never did it. It was made easier once I got a remote for the camera.

22 degrees fahrenheit

I once thought 22 degrees was much too cold for me, but since I've picked up a photo habit I've yet to find a condition I deemed unbearable. I probably should have considered my camera. When it stopped working later in the day I immediately wondered if the cold got to it. I spent over three hours in temperatures ranging from 22 to 32 degrees. Just about everyone is arguing that that shouldn't have taken out my camera, but I have learned the minimum operating temperature is listed at 32 degrees. I'm sure just ten degrees under isn't enough to do the damage, but if any moisture or weakness was present I imagine the temperature didn't help!

Regardless I got some awesome shots of the recent snow and ice that hit most of Arkansas. When I visited the Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds the snow was still pretty much untracked.

nature's bling

I'm doing a weekly self-portrait on Flickr. I'm not really sure it's for me. I sort of take a neural view of shots of myself. I figured it would test my skills and creativity level though. I just try to ignore that I'm the primary subject.

For week four, I decided I wanted to try out intentional lens flare. Lucky for me the day I had planned to shoot this ended up being an oppressively sunny day. I headed out to Pinnacle Mountain State Park and hiked one of my favorite trails - Rocky Valley Trail.

a study of dihydrogen oxide in various states of matter

I mean there was some liquid and solid forms present at least. It was also pretty early in the day so there was a slight fog hanging around. :-)

This is yet another shot from the Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds in Johnson County, Arkansas. This is Pack Rat Falls.

shadow

The light through the trees really captured my attention. I was there for waterfall shots, so when the sun came out I wasn't really all that happy, but it did allow me to get some shots of the warm light on the snow. This was taken in the Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds in Johnson County, Arkansas.

cursed!

I used to have this theory that Longpool Campgrounds was cursed. I've had a few weird things happen, but I just tend to get a bad vibe there. I finally decided I wasn't going to let the place get to me and made it to Longpool Falls at sunrise in Late January. I'm glad I went. It is such a beautiful place.

leafed out in the cold

This was taken at Haw Creek Falls Campgrounds in Johnson County, Arkansas. I liked these leaves. I can't really explain anymore about this shot.

tutti frutti skies

Ward and I headed to Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge in Pope County, Arkansas hoping to get some pictures of birds. I had been warned you had to get there at sunrise for such photography. My shooting buddy had different theories.

We ended up having a cloudless, birdless sky. Neither of this makes great photography. We explored the park anyway, hoping something would eventually turn up. As luck would have it, the sky quickly became dotted with clouds just as the sun was setting. We set up on a boat ramp overlooking a small lake and waited. Even after the clouds the sunset seemed a bit flat. I actually made a comment, "Dang if the colors would just blow up!" A few minutes later it did!

rats!

I tried to make it to Pack Rat Falls one other time. I ended up follow Haw Creek for a rather long time. I realized my mistake when I came to a bridge over the creek and not a waterfall! I pulled out the guidebook and realized I was heading downstream and not upstream as the book said. I also wasn't even following the correct creek. I joke and say I was lost in the woods. I knew how to get back to the car and all, but I was completely off course.

So having said that, I'm not sure why I felt I could correctly follow directions in the snow and ice. It turns out a man and dog had made their way to the waterfall since the last snowfall. I followed their tracks until I found the other creek and took it from there.

mossy depths

Here's another shot from Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge in Pope County, Arkansas. I really liked the way the trees were staggered and the light.

toto, i don't think we are in (ar)kansas anymore!

I'm a sucker for pictures of roads. Luckily no one was really on the roads on this morning, because I stopped in the road, backed up, and took this picture through my windshield.

I loved this, because it doesn't look like Arkansas at all. It's nice to see the scenery change from time to time.

fiery revolution

Here's a shot of Eleanor Friedberger who is the lead singer for the Fiery Furnaces. This shot was taken at the Revolution Music Room in Little Rock, Arkansas. I've had a few people tell me it's an excellent place for music photography. Mostly because the place is small and laid back and also let's you take cameras in!

it's a small world afterall

I'm going to buck my usual format and post both of these together. There are special lens called tilt/shift lens that can create the look above. However, there doesn't seem to be too many practical reasons to make things look miniature, so the hefty price tag isn't worth it for most. Luckily there's a few cheaper ways to do this. I think the Lensbaby lens can do this, but if you aren't shy about post processing you can achieve a similar affect with a five minute edit.

These were taken at the now abandoned theme park - Dogpatch U.S.A. Like a lot of people from Arkansas and surrounding states I went here as a child. Here's a bonus shot of kiddie Windy at Dogpatch:

and the clouds parted

This is one of those places my parents found. They are pretty good at building scouting. Dad mentioned this place quite a few time until I finally went. It's on Highway 60 between Conway and Perryville. I ended up being in Conway and having about 30 minutes to kill so I went wandering in search of St. Boniface Catholic Church. I'm glad I went. I had a different church in mind when he was telling me about it, but this one was even more amazing.

forever young

I avoid cemeteries because they make me sad. I ended up going to Mount Holly in Little Rock anyway, because it has some amazing statues. I know it isn't an uncommon feeling in a place like that, but I start to mourn the loss of people I don't even know. I'm especially sad when I see gravestones that are no long readable. When I find a baby's grave, I'm just at a loss. I wonder what sort of impact that might have made if they had lived longer. I'm glad that I went. I think sometimes it's important to remember how short the time between dates can be. I hope to make the most of mine...

being looked down on

I took a wandering trip around Eureka Springs in early December. I had been wanting to go there for a while, but I hadn't made the time. It is such an amazing city full of history and charm. I already want to go back. This was taken at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church. The cool thing about this church is that you can only enter it through the bell tower.