waiting...

I always get so impatient waiting for fireworks to start. I really, really love fireworks.

national light things on fire day

Here's a shot from the Fourth of July fireworks in Little Rock. You can see the Clinton Library at the far left. The bridge is the Rock Island Bridge.

when it fades

I love the love bench. Heck I just love benches!

political storm

Here's another shot with the new Holga 120 WPC. This time I kept the shutter open for about 10 seconds. I've taken tons of shots of the Arkansas State Capitol now, but hopefully this one is a little different.

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.

you can park here but it will cost you

The Arkansas Times published one of my shots! The only thing that stinks is I'm listed as "Windy Richards" and not Windy Richardson.

This was taken on Main Street in Little Rock a couple of weeks ago.

when in venice

Here's another shot from the Winter Festival at Wildwood Park in West Little Rock, Arkansas. They set up tents or used pavilions to represent different regions of the world. This was the Venice area. I wish more of the lantern bags had been lit.

all you need

The Love Bench on Main Street in Downtown Little Rock, Arkansas is a pretty popular thing to photograph. I don't really know what I think about it. It always feels a little sad to me. Maybe because I've never seen anyone sit on it, it's on a relatively slow street, and it's blue. I guess sometimes love is a lonely thing. I decided to "girl up" the shot by turning it into a polaroid.

return to legoland

There's a series I do that I call "urban legos." It's basically skyline abstracts. I want to do more of these, but finding good locations isn't super easy. This is part of the Little Rock skyline.

blinded by the music

Here's an experiment with lensflare. I really like it, but I never really seem to get what I want when I try it. This was shot in Little Rock, Arkansas.

urban haze

Here's another shot from the lensbaby taken in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. This was taken from the top of one of the parking decks.

doppelganger

I went to the Winter Festival at Wildwood Park in West Little Rock, Arkansas. I figured there'd be pictures in it, which is basically why I attend anything anymore. The festival was okay. It was mostly set up for kids/families. I wandered around for a while not really seeing much to photograph. I did enjoy some beer, nachos, and moon pies though. I finally spotted a guy sitting in front of a light trying to eat. I really loved the shadow.

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.

a streetcar named holga

I love the trolley cars in Little Rock. They aren't all that fun to ride. I also don't like sharing a road with them, but they do make for great photos.

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!

snowpocalypse!!!! omg

Okay, I'm sort of kidding and sort of not with the title. I'm not saying Arkansas snowfall is comparable to that of Washington D.C. and the rest of the North slammed by winter storms this year. For here it's pretty bad though! The thing is, we can get snow, but we always tend to get rain too. This leads to a packed and icy snow! Plus people are on the roads without snowtires and experience. We might not have the same sort Winters, but 6-8 inches of snow literally shuts down the state.

Having said that, I had a blast out in it today! I drove up to the Arkansas State Capitol before the rain started and grabbed a few shots. Then I spent about three hours walking around in my neighborhood enjoying the snow. I was giddy like a kid. I went to lunch with Ward who was marooned in Little Rock for awhile, and I just kept bursting into giggle fits over the meal watching the weather outside. I'm pretty sure my giddiness is the mean reason he decided to risk driving back to Conway. He made it thankfully.

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...

holiday house

It's a bit late to be posting a festive image, but whateve. I head out to the Arkansas State Capitol to capture some of the holiday decorations. I managed the shots sans tripod in some fairly low light. I guess I hadn't been inside the Capitol since a Elementary School field trip. I had forgotten just how grand everything feels in there. I might have to go back and try to get some pictures without the decorations.

let it snow

Well folks, I type this in the midst of a record breaking cold year. Here in Arkansas temperatures below freezing are almost unheard of. We've had many, many days under freezing. I guess that's great news for the bug population next year though. We've even had some snow, though Little Rock has seen very little of that.

It's a widely known fact I'm a bad driver. I don't test my skills when it starts to snow (or mostly ice). We had a bit of snowfall last week, and I wanted to capture it. Here's a self portrait I took in my backyard to celebrate the snow. It was only a dusting here, but up North they got a bit more snow to enjoy.

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!