Monday, March 30, 2009

The Phone Booth

So here's something I've learned in the short time that I've been learning photography. You HAVE to get out and take pictures. Take it slow and notice things. Take lots of pictures. LOTS of pictures. Of everything, everwhere.

I've generally drifted toward simple subjects and I attempt to portray them in their own uniqueness. I've found items such as fire hydrants and park benches show up a lot in my pictures. I think it started around Christmas time when I went to the Fayetteville Downtown Square late at night. No one was there and it was freezing. I had just discovered RAW image format and was shooting everything. By the end of the session, I noticed I had kept taking pictures of park benches. The raw format really brought out the wood grained texture, which in the context of Christmas lighting was very neat.

Instead of driving to my church's men's ministry group - I walked (about 2 miles). It was an opportunity to look for stuff.







So mailboxes, are generally not exciting. But they are a unique feature to rural homes. These images attempt to portray the rural feel to Prairie Grove. I'm told these are not common in Brazil.










The broken road.

When you go walking with a camera, you notice things you don't notice when you drive. I always like images that show very little, but portray an overall feel of the area. The broken road image below is a good example. It gives the feeling that I'm in a rural area that isn't necessarily well kept. You don't even have to see that many pictures to get that idea. The broken road image portrays that.



I'm waiting for the day that someone tells a horror story about what happened this house...



What happened? (you may ask) I don't know. But it looks like a great setting for a teen slasher flick.

Further down the road - a particular guard wasn't happy I was around.



Ok. So, back to simplicity in Prairie Grove concept. A real working phone booth. It sits by the road in front of Colonial Motel (apparently a great restaurant). You don't see these anymore. I think its great...




The phone actually works. I tried it out.



So did Ched.



But he looks kind of confused about how to use it or even why.




Upcoming shooting events.

1. Night shot of a mountain landscape from a deer stand.

2. More night cemetery shots.

3. Family photos (2 different families)

4. Pea Ridge Battlefield

Until next time...

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Star Gazing on Cane Hill

Cane Hill Cemetery...

We paid another visit to Cane Hill Cemetery. This was a hit or miss shot. I wanted a 30-45 minute exposure and didn't want to hang out in a cemetery much longer than that in the dark.

The original shot...



I admit I went ill-prepared as far as having sufficient lighting to be able focus correctly.

I actually planned on doing a 45-minute exposure, but accidentally set the shutter speed to 30 minutes instead of "bulb" (which for those who don't know allows me full control over shutter speed through my wireless remote).

Here's a slightly edited (inverted) image of the shot. I pulled out some of the red.



On the last edit, I saturated the colors.



Challenges with this shot.

For an exposure this long, I needed something that could have allowed me to focus on the cemetery entrance better.

I actually plan on going back out there - and getting an antique tombstone with the stars racking across the backdrop.

Also on the docket, is the flour mill at night with star trails in the background. Use of a spotlight to highlight areas of the mill itself should bring serious depth.

Side note:

Ched claims visiting a cemetery at night is against the law. I have disputes with this. We'll see how this plays out.

I claim that Cane Hill probably doesn't have a police department.

One final thing. I've changed my settings to have one entry displaying at a time so as to save loading time and not clutter up the front page. If you've missed an entry and actually want to see it...please check the archive.

So, stay tuned...

Saturday, March 21, 2009

A Driving Tour of Prairie Grove, Arkansas . . .

Fewer words today, lots of pictures...

This picture kind of sums up the mood of the photography today.

Old & busted.


Prairie Grove, Arkansas is definitely an interesting place. Not exciting, but interesting.

First, we visited the college at Cane Hill.



Allegedly the first college in the state of Arkansas - but then was moved to Fayetteville.



There was slight rain, so to protect my camera, I wasn't spending much time framing or looking for different angles.



The bell tower was really messy inside. It basically became a dumpster.



You can even see the graffiti. Nice.



Ched said that they have festivals here every year. Here is where all four people who come actually get to sit down.

I wonder if they fight over the tall seat.




Then we visited a cemetery.




This was a very creepy place. Very old & rustic.



We saw a few masons tombstones.





Next was the old Flour Mill outside of the Cane Hill village...



These running water pictures are taken at about a 1 second exposure. Also with an aperture setting of F32. Which for photographers out there is about as small an opening as I could do on my d60. Anything much longer was over exposed, even on the overcast day.



I crawled down to the creek bed....the mill is much more interesting from there.












Finally, we took the driving tour ("Battle Tour") of the Battle of Prairie Grove.







So, I found out this little humble town has quite a bit to be proud of...

until next time...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Afternoon through a lens...

Tuesday, March 17th, is a special day. It's St. Patrick's day! And what did I do to celebrate?

Absolutely nothing.

But I did take my camera to work with me and seek out some photos to add to today's entry.

First, I hit the gym at the Boys & Girls' Club. It's cheap. It's through my company. And it's never crowded.



Nothing special here. I didn't want to look like a perv by taking my camera inside, so I just left it in the car...besides, I was there to workout. Not be a d-bag photog.



So, here's where I decided to be adventurous. It's almost 6:30 and the sun is still high in the sky. Plenty of time for photography - so I went to Mt. Sequoyah. The city of Fayetteville, while exciting from the ground, I must say is NOT exciting from Lover's Lane (okay, so that's probably not the real name, but it was the make-out location for couples back when I was in college).

Funny thing. Lover's Lane is right in front of a church.



and then you've got good ole Vesper Point - literally 50 yards away (or meters for the non-Americans).



It's an outdoor church. do they have services? I am dying to know. I should bucket list this question, because I have GOT to find out before I go to Brazil.



I paid a visit to the Fulbright statue. The Senator whom Fulbright scholars are named for. He's really a good guy. Heck of a poker player, tho. I refuse to sit at the same table - because he will take all of your money.

I was at the dedication ceremony for this statue several years ago. Bill Clinton was on hand - so - it was kind of big deal. Ever heard of him? Slick Willy told lots of cute anecdotes about the times that he had talked with Senator Fulbright - but can't honestly remember anything he actually said.





So, this is spring break for the University of Arkansas...and can you believe it? Students are actually ON campus. Studying. If I were on campus as a student during spring break - I'd be sleeping or eating. But I found what this girl was reading was very entertaining. You may have to click on the image to see the larger version. "Forensics for Dummies". Okay. So, here's my initial reaction. You're probably taking a Forensics course, because a) you enjoy forensic science and want to be a criminal investigator or b) you have to take it for...well, go back to A. So, you're professor assigns you a book on forensics and you don't feel like reading it - so you buy "Forensics for Dummies"? Maybe I'm wrong here - but ...that just seems redundant. Hopefully this person just really loves forensics.







Not quite sundown - but I love the hour or so before dusk. The lighting is so good for photography. Everything starts looking good at that point. Light is SO important in photography.



Not a great shot, just a macro shot of some berries of some kind on a tree near the Physics Building.



These stairs single-handedly gave me nightmares when I had 10 minutes between classes as a freshman. Stupid me for thinking I could cram them all together like in high school.



The clock on the south tower of UofA symbol Old Main was apparently a class gift from the class of 2002 or 2005. One of my graduating alumni classes. The University established this money-grubbing tradition of asking each graduating alumni class for a gift, except its not a gift. They choose some minor project and then ask you to pay for it as a newly graduated, in-debt, broke college student. This was what they decided when I was graduating one of the times I walked across the stage. I didn't pay a dime to the clock..and I'm a dime richer for it. They still got their clock.


Stupid squirrel...



Had I been a hunter, I would have pegged this squirrel with a .22 rifle

Saturday, March 14, 2009

The Horse Races



5 Races at the Horse Races...

Doesn't sound like very much, but I went with my parents and they were 0 for 4 when they decided to call it quits. I was 3/4. Maybe they're sore losers?

This was something I wanted to do before I went to Brazil. Less for the gambling. I'm not much for that. I really wanted to see what kinds of pictures I could get.



This horse right here is one of the horses that won me some money. Not much, because he was one of the favored ones..with 5-2 odds. But a 4 dollar bet got me some money to cover the $2 horse I wanted to "show".

The above picture was shot with a shutter speed of 1/500 of a second. With the overcast, much faster than that was getting too dark. I thought it turned out well.


In this photo, I think it was the number 9 horse that was the one I picked. He never made it to the front of the pack. . . . Ever.



This shot was interesting. I don't know what they call these people. They're the people who guide the horse and their jockey around the track before the race. Minutes before the first race begun, a few of these guides would come out. This was an interesting opportunity.


So, my luck started off well, but when it started to sink, I had to ask for some advice.



The horse at the counter was very helpful, but since I didn't win anymore races - I think he was lying to me.

All in all, I had a good day except for the guy who randomly came up to me and basically threatened me. I suppose I looked at him wrong, but if I did...then I didn't realize it.

Anyway, until next time...