Some stormy weather was moving across the state, which meant it might be a good time to get the camera out for a few pictures. So after getting the kids to bed, I hurried downtown in the hopes that I might get some interesting pictures of lightning. So naturally, the storms never produced any good lightning over downtown Little Rock. They did succeed in making lots of rain, which managed to soak my camera.
My first stop was at this parking deck downtown. I've been going here for awhile, trying to get a good shot of lightning over the view of the Little Rock skyline. And once again, I had no luck with the lightning. So I settled for this shot instead....
On the other side of the parking deck is this view of the old Albert Pike Hotel. The hotel was built in 1929, and has been converted into apartments.
I got back in the car and drove around downtown. I really wished I had an umbrella with me when I ran out in the pouring rain to get this shot of the Old State House.
From there I drove around a bit more, and made a few more stops. I was trying to get some artsy-fartsy pictures of reflections in the rain puddles. But I didn't really manage to get any good pictures. What I did manage was to get my poor camera soaked, which caused it to start acting a little funky. The rain started to let off by the time I made it to the Junction Bridge.
I headed over to the state capitol, and tried for a few pictures there. It wasn't raining, but the low storm clouds managed to capture the shadow of the capitol dome lights.
I made one last stop at the historic Little Rock Central High School before heading home and putting the camera in a bag of rice. The school and the grounds look great, it's crazy to think that the school is now almost a hundred years old.
We've had a lot of foggy days and nights recently, which makes for some really neat conditions for photography. So one night after getting the kids to bed, I grabbed the camera and tripod and headed out again to try to get a few pictures. The first stop was the Big Dam Bridge, which had red and green lights for Christmas that seemed to fade out into the thick fog.
I wasn't the only one out there. There was some strange creature lurking in the water that would swim around and then crash into the water, creating a huge splash. I'm not going to lie, it scared the crap out of me the first time it happened. I'm not sure what kind of creature it was - an otter, a beaver, or something like the Loch Ness Monster?? I managed to get a little video of it with my cell phone:
After that I decided it wasn't best to continue lurking by the river so I headed downtown. The first stop was at MacArthur Park and the old Little Rock Arsenal. The arsenal was built in 1841 and is one of the oldest buildings in the city.
From there I headed over to the intersection of Capitol and Main Streets, which is the location of the city's Christmas tree. The tree was overshadowed by the Union Plaza Building, whose lights shined bright in the fog.
And a wider view of the tree with the sculpture "Helios."
For some reason there weren't very many people out and about on a gloomy and foggy night, so I managed to get a shot from the middle of Capitol Avenue without having to worry about being run over.
It was starting to get late so I hurried over to the Junction Bridge. This is the view from the top of the bridge (taken by the elevator, I did not climb to the top!).
And the view from along the bridge.
And a shot of the bridge from the riverbank. Was a little surprised at how still the water in the river was, which did make for a nice reflection.
I made one more stop, at the Arkansas State Capitol.
I walked around the grounds, and then ended up crawling along the wet pavement to get this shot of the Capitol reflected in a large puddle.
It must have been a slow night for the Capitol security guards, since a state capitol police car parked nearby and watched me while I innocently walked around taking pictures.
And a shot of the front, which you can see the blue "PEACE" letters that hang in the small circular windows. The lights were first added during World War II, and have been a part of the capitol's holiday light displays ever since.
The state capitol police must have gotten bored since they drove away. So I took advantage of the lack of nearby cars and got one last shot from the middle of Capitol Avenue before finally heading home.
So the other day I saw on Twitter that the International Space Station was going to fly over Little Rock in a few hours. So I tried to think of an ideal spot to see it, and headed out to try to get a few pictures. Based on the directions on the tweet, I decided to head out to the Junction Bridge. It seemed like the ISS would appear in the horizon above the downtown skyline and then travel across the sky.
I managed to get there early enough to catch a nice little sunset, and got a few pictures while I waited for the ISS to appear.
And then I waited, and waited. The time the ISS was scheduled to fly over passed, and I never saw it. Maybe it was still too bright in the sky to see it, or I was looking in the wrong direction. But alas, I missed it. But since I was there, I got a few more pictures of downtown Little Rock from the bridge...
Earlier this month, Little Rock's Junction Bridge was lit with purple lights in honor of Brent Renaud. Brent was a journalist who was killed by Russian soldiers while reporting on the war in Ukraine. The Little Rock native was an acclaimed documentary filmmaker and journalist, and was a founder of the Little Rock Film Festival.
After his tragic death, condolences included:
"I'm devastated by the loss of my close friend and long-time producer, Brent Renaud. The world and our profession has lost one of our greatest legends. Hug your family, your colleagues, and watch the news. People are dying to bring it to you."
- Christof Putzel, a documentary filmmaker and television correspondent
"My heart is heavy at the passing of American journalist and Little Rock native Brent Renaud. He lost his life while covering the pure evil that is the invasion of Ukraine. An award-winning filmmaker and journalist, Brent made great contributions to the culture and arts of Arkansas. Susan and I are praying for Brent's family and all those affected by his loss."
- Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson
"Today, a US journalist was killed in Ukraine. Before him, others have been targeted, murdered, injured or kidnapped. Our thoughts are with all those journalists driven by courage and an ideal: the freedom to inform. This freedom is fundamental to our democracies."
- French President Emmanuel Macron
"A talented and brave journalist, Brent lost his life while documenting human tragedy, devastation and suffering of millions of Ukrainians. With all his courage and determination, he travelled to the most dangerous war zones to film the unprecedented ruthlessness and evil, also inflicted upon our nation by the aggressor state.
The people of Ukraine, who are fighting against the Russian regime to defend their homeland and democracy in the world, are mourning with you.
We are thankful for Brent for his professionalism and commitment to the values of compassion, ethics and justice.
May Brent's life, service and sacrifice inspire generations of people all over the world to stand up in fight for the forces of light against forces of darkness."
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The Big Dam Bridge was also lit that night with the colors of the Ukrainian flag:
It was a cold and drizzly night when these pictures were taken, and there wasn't anyone else out at the Big Dam Bridge. I wasn't alone however, there was a large flock of pelicans resting in the waters of the Arkansas River. During the long exposure, they moved and drifted in the currents of the water.
After taking a few pictures at the Baring Cross Bridge, I hopped back in the car and drove over to Riverfront Park to get more pictures before the fog dissipated. This was on a Friday night, and it was surprising to see people out and about, walking to the bars along Clinton Avenue. Even with vaccines, it's still strange to see people in groups (most everyone was masked when walking around, at least).
I walked over to The Belvedere, which provided this view of the fog and the Main Street Bridge.
The Belvedere was built in 1986 in commemoration of the sesquicentennial of Arkansas' statehood. I'm assuming that the building was named after the 80s TV show Mr. Belvedere.
The current Main Street Bridge was built in 1973, which was then significantly altered in 1998 due to construction on the expanded Statehouse Convention Center. But the first Main Street crossing was built in 1897 and was then known as "The Free Bridge." That bridge was demolished in 1924 to make way for a newer bridge, which would then be demolished for the current bridge in the 1970s.
From there I walked over to the Junction Bridge, which is an old rail bridge that has been coverted into a busy pedestrian bridge. The first Junction Bridge was built in 1884, and was actually built right on top of the old "little rock" bluff that gave the city of Little Rock its name. Unfortunately, the bridge construction resulted in parts of the bluff being dynamited away and then unceremoniously dumped in to the river (historic preservation wasn't really a thing back in the 1800s). The bridge was rebuilt in the 1970s in order to allow for changes in river traffic after the completion of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Rail traffic on the bridge ceased altogether in the 1990s, and after years of sitting idle the bridge was finally converted into a pedestrian bridge in 2008.
My big present under the Christmas tree this year was a brand-new fisheye lens. So one night after getting the kids to bed, I headed downtown to make sure the lens worked ok. I ended up at the Clinton Park Bridge and started to set up the camera and tripod. But even though the trip was meant to test out a new lens, the first picture here is actually one taken with the iPhone (and a neat photo app called Spectre). There was a full moon that night, which is what made the clouds look so bright in the sky.
And here is the view of the bridge with the fisheye....
And the view of the bridge from the shoreline, with the Little Rock skyline poking out underneath the bridge.
And then the view from along the shore on the other side of the bridge, but for the next two shots I actually swithced over to a wide-angle lens. I was amazed at how still the river was, which created some nearly-perfect reflections in the water.
The reflections got messed up at one point because some sort of critter swam through the water nearby (it may have been an otter, or maybe something like the Loch Ness Monster?). Luckily it didn't attack anyone standing by the water taking pictures.
I headed over to the Junction Bridge and tried to get a few pictures with the fisheye lens. This is the view of the bridge, the skyline and the full moon hanging in the sky overhead.
It's amazing how many stars the fisheye lens was able to pick out in the sky (at least I hope those are stars and not just dead pixels in the camera). This is the view of the Main Street Bridge and the Junction Bridge, and in the middle is a sculpture named "The Center" by an artist named Chapel.
It was starting to get late, but I made one last stop at the State Capitol. I'm kinda surprised that I didn't get a visit from the security guards as I set up the camera and tripod right by the fancy brass doors at the front of the building. This is the shot looking straight up towards the columns, still showing off their festive holiday decorations. In the distance you can see Capitol Avenue and the rest of downtown.
I was able to get out again last night, and headed over to the Big Dam Bridge for a few pictures with the fisheye. This is the view of the bridge and the river, which also had some nice reflections (I'm guessing because the water level is really low right now).
And the view looking downriver, with the sky a mix of soft blue from the moon and warm orange from the city lights.
I switched out lenses to the wide-angle for this last shot, with some low clouds quickly moving across the sky above the Big Dam Bridge.
My Father-In-Law was kind enough to lend me his old Pentax K1000, so I decided to take it out for a little photo-shoot at the Junction Bridge.
I'm a fan of Pentax cameras - my very first real camera was a Pentax P30T, purchased way back in the 90s when I was in high school. My second camera was a Pentax ZX-50, which I got while in college. They were all great little cameras, even if I didn't really know what I was doing most of the time with them (I still don't).
The other night it seemed like conditions were favorable for a nice sunset, so I grabbed the camera (luckily the battery was charged) and headed towards downtown. It was storming a little off in the distance when I arrived at the Junction Bridge, and the sky looked gray and leaden. At first it didn't look like there would end up being much of a sunset at all that night.
But then a hint of color appeared in the west, and then it spread wide across the sky above the downtown skyline. The low clouds were a bright mix of pastel pink and sherbet orange, which was reflected in the river below. But this only lasted for just a few minutes, and the color quickly faded away. In this shot, a barge is crossing underneath the Main Street Bridge, and there are some streaks of light from a speedboat heading downriver.
There were still a few storms hanging around, so I decided to wait to see if I could get any pictures of lightning. Of course, it's probably not the wisest thing to be standing on a metal bridge next to a metal tripod during a storm. But at least I managed to capture one shot of the lightning over downtown Little Rock.
On the way home, I drove through downtown and stopped at the old fountain by the Pulaski County Courthouse. In the background is the Robinson Center.
The Junction Bridge has probably the best view of the downtown Little Rock skyline - its perch over the Arkansas River provides a good angle of the buildings and their reflections in the water.
It was too cloudy that day for there to be a colorful sunset, but the sky did turn a deep shade of blue as it got dark.
I was playing around with a fisheye lens, which allowed to get a much wider and pretty cool view of the bridge structure and the skyline.
And one last shot, from along the riverbank on the Northside looking back at the bridge and downtown.
