Riverfest Fireworks

The Riverfest celebration in downtown Little Rock used to always end with a big fireworks show over the Arkansas River, but since the festival got new owners, there have been a few changes. One change was that the fireworks were moved to Friday night, at the beginning of the festival. I didn't know about the change until about 25 minutes before the fireworks show was scheduled to go off, but I had just enough time to grab the camera and hurry onto the freeway towards downtown.

I got to a spot along I-630, which provides a good (if distant) view of the fireworks through some of the downtown skyscrapers. The camera battery was nearly dead when I got there, but I managed to at least a few decent pics of the show before the battery died and I was attacked by mosquitoes.

Keo

The area around Scott and Keo, located about 30 flat and swampy miles from Little Rock, is perhaps the Boxley Valley of the Delta. There is an amazing assortment of old homes, barns, churches and other buildings sitting out next to rice and soybean fields. There are some great spots to take pictures, and I headed out there last week when I had a free night.

The small town of Keo (population 235) is surrounded by fields of tall pecan trees. This field, located right in the town, was lined with a barb-wire fence that was covered with bright purple flowers.



Just south of Keo were some small silos, with some storm clouds behind it. There were some other storms growing off to the west, and the sky would steadily grow darker and more ominous the longer I was out there taking pictures.



Just down the road is this old church, called Morris Chapel. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any information on its history, but it doesn't look like it's been used in quite some time (the grass in front of it is mowed at least).





There is a cemetery across the street, with several markers dating back to the 1800s.



I got back in the car and followed the car south as it began to run along the side of an oxbow lake that was filled with cypress and tupelo trees. There were so many trees that they formed a thick wall in the swampy lake water. I tried to find a good spot to stop and take pictures, and eventually found a road that actually bisected the lake.



It was a neat spot, and one that was ideal for pictures. The road was slightly elevated above the lake, meaning that there was at least a little bit of distance from the snakes in the water (at least I hoped that was the case). It also provided some great views of the lake, which was green with duckweed (at least I think that's what it's called?).





One thing that was shocking was that there weren't any mosquitoes out there yet. Probably in a few weeks (or days) they will be out and it will be impossible to be out there for very long.



It was getting close to sunset, and the sky began to take on a bright orange tint. The storm clouds were still gathering near, but there was just enough of a break for the sun to burst through. I hurried down the road, which emptied into a wide field.



Parked next to the field was this old tractor, which was still being used. Wonder how old it is?





I headed back to the car, thinking I had time before it got dark to make it to another spot I had planned on checking out on the trip. But I never made it, the light was just too great and I had to make lots of stops. Not only were the blue storm clouds getting darker, but the orange from the sunset was getting more intense. I stopped in the middle of the road to get a few shots (luckily not much traffic out there).



The slow-moving storm was finally here and was dropping some lightning. It was almost dark, so I hurried to find a good spot to try to get some pictures of the lightning. I ended up parking next to a field, and then set the camera up on the tripod (a metal tripod, which perhaps isn't the wisest thing to do in a lightning storm).



I stopped when it started to pour down rain (and also when a huge bug flew right into my face), and started to pack up the camera and tripod. Of course, right as soon as I got in the car the storm dropped a huge and very photogenic bolt of lightning right smack dab in the middle of where I had been pointing the camera. Oh well, it was time to head home anyways.

Out of Office - Travel Photography

Here is another little photography portfolio slideshow, this one focuses (pun intended) on pictures taken while traveling outside of my home state. The photos were taken on trips to Mexico, Tennessee, North Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, California, Oregon, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C. The pictures were taken between 2007 and 2018, with either a Canon 6D, an Olympus E30 or an Olympus E500.

Four Seasons of Arkansas Photography

Not to sound too old, but I've been taking pictures now for over twenty years. I got interested in photography way back in the olden days of 1994, back when I was in junior high. I got my first real camera in 1995, a Pentax P30T from the Service Merchandise in North Little Rock. The camera was a film camera with manual focus, back when the idea that in the future everyone would carry around fancy digital cameras on phones would have sounded crazy.

I've been looking through a bunch of old pictures recently while making sure that I have all my files properly backed up. So I took a bunch of my favorite shots of Arkansas that I've taken over the years and compiled them into a portfolio slideshow. I'm going to admit to being a little self-indulgant here, since the slideshow is about 15 minutes long. But it encompasses photos taken between 2006 and 2018, from just about every corner of the state. The photos are organized by season, so it features a little bit of everything from winter snow to fall colors.



This only has shots from Arkansas, but I've been working on another slideshow that has pictures taken from my travels outside of the state. That'll be up soon!

Waterfall Weekend

We have entered peak waterfall season in Arkansas, so last weekend I met up with Zack and Matt for a little trip up into the Ozarks. It looked like ideal conditions, with cloudy and rainy weather predicted. Spring had fully hit in Little Rock, and all the trees had greened up with bright leaves. But as I started heading north from Russellville, it seemed like Spring hadn't quite reached the Ozarks yet. The further north I went, the leaves got smaller and smaller until there was one point where the leaves hadn't come out at all yet. In just a short drive, it went from Spring all the way back to Winter.

It was still green in the lower elevations, so we went to camp at a spot along Big Piney Creek. After getting everything set up, we then started our first hike along Rock Creek, which is a tributary of Big Piney. The hike probably wasn't all that bad if you're in good shape. But I was quickly reminded of how woefully out of shape I am. It seems like my legs and knees began to ache just as soon as we headed out into the woods. This area is really popular with rock climbers thanks to some tall bluffs, and there was a trail to follow for a bit. The trail ran below the bluffs, and eventually went by Rock Creek Bluff Falls (which are about 47 feet tall). But the sun was out, so none of the pictures really turned out.

The trail ended at the bluff, so we started hiking out into the woods after that. After hiking about a mile or so, we finally made it to this waterfall - Rock Creek Falls. The creek does live up to its name, at least here at the waterfall. Here the waterfall tumbles down onto a large boulder sitting in the middle of the creek.



As soon as we got here, after hiking two miles, we heard loud engines roaring through the woods. A large group of country guys riding 4-wheelers and side-by-sides appeared out of nowhere and drove into the middle of the creek right above the waterfall. They got out, and stood around talking and drinking beer. We sat at the waterfall and waited, which was a little frustrating but to be honest I wouldn't have minded if one of them gave us a ride back to our car so we didn't have to hike all the way back.



And looking up at the falls, taken while sitting on a rock in the middle of the creek. There are definitely a lot of rocks in Rock Creek.



Just downstream is another waterfall - Ava Jane Falls. It's interesting how the water changes color from looking greenish in the pool below the falls and then into more turquoise in the creek.



And a closer view of the falls:



And then looking downstream from Ava Jane Falls, as the creek passes heads through the forest towards its eventual confluence Big Piney Creek.



After that we began the hike back to the car (unfortunately none of the 4-wheeler guys volunteered to shuttle us back). After finally reaching the car, we decided to hit one more waterfall before it got dark. We decided to visit Slot Rock Falls, which is on the amusingly named Lick Creek. The waterfall can be reached by hiking the Ozark Highlands Trail, or if you're lazy you can drive right up to it. Since we had already hiked four miles that day, we decided to be lazy. Luckily we were in Matt's Xterra, and after some driving (which required being in a 4-wheel drive) we were able to get to the falls.



It is a really neat waterfall - the creek has carved a deep groove in the rock, creating a narrow slot for the waterfall to pour over. The pool below the falls is apparently a good swimming hole too (especially if you've been hiking the OHT, it'd be a nice place to stop to rest).



And here's the view of Lick Creek has it flows downstream from the waterfall.



It started to rain and it was getting dark, so we headed back to the campsite. It ended up raining fairly heavily overnight, so the next morning there was some fog drifting along the hills above the creek. This was our view of Big Piney Creek from our campsite, which was a great spot to spend the night.



And another shot of the fog clinging to the hillsides above a field near our campsite.



The field was marked by a stone wall, which ran for a bit alongside the road.



Wonder how old the wall is? It seemed like it was still in pretty good condition.



We decided to try one more waterfall - Mill Creek Falls. The falls are reachable from a hike that has been rated as an "easy bushwhack." Which I do question, mostly because I'm 38 and out of shape so I don't think there are very many easy bushwhacks anymore. The hike was fairly level, but there were a lot of sharp briars and thorns lurking dangerously along the creek, and I ended up being scratched up enough to look like I just barely survived a knife fight.

The creek is very pretty though, and reminded me a bit of Smith Creek up by the Buffalo River.



We also saw some evidence of bears in the area - mostly some torn up trees and lots of bear scat (so to answer the question - yes, bears do crap in the woods). We didn't actually see any bears out there, which is for the best since I was worn out after all the hiking and would have not been able to outrun any bears.



And a shot of Mill Creek Falls, which is about eight feet tall.



I was only able to get a few shots from here before the sun came out, and after some rest we started the hike back to the car. It was a good weekend and I can't wait to get back up to see a few more waterfalls this Spring!