Spadra Creek

Plans were made for another grand photo adventure on Saturday with Zack Andrews. It had rained a bit the previous few days, so the plan was to see if any waterfalls would be flowing in the Ozarks. Usually it's so dry this time of year that it's rare to see waterfalls, unless you get a hurricane like last year when Gustav sat over the state and dumped inches and inches of rain.

But we met early Saturday morning in Conway and drove up to the hills. We decided our first waterfall to visit would be Haw Creek Falls, so we drove towards Clarksvile. I went to college in Clarksville, which I guess makes it my old stomping grounds. As we got into town, we took a little tour of some little neat spots. The first was right off the freeway - the old bridge over Spadra Creek.


I searched for awhile to find some good information about this bridge and didn't come up with much. No website I found could say when the bridge was built, just that it has been here since at least 1930. But I did see that it is a "Pratt pony truss bridge with steel grate deck." I also read that the bridge still sits on the original roadbed of what was then a major road connecting Clarksville with some nearby coal mines.

The bridge sits a bit hidden behind a McDonalds and a Wendys, but now serves as the start for the 2.6 mile long Spadra Creek Nature Trail. There is a steep set of metal stairs that takes you down to the creek, which is where I got this view from under the bridge.


From there we headed north, eventually going to the Buffalo River. We did see a few waterfalls, though they weren't really running. It didn't matter since it would turn out to be an amazing day for photography (even if I ended up getting into some poison ivy and am really itchy now).

Small Works on Paper 2010

I'm pleased and humbled to report that one my pictures was chosen for the 2010 Small Works on Paper. The exhibition is sponsored by the Arkansas Arts Council, which is part of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

The picture chosen was taken last November, at Collins Creek. It's a 15 second exposure showing some autumn leaves caught in the current from a small waterfall.


This will be the third time I've had a picture in Small Works on Paper. I have a picture that is currently touring with SWOP, which oddly enough, is also a picture from Collins Creek.

Mark your calenders, the touring schedule for next year is:
January: Searcy - Searcy Art Gallery
February: Batesville - Lyon College
March: Conway - Hendrix College
April: Fort Smith - University of Arkansas at Fort Smith
May: Springdale - Arts Center of the Ozarks
June: Russellville - Arkansas River Valley Arts Center
July & August: Pine Bluff - Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas
August & September: El Dorado - South Arkansas Arts Center
October: Little Rock - University of Arkansas at Little Rock
November: Arkadelphia - Henderson State University

Space Invaders

For about ten minutes yesterday, both the International Space Station and the Space Shuttle could be seen traveling across the night sky. The Space Shuttle had recently just undocked from the Space Station, so they both appeared as two dots traveling quickly across the horizon.

I met my friend John Blakney in downtown Little Rock to try to get some shots of the ISS and the Space Shuttle. We set up on the stage of the Riverfront Amphitheater, which provided a good view of the Junction Bridge. The plan was to get a shot of the ISS and the Shuttle as they streaked across the sky high above the bridge. We waited as it got dark, enjoying a cool night (though the mosquitoes were a bit bad).


Around 8:13pm, the ISS and Space Shuttle appeared in the sky. They were as bright as stars, and moving quickly to the northwest. They soon moved above the Junction Bridge, but they were higher in the sky than what I had planned, so I tried to change my shot in the hopes of being able to capture them. I couldn't see the lights in the viewfinder, so I just guessed at where they would be at and tried to get a few shots. This is really the best of what I got.


The ISS and the Space Shuttle were moving fast - about 18,000 mph - so they quickly moved beyond the bridge to the north. After a few minutes, they faded back into the night sky.

After that I walked around the Junction Bridge and got a few more shots (and provided dinner for a few more mosquitoes).

FC Dallas vs. D.C. United

Over Labor Day weekend, we made another trip down to Dallas for a soccer game. I wasn't sure about going at first, since it's a five hour drive and we'd have to get tickets, a tank or three of gas and a hotel room. But the season is almost over, and there are just a few home games left. And since Dallas has managed to eliminate themselves from the playoffs already, the season is going to be even shorter.

Also Dallas was playing D.C. United. Ever since my very first MLS game (Dallas vs. Chicago, on March 18,2000), I've seen nearly every single MLS team play. But I had somehow missed seeing D.C. play, so I was ready to cross them off the list. Now the only teams I haven't seen play are the newest ones - Toronto and Seattle.

It was a perfect night for watching the game - it wasn't very hot outside. It's a shame more people weren't at the game, since it was also a lot of fun to watch. We got seats that weren't close to the field, which was good for watching the game but not so great for getting pictures. Most of my shots were blurry.

I'm not really sure what's going on here...



In the 18th minute, Dallas would score on a goal from forward Jeff Cunningham (seen below). It was Cunningham's tenth goal of the season, which ties him for second in all-time MLS goals with 114. He would nearly get another goal just two minutes later, but it bounced off the crossbar.





Not really sure what's going on in this one either...

D.C. United scored a goal in the 38th minute, and the game was tied 1-1 at halftime. Also at halftime, a nice little sunset developed over Pizza Hut Park. I tried to get some shots to turn into a panoramic view, but they didn't turn out right. It didn't help that there wasn't a good crowd at the stadium and that the soccer pitch had faint football lines painted on it (gross!). But this was our view at halftime:


Just five minutes into the second half, Dallas would score again thanks to midfielder David Ferreria. But it would be for nothing, after a controversial call six minutes later led to a red card against a Dallas defender and a penalty kick to D.C. United. The PK and red card were given because a D.C. player, Santino Quaranta tumbled to the ground in the penalty box. That call is being disputed since it looks like Quaranta dove and wasn't actually fouled. He didn't help things by saying in an interview later that: “He hit me, man. I should have scored, I was just waiting for him to hit me. You know [Moreno] is going to score the penalty so, I thought it was a penalty. . . . He was behind me, he wasn’t in front of me, so it was a penalty, right? I mean that’s the obvious rule here, right? If he’s behind me and I’m in front of him and he touches me, I’m going down.”

I'm sure no one really cares, but this is a link to a video that shows what happened:
http://www.3rddegree.net/2009/09/08/one-more-angle/

But the PK was taken, which was converted and gave D.C. the tying goal.


The red card meant that Dallas would finish out the game with only ten players. With 30 minutes left in the game, it was nerve-wracking to see if they would manage to hold onto a tie.






But the game did end in a tie, with Dallas putting a lot of pressure on D.C. It was a good game, at least they tied. It does suck to drive all the way to Dallas to watch them lose!

After that we went back to our hotel in Frisco, which was this fancy new New York style loft hotel. All the rooms were designed to look like a loft, which meant that it was small and was wackily laid-out. The weird part was the bathroom, which featured a door that didn't close all the way, so that you could peek in and see what someone was doing. I guess that makes it trendy?

Downtown

Instead of my typical after-work nap, yesterday I drove to downtown Little Rock and attempted some cityscape shots. I wanted to get a different view of the skyline, so I searched for some conveniently located parking decks. The goal was to get a good view from the top of the deck, hopefully one with an interesting mixture of downtown buildings.

Now parking decks are both a curse and a blessing. The blessing is that it provides a unique view of the city, something that you would only be able to get from standing on a roof somewhere. The curse part is simple - they're ugly. And some really cool old buildings were probably torn down to be replaced by the concrete dullness of the parking deck.

I've managed to sneak my way into a few parking decks downtown, but I went into three last night that I'd never been to before. The first was by the Regions Building. I was able to actually drive up all the way to the top, but the view there wasn't all that great. It did look interesting looking north towards the Pulaski County Courthouse, but the view was marred by another parking deck and vast empty parking lots. But I did manage to get this shot, of downtown reflected in the Regions Building.


I drove off to another nearby parking deck and wasn't impressed with the view there either. So I went off to another, next to the Bank of America Building. Now the third time was a charm. The view was decent, and provided at least a different view of the city. The parking deck isn't the most smartly laid out, and felt way too narrow and claustrophobic to drive through. But it would have to do anyways, there wasn't much light left in the day. The sunset was developing behind me, causing some awesome light in the sky.


The parking deck provided a good view of the Union Bank Building, which was reflecting in it the sunset, the Bank of America Building and the Metropolitan Bank Building. The condo tower to the left is lit up by the sunset, and the full moon hangs over to the right.


And one last shot of the Union Bank Building, looking towards the south and Capitol Avenue.


The other side of the parking deck has some good views looking west towards the Metropolitan Bank Building and the Regions Bank Building.


And last but not least, one more shot of the Metropolitan Bank Building.


I always feel like I'm trespassing while going up on these parking decks. But all of them were almost empty anyways, so hopefully the owners won't mind too much.