The Old Mill

Last weekend I made the obligatory visit to the Old Mill in North Little Rock. It's a popular spot, and is probably even a cliche place to take pictures now. But I grew up in North Little Rock (in fact my grandparents used to live just a few blocks away from the Mill), and I'm fond of the place. The park around the Mill always looks great in the Spring, and I was eager to go check it out again. The azaleas were blooming, along with the dogwood trees.



Of course, the Mill was absolutely packed with people. I think the vast majority of people were getting portraits taken (with at least two engagement photo sessions going on). It took awhile, but I did manage to finally get a shot of the Mill without any people wandering through the frame.

Downtown Lightning

Some big storms were predicted to pass through last Friday night, so like any normal and logical person I decided to go stand in the rain next to a metal tripod and attempt getting some pictures of lightning. So I drove to downtown Little Rock and went to the top of a parking deck, where I hoped I'd get a pretty good view of the storm as it came in from the west. While I waited, I passed the time getting a few pictures. This is the view of the Simmons Tower, the 40-story skyscraper that is the tallest building in the state. I like this building in the foreground with a strange segment of a brick wall attached, which looks like it was ripped like a sheet of paper.



Eventually, the storms finally hit. I had to hide the camera as strong winds and rain blew through, soaking everything in the parking deck (and removing a bunch of pollen in the process). Once things calmed down a bit, I set the camera back up and actually managed to get a shot of a lightning bolt cutting through the sky. This is one of about 70 pictures taken during the storm, and the only one that managed to capture any lightning.

River Market

The Central Arkansas Library just built a new parking deck, which provides them with more parking for their main building and also the Cox Center and the Arkansas Studies Institute. It also, conveniently, provides a great view of President Clinton Avenue and the River Market. So one night last week I drove downtown and headed to the top of the parking deck. I set up the camera and got a few pictures as it started to get dark.



I got a few more pictures while being tempted to go visit the Flying Saucer, which was just a few feet away. Here's one last view, with the trolley passing through the bottom of the photo:

St. Mary's Catholic Church (Plum Bayou)

From Tucker, I made the short drive over to St. Mary's Catholic Church near Plum Bayou. The church is old, and sits alone along a quiet country road. You can tell that it is old, but it's hard to guess from looking at it how historic the little church is. The church was actually founded way back in 1789 on a barge in Arkansas Post. The barge moved upriver to Jefferson County in 1832, and then settled in this spot in 1869. In 1927 the brick exterior was added. The cross on the church is thought to be original, and was covered in copper to protect it from woodpeckers.



I wanted to try to get a picture of star trails above the church, so I waited until it started to get dark and set up the camera. I was a tiny bit annoyed to see that there is a street light all the way out here in the middle of the country, so I had to move the tripod around to avoid the light being in the shot. But after it got dark enough, I set the camera up to start taking pictures. After about two hours I had about 230 or so shots, which I later stacked together to create this picture. The bright streak in the sky isn't a star, it's actually Venus.

Tucker

Last weekend, I made another trip to the Delta to take a few pictures. Right around sunset, I stopped at the small town of Tucker, in Jefferson County. Tucker is known as the home of a maximum security prison now, but it used to be home to large plantation. The Tucker Plantation was established in 1871, and mostly grew cotton. The plantation grew large enough that it supported its own store and post office. The store still stands, although the only thing remaining are the walls. But standing next to the store is the old "Big House" of the plantation. It's now abandoned and empty, nearly hidden by thick overgrown plants.



I couldn't find any information on when the house was built, but it does look like it probably dates to the turn of the 20th century. Here are a few shots taken while looking around the inside:





And the view looking out the old house's back door:



And one last shot, of some daffodils in the backyard that were already blooming.