I created a new blog to function purely as a photoblog. It presents photos better than this blog, but there’s not much room for words. I’m going to put my favorites on there, so check it out if you’ve got the time. I gave it a goofy name: DDay Imaging. Click the link. And click the arrows below the pics to scroll through.
Dad and I drove down to the Buffalo National River and hiked to Whitaker Point and visited Hawksbill Crag, perhaps the most photographed natural feature in Arkansas. On the drive down we encountered a huge thunderstorm, part of a swarm of storms in Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas that killed a bunch of people. We pulled off under a tree when the hail got too bad. As we started off down the trail, we heard the ominous sound of thunder. We planned to visit Upper Haley’s Falls and then go on to Hawksbill Crag. Tim Ernst named the falls in his waterfall guidebook after Haley Zega who got lost in the area in the 2001. I suggested that the waterfall probably had a huge overhang — because most waterfalls in the area do — and we could take refuge under it if need be.
I took the day off to watch Abby while Gina went to an all-day job interview. I dragged out all my camping equipment to take stock and decide what to take on my float trip to Colorado later this month. Abby and I went Wal-Mart and got a new air mattress, a headlamp and some other stuff.
When we got home, Abby helped me set up the good tent. (The one on the right.) But it took a long time to set up (about 20 minutes) and it looks way big for one person. So I went back up in the attic and got out the 17-year-old 14-year-old dome tent we bought for our honeymoon to Arches National Park. The last time the tent was used was in a west Texas sandstorm in Big Bend National Park. It’s actually only been used five or six times, so it’s still in good shape. Plus it’s smaller and it only took about five minutes to set up. The only drawback is that the queen-size air mattress I bought won’t fit in it. I’ll have to get a twin size.
I thought Abby would get a big kick out of the tents, but she didn’t seem very impressed.
We spent Saturday afternoon at the Northwest Arkansas Botanical Garden, which is either in south Springdale or north Fayetteville, it’s hard to tell which. I was pretty impressed that NWA has such a flowerdy place. I was expecting a few ferns and maybe a pine tree, but the gardens are fairly extensive. It’s still early in the spring and some gardens are still under construction, so it should be better in a month or so.
Abby got a big kick out of the little ponds scattered all over the place. She spent a long time in the unfinished Japanese garden throwing decorative stones into the little pond. Each time a rock hit the water, she yelled out “blooop!” and clapped like crazy. We also saw a lizard eat a cricket. That wasn’t part of the garden show, we just got lucky. Abby really liked that because she’s really into lizards right now.
I was practicing using fill flash and I think it made the flowers pop a little too much in the above photo. I need to work on using the flash compensation button to dial it down a little, I think. The photos posted over on flickr look a little better.
Abby was having a good hair day, so I got her in the dining room in front of the big window to get some nice light. I used my 50 mm F/2.8 lens, which won’t autofocus on my D40. Because the lighting called for a large aperture, it was hard to get the pictures focussed well, what with her jumping around and wanting to sit in my lap to see the pics. These three aren’t supersharp, but they’ll do. Also I’m not proficient yet on sharpening photos for the blog, so I think they suffer from that, too. But they look pretty good, I think.
Let’s revisit a fine feature film. It’s got an all-star cast.
As a treat for sleeping through the night, Gina bought Abby a Little People castle and some princess jewelry to go with it. When Gina opened the jewelry package Abby said “My bling!” Then she pranced around showing off her new stuff.
I’ve always loved waterfalls and with all the water that’s fallen from the sky this spring, the water falling from the rocks has been spectacular. I tried taking photos of them in the past with film, but I just didn’t do it enough to become proficient. The lag time between shooting and developing film and seeing mistakes and remembering them and correcting them the next time out was too arduous for me. I’d rather just go play golf with its instant feedback. But with a digital camera I can shoot, check out the LCD, spin some dials, push some buttons and try again until I get something I like.
Now, I’m not disappointed with the exposure, but a lot of times I’m disappointed with the composition. I did like the composition on this shot of the underside of the Glory Hole near Fallsville in the Ozark National Forest.
I’ve gone kind of goofy on photographing the waterfalls. I bought the Tim Ernst waterfall guidebook and I’ve been mapping out what falls I want to see before they dry up this year. Gina, Abby and I went out Saturday looking for King’s River Falls and it was a total bust. It was sunny and we were out too early in the day. Abby got grouchy after 3 hours of riding around, which meant Gina was grouchy and I was grouchy. After all that we didn’t even get to see King’s River Falls because the road was too washed out for Gina’s Honda Accord to navigate.
This is a test post from Flickr. Cross your fingers.
Who’s got the best mane?
Abby, Gina and I drove over to Gentry to visit the Wild Animal Safari. It’s a 180-acre primitive zoo. You drive on gravel roads through several big pastures where African antelope, camels, deer and other ungulates spend their miserable lives. Every now and then you come to a cage – some are big and some are small – holding more dangerous animals like lions, tigers and arctic foxes. The animals mostly look bored, which I’m sure they are. Click on the photos to see them much larger.
The best part were the pens with the animals you could touch – goats, pigs, turtles, kangaroos, etc. The tiny goats were very cute. We stepped in a lot of poop, though.