Thursday, April 30, 2009

Outdoor Classroom

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A couple of frames from Lingle Middle School's annual outdoor classroom event I shot today at Lake Atalanta Park in Rogers. The kids did everything from catching critters in the creek to painting landscapes.

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And no, the baby Arkansas alligator pictured above was not caught in Lake Atalanta's creek.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Hmong Fashion Show

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My lone assignment today was to shoot a Hmong culture celebration at NWACC in Bentonville. I had a feeling this would be a fun assignment. It didn't disappoint. I focused on photographing the fashion show which featured several Mhong youths exhibiting their traditional ceremonial dress. I did all of my shooting backstage to get the candid moments nobody else could see.

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Fatal MVA

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I covered a fatal two vehicle accident yesterday on U.S. 62 east of Garfield. The two lane highway is notorious for bad accidents. This was the first fatal I've shot in probably a year. I'm glad it's been that long. On fatal scenes you have to walk a fine line between doing your job, staying out of the emergency workers' way and being respectful of the deceased. It doesn't take much to set someone off in such an emotional, stress-filled environment. The State Police and firefighters on the scene were really nice. They shared information with me and allowed me to shoot whatever photos I wanted with the mutual understanding I wouldn't directly photograph the victim. I intentionally stayed on the public side of the blind in the photo above to convey the somber mood at the scene as the victim's body was removed from the mangled vehicle. I also stayed behind the blind so I myself wouldn't see the victim. After working this job for more than 13 years I've seen some horrible things and I can still recall each one of them vividly in my mind.

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The man pictured above was one of the three survivors from the accident.

Man I hope the scanner stays quiet today.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Ozark Komen Race for the Cure

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I crawled out of bed early this morning to cover the 11th annual Ozark Komen Race for the Cure in Rogers. I am not usually a morning person, but this was worth it. More than 18,000 people turned out Saturday to support the battle against breast cancer. Each one of these people had a dog in the fight. There were women who had been recently diagnosed, there were survivors and there were family and friends there to either support their loved ones or to carry their memory on. Here are a few of my favorites from the day.

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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Featury News

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Prom season always makes for nice features. Candid moments combined with vivid colors equals good art. Locally the prom season is almost over and I haven't had the opportunity to hunt down a prom-related feature with my Hawgs duties. Today I needed to come up with a photo of for a local sales tax story in Rogers. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a feature/news combo photo.

And it was.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

First BOBB Shot

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I covered the Naturals today and shot my first-ever Ball-On-Broken-Bat photo. I didn't even know the bat had broken until I went back to edit my frames from the player's trip to the plate. I was pretty excited to see it. Not a HUGE deal, but still my first broken bat shot. Yay!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Arkansas Red 49, Arkansas White 21

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Arkansas held their annual spring Red-White Game today at Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. Here's a few photos from the game. Above London Crawford makes the first catch of the game.

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The Red team's defense makes a stop.

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DeAnthony Curtis

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Jarius Wright

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Ryan Mallett

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Greg Childs

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D.J. Williams

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Joe Adams

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Former Razorback star tailbacks Felix Jones and Darren McFadden were at the game and certainly upstaged the action on the field.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Senior Moment

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A few photos from the elderly woman driver versus store front mishap I shot on Wednesday in Springdale. The 83-year-old woman claimed her "brakes failed." She was uninjured, but she pinned the barbershop's 94-year-old owner between her minivan and an interior wall.

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The shop owner suffered a shattered leg along with a broken hip and pelvis. Considering his age it could have been a whole lot worse.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Arkansas 10, Louisiana-Monroe 9 (10 innings)

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Arkansas came from behind against Louisiana-Monroe in 10 innings on a walk-off home run by Scott Lyons. Understandably there was quite a love fest at home plate.

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Thank God something happened at the end of this one cause I didn't have crap for a gamer until Lyons' homer.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Oh Juno

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Just wanted to share a portrait I snapped of Juno while at the park last week. The weather is crappy today. Juno is dying to get out and play. Probably won't get to the park. She had her fill of fun on Saturday at the Northwest Arkansas Filipino American Association's Easter egg hunt. The kids loved her and she went non-stop for four hours. I'm surprised she could even stand up yesterday. Her joints ache these days if she gets too much activity. I just started her on glucosamine. She's eight years old now. I hate to even admit that.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Vanderbilt 13, Arkansas 6

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Arkansas was clobbered by Vanderbilt for the second day in a row on Saturday afternoon. The Commodores scored 9 or their 13 runs on the Hogs in the fifth inning.

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Being there was like being a witness to an execution. It was horrific! It's not like Arkansas couldn't get ANYTHING done. They had four home runs. But bad pitching and errors did them in. Sunday is do or die if the want to prevent the S-word from happening.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Mountie Relays

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Shot some high school track and field today. Here are a few of my favs.

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Arkansas vs. Vanderbilt baseball tomorrow.

Decatur Sky

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A line of severe thunderstorms moved through Northwest Arkansas yesterday evening while I was on assignment in Decatur. I pulled over and shot this frame of the horizon on my way home. As the back end of the storm passed over, the sky turned a deep blood red color as the sun dropped down below the line of thick clouds. It was a really eerie site. I had to get a photo, no matter how boring the foreground was. I tried to get in position for something a little more interesting, but there was nothing in my immediate area I liked. Plus, I didn't have a good prime lens with me (I'd dropped a 300mm f2.8 off at the office earlier in the day) so I was getting terrible lens flare with my 80-200. It's still makes for a dramatic image straight out of the camera.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Arkansas Sweeps No. 1 Arizona State

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Arkansas completed their sweep of No. 1 Arizona State on Wednesday with an 8-7 win over the Sun Devils. These Hogs are simply amazing. They will not quit. Just when you think they're down they have a big inning and they're right back in the game.

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Wednesday night's game set a Baum Stadium record with 11,014 in attendance. How many college baseball programs can pull in 11,014 for a non-conference game? Anyone? That's right. Nobody but Arkansas. Even the Northwest Arkansas Naturals can only dream to have such an attendance.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Ballet Features

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A couple of features from the Dance Theatre of Harlem's performance today at Bentonville High School.

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I enjoy shooting ballet. The combination of dramatic stage lighting and the graceful dancers always makes for beautiful images.