Snow Day

The term "Snow Day" just doesn't have the same ring to it when you grow up and choose to make your living as a photojournalist. In short if means getting out and driving in less-than-desireable or just downright dangerous conditions to get a photo of kids playing in snow, adults shoveling snow or another person's life made miserable because of the snow. I personally did two 360's down Chelsea Drive after only getting about a mile from my house this morning. No I didn't wreck my Jeep and yes I did slow down. I shot the gem above of a boy and his big sis making snow angels in their front yard at the end of my day after heading out for one last feature hunt in Bentonville. Gotta admit the shot kinda made it all worth the while in the end. I just hope we're done with snow days for the season.


This photo was of a father and son meeting halfway between their homes in Bella Vista this morning when the snow was at its peak. The son was bored and decided to walk to his parent's house to hang out. Yeah, he WALKED instead of risking wrecking his pickup. Smart guy.

Hogs Win Big

Arkansas put a 78-58 beat down on SEC rival Mississippi State last night at Bud Walton Arena. I really didn't think the Hogs had it in em. Boy was I wrong. I picked a good night to try a remote camera at the back of the basket. The photo of Weems dunking above off an assist from Patrick Beverley ran five columns on the front of sports today. It was a huge photo and a huge win for the Razorbacks.


Patrick Beverley fights for a loose ball. Pat has really come on strong for the Hogs lately with assists in double figures in four of his last five games.


Gary Ervin got to stick it to his former school and teammates. Ervin just about got into a brawl at last year's game against the Bulldogs at Bud Walton. None of that happened last night.


Guess who was proud of his Razorbacks last night? Pelphrey actual had some moments where he beamed with pride in his players. Has this team has turned the corner? We'll see.

That's My Boy!

Had to stake out the Benton County Courthouse today for a generic shot of a prisoner chain gang being lead out of the building for A1 news. I needed to get the Bentonville square in the background of the photo for it to work with the story and wanted to not reveal the prisoner's identities. After freezing my ass off in 32-degree weather with wind gusts above 30-mph for more than 40 minutes the group finally came out (a guard told me 40 minutes prior that the group would be out in 20 minutes, so i had to wait at the top of the courthouse steps out in the open for the shot i wanted). Just as it all frames up and there is a good line of prisoners headed down the steps the last winner in line turns to me and keeps saying "Hi Mom" repeatedly. Then follows it up with "Hey, when's this going to be in the paper?" Like he can't wait for his mom to see it the next day. "Oh my God! Junior's on the front page of the paper honey. Put down the red phosphorus and the Draino and come look at this!" Again this is one of those "Can't Win/God Must Hate Me" scenarios. When you want to get the prisoners face they react like a vampire hiding from the sun. When you don't want to get their face they all of a sudden become proud of their situation.


In the end this is the shot I went with. So much for not showing their identities, but I like the photo better than what I was going for intially anyway. And Junior's mom still gets to see her boy on A1.

Recent Work: More Portraits

Michael Ackerson, Ph.D., project engineer for Process Dynamics Inc. of Fayetteville.
(yeah the gels are kinda cliche, but my client wanted something colorful.)


Springdale attorney Michele "Micky" Harrington.


Robert Ginsburg, owner of Uncle Sam's Safari Outfitters in Fayetteville.

Hogs Drop Another One

The Hogs lost a really, really ugly one to Georgia in Athens on Saturday night.


Coach Pelphrey was uncharacteristically quiet for pretty much the whole game. I imagined him mentally slaughtering the alleged 8,000 in attendance and swimming in their blood as he kept to himself. I heard he was actually trying a new, nice guy approach to coaching the team. Right. Remember Stan Heath? Let's hope Pelphrey is back to his old self next Saturday against LSU.

Hogs Lose, Pelphrey Mad

The Hogs lost 70-66 to the Cocks, the Gamecocks that is, on Wednesday night. Pelphrey was his usual self. Have I said that I love this guy before? I'm beginning to believe he's doing all this for me.

Divine Intervention

Had to go on the good ole wild art hunt today for 1A. After cruising Rogers for about an hour with not much luck I actually broke down and asked the Photo Gods for a little help (to be honest I was begging). Minutes later I passed by the former El Ranchito grocery near downtown and found two Hispanic gentlemen repainting the store's exterior to its new name, La Mora Market. This was one of the last frames I shot before heading back to the bureau. I'm so glad I didn't have to resort to the skate park or some other desperation shot. Thanks Photo Gods!

Wrasslin'

Haven't shot much wrestling since I've been with TMN. The sport was just introduced to Arkansas schools last year. Which is really kinda odd when you think about it. Seems like Arkansas and Wrasslin' should go hand in hand. Just like Arkansas and Chicken Farms, or Arkansas and Trailer Homes. Put it all together and you've got two kids wrasslin' on the front porch of their trailer home on the family chicken farm. Mmmmm chicken.

Cotton Bowl Memoirs

I have so many memories from my week in Dallas for the Cotton Bowl I thought I would share a few of them here. The above photo was shot by the Dem-Gaz's Clay Carson with Zac's camera about an hour before kickoff. Zac and I were both zombies that morning as neither of us got any real sleep the night before. Not that we partied hard on New Year's Eve or anything, quite the contrary actually. We both just had our own issues getting to sleep.


I got to bond with the "enemy." Dem-Gaz shooter Rick McFarland and I edit our takes from Arkansas' practice side by side at a "Launderia" somewhere in Dallas. We both desperately needed to wash some clothes so we shot our assignments for the day and did our work while doing laundry. What newspaper war?


You would think both of us would've packed enough clothes for the week we were there. I was actually amazed at how fast I went through my clothes. By the way, have you ever seen anyone edit their photos on top of a washing machine before?


Got some sweet tickets to the Stars vs. Blues NHL game as well. Notice the Gold parking pass. Gold parking is under the American Airlines Center in the same garage as the players park. My Grand Cherokee looked a bit out of place next to Astin Martins and Ferraris. At least I felt rich.


The view at the Stars game from our Platinum box suite.


The view inside our Platinum box suite. Who cares about the hockey game. Let's watch the Patriots play on Hi-Def instead.


Oh yeah. Escalades and Darren McFadden were the talk of the town the week of the Cotton Bowl. It was a black Escalade moron!


Everybody loves a parade. Especially when it's 40 degrees outside and the wind is gusting up to 30 mph in downtown Dallas.


I don't think Tusk seemed to mind the cold. He really enjoyed the attention. Except for the Missouri fans who wanted to eat him.


Oh. I also got to see the world famous Kilgore Rangerettes. Who? Yeah, that's what I said too. Those girls were really, really limber though. They did a leaping splits onto the concrete. Zac nearly fainted when he saw it.


The game really was the worst part of the whole week. This photo of Felix Jones getting the ball stripped away lead our coverage and pretty much summed up the game. Missouri, who won 38-7, was the better team that day by far. I hope Bobby Petrino can jump start the program and get some good wins next season, otherwise it could be two years before the Hogs get back to another bowl game.