December 29, 2013 by millicanphotography

Favorites for 2013

This past June, I stepped down as store manager at Bedford Camera in Fort Smith. Called it “retirement,” but I knew I would return on a part-time basis, and I did. Let’s call it “semi-retirement.”

One result of semi-retiring is having more time to make photographs – and I have tried to do that. Enough that when I tried to select my favorite images for the year, it was difficult to narrow it down to just 10. But here are the ten images I most enjoyed creating this year. I hope you enjoy them, too!

(Click the image for a larger version.)

In early June, the purple coneflowers at Cherokee Prairie were in full bloom. I used the Tamron 180mm macro lens for its telephoto effect, blurring the background. The early morning light was soft and warm.
Field of Purple Coneflowers, Cherokee Prairie, near Charleston, Arkansas
Also in June, an Eastern-tailed Blue butterfly showed up at Cherokee Prairie, just as I was setting up my camera. A first of the species for me.
Eastern Tailed-Blue (Cupido [Everes] omyntas) at Cherokee Prairie, near Charleston, Arkansas
In August, two friends and I were exploring in the Ozarks, and found this small stream. I admit one of the reasons I like this photograph is because I made it without following Mike up the side of the hill to where he was! (Yes, Mike did have some great images.)
A small waterfall in Arkansas’ Ozarks
This image was made in our front yard. We have a number of feeders, and a good number of birds visit year-round. Using a macro lens, and then cropping tighter in post resulted in this close-up, which reveals detail of the structure of the feather.
Feather, left behind
The Grand Canyon image almost did not happen. Originally, my travel plans for the trip home from the California Photo Festival included my first visit ever to the National Park. However, our governmental leaders had chosen that time to close all federal facilities. The day before I got there, the State of Arizona, as several other states had done, took it upon themselves to open the Park. Yay for them! – and me!
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
Two days after visiting the Grand Canyon, I stopped at the famous Cadillac Ranch in Texas. What I did not know until then, was that graffiti artists are encouraged to use the old cars for their art – so much so that you can hardly tell these once were luxury automobiles.
The Cadillac Ranch, Amarillo, Texas
My friend Mike and I went looking to make fall foliage photos and we found some of the best I have ever seen. This image is in the Arkansas Ozarks, on Haw Creek.
Autumn colors on Haw Creek in Arkansas
Muskogee, Oklahoma is home to Honor Heights Park, known in our area for its annual “Azalea Festival” in April. In addition, the park also puts on a dazzling Christmas lights display. This photo is of an animated LED light tree, and so required a long exposure so that all the light were lighted at some point during the exposure. Then, during the open shutter time, I rotated the zoom ring, creating the “burst” effect.
Christmas Lights, Honor Heights Park, Muskogee, Oklahoma
We have had some snow already this year – unusual for us – and I made this photo one evening of the Crawford County Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which sits on the County Courthouse grounds.
Crawford County Vietnam Veterans Memorial, County Courthouse, Van Buren, Arkansas
This last photo is one of the most recent, and I caught this Mallard blasting off from a pond in Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, in Oklahoma.
Mallard drake taking flight at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, near Vian, Oklahoma

So, there you have them: my favorites from 2013. They may not be great photos, but each one of them holds special memories for me. I hope the next year brings as many.

Here’s wishing everyone a Happy New Year 2014!

November 22, 2013 by millicanphotography

Another Visit to Cherokee Prairie

Most years, the vegetation at Cherokee Prairie is pretty much dry and dead by September, as is most flora in our region. This year, though, was different. On September 2, Labor Day, I drove by and saw late summer flowers and grasses. Walking through the tall grass, I found flowers, spiders, butterflies and caterpillars. It was a great, productive, and fun-filled couple of hours that morning…

Pearl Crescent butterfly; late summer

Pearl Crescent Caterpillar

In the background, you may have noticed a Purple Gerardia, aka Purple False Foxglove, (Agalinis purpurea). There were a number of these flowers in bloom.

Purple Gerardia (aka Purple False Foxglove) Agalinis purpurea

An aster with a Crab spider in residence

Bicyclist passing by Cherokee Prairie on Highway 60

Equipment included the Sony Alpha 77, Tamron 180 macro lens, Manfrotto tripod and Really Right Stuff ball head

August 11, 2013 by millicanphotography

Butterflies, spiders, insects

This spring and summer, I’ve done a lot of macro photography, mostly of flowers, but I’m always ready for other subjects that make an appearance. Here are some surprises thus far this year…

“Yellowjacket Flies” – on a wild rose

Eastern Tailed-Blue, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

OK – I’ve shown this before, but it was also a surprise. 🙂

Green Lynx Spider, on the back of a Sunflower. You have to look on the back of flowers, as well as the front.

Another Lynx spider, just not as green. This one was on a yellow coneflower at Cherokee Prairie.

This is another fly, but is really tiny. The real surprise here is the dew drop on its back, that I didn’t see until I downloaded the images. There is an image of the same flower you can see in the larger dew drop.

All images shot with the Sony Alpha77 and Tamron 180 macro lens, on a Manfrotto tripod and Really Right Stuff ball head.

June 26, 2013 by millicanphotography

Van Buren Main Street

Here are some images I shot on an early morning of “Historic Main Street” in Van Buren, Arkansas – just some glimpses of where we call home.

Magenta colored stairs behind a metal gate lead up to a private residence in Van Buren, Arkansas

Antiques sign below a roof in downtown Van Buren, Arkansas

Red bicycle wheel in a store window in downtown Van Buren

A trio of windows facing Main Street in Van Buren, Arkansas

A door off Main Street, Downtown Van Buren, Arkansas

One of several along Main Street, Van Buren, Arkansas

Bench in front of the Ice Cream Parlor, Van Buren, Arkansas

Another trio of windows on Main Street Van Buren, Arkansas

My intentions were to look for and photograph patterns and the color red; downtown Van Buren has plenty of both…

I used the Sony Alpha 77, Sony 16-50 and Tamron 70-300 lenses – and the Manfrotto tripod with Really Right Stuff ballhead.

June 17, 2013 by millicanphotography

Cherokee Prairie

Each spring, I look forward to visiting Cherokee Prairie, an Arkansas Natural Heritage Site. There are a number of pieces of land in Arkansas similar to this; allowed to grow naturally, with only foot traffic allowed.
This spring, I’ve been able to make several visits to the Prairie, and here’s some of what I’ve seen – and photographed.
Among the first wildflowers to bloom is Indian Paintbrush. I visited once and they were just beginning to show color; a later visit and the Prairie was nearly covered with the colorful red flowers.

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea), Cherokee Prairie, near Charleston, Arkansas

Then, in the midst of the red flowers was this yellow version.

A yellow version of Indian Paintbrush

Here’s another image (my favorite) of the same yellow flower, juxtaposed with the red ones in the background.

Yellow Indian Paintbrush, Cherokee Prairie near Charleston, AR

Next, a few weeks later, the Purple Coneflowers covered the Prairie:

Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

Purple Coneflower framed by Doll’s Daisy, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

Large patch of Purple Coneflowers, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

There are other wildflowers there; these are some of my favorites.

And, the visitor can also see some other “flying flowers”, such as this Eastern Tailed-Blue. This was a first for me, and I appreciate our friend, Anne Sayers, helping identify it…

Eastern Tailed-Blue, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

These images were all made with the Sony Alpha77, a Minolta 100mm macro lens and, more recently, a Tamron 180mm macro lens, Manfrotto tripod and Really Right Stuff ball head. And, all the water drops were there before I was… 🙂

June 7, 2013 by millicanphotography

Black Bass Lake

Every two years, the Photographic Society of Northwest Arkansas (www.psnwa.org) hosts the Mid-America Photographic Symposium (MAPSYM). This year, for the first time, I was able to attend the weekend event, held in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Kudos to the PSNWA for putting on a first-class event, aimed at photography enthusiasts and professionals alike.

One outing I joined was an early morning “Nature Hike” at Black Bass Lake. Even if you’ve ever been to Eureka Springs, a small community built on a steep hillside, I doubt you’ve heard about this lake. At least, I hadn’t, and I overheard another participant, from the area, say the same thing. So, we drove down a steep hill on a gravel road, to the lake, and it was like going to another world; right in the middle of the community, we were suddenly in a wilderness. It was so cool! (Are we supposed to say “cool” any more? I can’t keep up, so I just say what I feel.)
The morning was typical spring for this area; cool and damp. The lake had some misty fog hanging over the surface, and fortuitously, there were two fishermen in a small boat…

Two fishermen on Black Bass Lake, in the misty fog.

Walking one of the trails around the lake, I photographed this C-curved blade of grass, with a dew drop hanging on. Those that know me, and especially those that have sat through a class with me, have heard me stress simplicity…

Dew drop clings to a curved blade of grass, alongside Black Bass Lake, Eureka Springs, Arkansas

There were also a number of these purple flowers; according to Don Kurz’s Arkansas Wildflowers book, it’s called the Leather Flower. Cool flower…

Leather Flower along Black Bass Lake, Eureka Springs, Arkansas

So, it was an interesting weekend. I learned a bit about how Hanson Fong takes portraits, saw & listened to Nikon’s Mark Kettenhofen deliver an awesome keynote presentation, and more. Glad I went. 🙂

Camera used was the Sony Alpha 77, Sony 16-50 f/2.8 (I love this lens!) and Minolta 100 macro, Manfrotto tripod with Really Right Stuff ball head.

June 3, 2013 by millicanphotography

Garvan Woodland Gardens

In April this year, I visited Garvan Woodland Gardens, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. My first time there, although it is a place high on my want-to-go-to list for some time. Mid-April was a little late for the tulips, which are reportedly spectacular, but there was still lots of colorful flowers covering the grounds.

So here are a few selected photos. Hope you enjoy!

Rhododendrons by the waterfall.

Garvan Woodland Gardens, small waterfall with rhododendrons.

Some remnants of tulips in front of red flowers (no – I don’t remember what they are.)

Tulip remnants with red flowers in the background.

Along a path, there was a late blooming river of tulips.

A River of Tulips

Here is a tight crop of the tulips from the “river.”

The river of tulips, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas

The river of tulips, crop, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas

Closeup of rhododendrons.

Closeup of some rhododendrons, Garvan Woodland Gardens, Hot Springs, Arkansas

The Gardens have flowers in bloom throughout the spring and summer, but are well known for their tulips displays in early spring. Maybe next year…

Photos were all taken with the Sony Alpha 77, and the Sony 16-50 f/2.8 lens and the Minolta 100 f/2.8 macro lens.

December 23, 2012 by millicanphotography

Red Reflections

I first saw reflections in water drops in a magazine – probably Outdoor Photographer. The photos were fascinating, and I decided it was a subject/technique I needed to learn. There were a number of failures over the years, until this photo.

On the day I took this, I was visiting Cherokee Prairie Natural Area. In fact, I had been there for a while, searching the Prairie for just the right combination of water drops, grass tangles, flowers, and light. I had no success, and was walking back to my truck, when at the very edge of the parking area was a perfect arrangement. I set the tripod up in the short grass of the parking area, and made a number of exposures…

One of the problems with making these photographs is that all of the vegetation – grass, flowers, shrubs, briars – is connected! Setting a tripod up without causing the water drops to fall is sometimes impossible. Often, I get it almost just right, move the tripod – or the camera & lens – and bump or pull something, causing the water drops to disappear. So, finding this at the parking lot was exciting! Ever since that day, I always look around the parking area before heading off into the grasses of the prairie…

Wild rose reflected in water drops on grass
Cherokee Prairie State Natural Area, near Charleston, Arkansas

I have always like the sharpness of this image, but would like to have the same situation again; I think it deserves some different compositions, and would like to shoot it with one of today’s higher resolution cameras. However, photographs are the reflection of a moment, then it’s history. As much as we might wish to relive our past, we cannot… 😉

Minolta Maxxum 7D, Minolta Maxxum 100 mm macro lens, Manfrotto tripod.

December 16, 2012 by millicanphotography

Reflections

Each spring, I look forward to going out to locate, and photograph dew drops reflecting, preferably, a wildflower. Of course, any breeze, even one barely felt on skin, is the enemy. So, we hope for no breeze, large dew drops easily photographed, and a colorful wildflower behind…

On this morning, I found a spiderweb covered in dew, and in the background was a black-eyed susan wildflower. However, there was a nearly imperceptible breeze – just enough to move the spiderweb. I took several photos, trying to time the exposure for the least movement. Here is one of the best, but because of the air movement, I was unable to keep all in sharp focus.

Dew drops on a spider web reflect the black eyed susan flower in the background.

I took this photo at Cherokee Prairie Preserve State Heritage Site, near Charleston, Arkansas, using the Sony Alpha 700, the Minolta 100 mm macro lens, Manfrotto tripod. The shutter speed was 1/320th second, in an attempt to freeze the movement from the breeze, at f/8.

October 19, 2012 by millicanphotography

Christmas Honors

In 2009, the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce started a program to honor the veterans buried in the Fort Smith National Cemetery. Inspired by Arlington National Cemetery and “Wreaths Across America,” the goal was to lay a Christmas wreath upon each grave in the cemetery. It has been a huge success. The community has joined together and each year, over 1,000 volunteers have assembled the wreaths in a remarkably short period of time, then the veterans’ families, scout troops, veterans groups, and Jr ROTC units have placed the wreaths on the graves.

Most of the photos shown here are from 2011, and one from 2009.

After being assembled, the wreaths are placed in groups along the cemetery road, waiting to be placed on the graves. Family members are the first to place the wreaths, and everyone allows them time alone with their departed loved ones.

That morning in December 2011, was very cold, and the wreaths and red ribbons were covered with frost

In an area of Unknown US Soldiers’ graves, local Jr ROTC troops place the wreaths

Jr ROTC trooper salutes the grave of an unknown

After placing the wreath on the grave of an Unknown US Soldier, the young cadet salutes the grave headstone, to honor the fallen

In 2009 – the first year for Christmas Honors – we received a snowfall on Christmas Day.
Understand this… it never snows on Christmas Day in Fort Smith, Arkansas. 🙂
This is only one of probably at least a hundred thousand photos taken before the snow melted…

These are only a few photos, and others have taken more and better. But, this is a story about a community that came together and worked together to honor our fallen brothers and sisters. I think it’s a good thing they’ve done…

Millican Photography

Photography by Larry & Gayle Millican

Arkansas