Here we go again...

And so it happens again. I've gone several days without posting and I find myself just making one generic post with several images over the last few days (Saturday through Tuesday).

With all the hustle and bustle of getting ready for the holiday, posting to the blog has been left on the back burner, unfortunately. So, just in case I don't get around to posting tomorrow, merry Christmas to all and to all a good knight -- for those of you celebrating a medieval-themed holiday.

BTW, to those that haven't done so already, please make sure you view my slideshow linked on the previous post.

Best of 2008

I've created a slideshow with my picks of the year.

I'm giving a very big thanks to Ben Bipes for hosting it and to my girlfriend's sister, Heather Batchelor, for letting me use her music.

Enjoy.

Finishing off the week

With all the time I spend on campus, I'm thinking I should just enroll in some courses there. It would definitely make my minimal free time a little more productive.

I spent all day today on the UA campus. And finished the evening off with the Hogs basketball game against Austin Peay.

LOOOOOONG day

Today was a stretched day. And due to the length of the day, I'm simply posting random samplings from the day's shoots with no details. So, enjoy.

However, I will add the following: if you have the opportunity to see Spamalot, make the ticket purchase and you won't be disappointed.

Back in a groove

Alright, I'm trying to get myself back in the daily posting routine.

Started off the day at the Walton Arts Center where the traveling production of The Wizard of Oz was holding auditions for local youth to fill the roles of the munchkins. And, believe it or not, the lady's title leading the children is "munchkin coordinator."

After that, I went over to the Elizabeth Richardson Center for a Christmas celebration where they residents were also able to view the inside of the Air Evac helicopter.

Wow. A whole week?!

OK. I'll start by dishing out a quick apology to all my loyal readers that have missed my posts for a week now. So, to Mom, Daddy, Beth and Ben, I'm sorry. That should cover everyone. Oh, and I guess whoever is reading my blog from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

And considering there's just so much to post here, I'm not going to bore you with details of everything. This is merely a sampling of the week past -- last Sunday through today (Saturday).

The South will RISE AGAIN!

OK, first off. I don't really believe that title. I just wanted to use it for today's assignment.

I started off at the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad station in Springdale to shoot the annual Children's Christmas Train ride. Hundreds of kiddos load onto the railway along with Santa & Mrs. Claus for a holiday ride to Rogers and back. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to ride the rails with the Claus'.

Because after that, I was off to the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park to document the reenactment of the Civil War battle that took place there.

We Getted Some Snow

So this is now my second (upcoming) winter here in AR-Kansas and already I've seen a higher frequency of snow than I'm used to. But it's great. I love the snow. As long as the morons that don't know how to drive in it stay at home or walk.

Of course, we didn't get more than a light dusting from the first snow of the season and it melted away before the afternoon sun took its effect. But that's not the point. The point is we got to see some snow and that means we (photographers) better be shooting something in said snow.

So instead of coming straight to the office this morning, I just set out to find something. Anything. And I found nothing more than these Canada geese scavenging through the light layer at Murphy Park in Springdale.

But needless to say, I really needed people. So I decided to head down to the campus to see if I could spot some students playing in it. I wasn't on campus more than five minutes before finding three freshmen involved in a snowball fight. I love it when a plan comes together (-Hannibal, "The A Team").

And finally, I had to return to campus later in the afternoon for a VERY quick shoot at their annual Sustainability Competition. It started just before 4pm and I needed to have my art over by 4:15pm. Mission accomplished.

Happy Turkey Day!

What's normally labeled as the "busiest travel day of the year," was rather lackluster this year.

I went to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA) this morning to get holiday travelers for our annual day-before-Thanksgiving-travel story. Unfortunately, due probably to the struggling economy, not as many people are traveling this year. So I made what I could and got out of there before the parking time ran too high.

I'm leaving for Little Rock in the morning to go visit and meet my girlfriend's parents and sister; so I won't be posting anything until I return to work on Sunday. Sorry, Beth. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers! And just remember there's only 242 shopping days left before my birthday.

Fishin' up some photos

I only had one assignment today. I went to Hickory Creek Marina on Beaver Lake to cover the Central Junior High School Fishing Club participating in their annual striper fishing tournament, the 19th annual Ann Martin Memorial Striper Tournament. These kids pulled in a few very nice stripers -- the biggest being 15lb, 2oz.

And after that, I drove around Tontitown for almost an hour trying to track down a fire I heard over the scanner. After driving aimlessly with no visible signs of smoke from over the horizon, I bailed on the search.

Then I went up to Bentonville to just grab a quick shot of the lowest petrol price I've seen in the area (it was $1.49/gallon on Sunday at this location) just in case we needed to run a fuel price story. Who knows if it will see the ink on the page.

Solo shooter

Well the other photographer who works with me on Mondays took today off so that left me as the lone shooter on the ADG team (for our office, of course).

Only had one assignment today and that was for Profiles section which meant I was wild-art hunting for the B section. Fortunately, my photo editor had a few things lined up for me, so what could have been a bitch of day actually ran rather smooth.

So the first and only assignment was a portrait for our Profiles section.

Following that fun, I moved over to the Fayetteville Library in hopes of finding something fun.

Today was the last day of early voting for our run-off elections so I went over the Washington County Courthouse. Boring photo, I know.

And finally, I went to First Baptist Church of Springdale for their annual Blessing Basket give-away for Thanksgiving.