When Only the Best Will Do!

I started the day with a little light spot news. An elderly woman accidentally drove her new car into a dog grooming business in Rogers.

Then I moved over to Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville where they were hosting a ceremony for a new building. Those in attendance signed the beam that was hoisted to the top of the construction.

After I got done there, I moved over to the Rogers Public Library where a group of kids were painting gourds for birdhouses.

A day of animals and a portrait

I know it's been several days since my last post. There's been a lot going on after work and I've found myself short of free time and finding the time to post to the blog. And I know I generally make a much larger post with all the missing days, but considering so many days have passed, I'm just starting with today.

Started the day right off the bat with a wild art find of these guys installing a cow atop a Chick-fil-A billboard along I-540. I wish the sun was coming in from a different direction so I didn't have to blow out the background to see the scene but you can't have everything every time.

And then I had to delay getting to a portrait by trying to find SWEPCO folks working on a power outage in Springdale. A squirrel managed to ground a line and knock out power to a part of the city. After seeing him lying on the curb, he didn't stand a chance. For your convenience, I'm not posting the photo of the squirrel.

Then I finally got to the portrait I had to shoot for our profiles section.

Finally, I went to my little hide-away for editing/transmitting photos when working in Fayetteville -- the Fayetteville Public Library. And one of the librarians recognized me and directed me to another piece of wild art I wasn't even looking for -- an English mastiff (about a 180-lb canine) being used as a therapy dog for kids who lack reading confidence to read to on a one-on-one basis. Seriously. I'm not kidding. The kids read to the dog and the dog actually seems to enjoy the attention. It's a pretty cool program.

The Heat Is On

We had a homicide late Friday night at an apartment complex in Fayetteville. So I went there Saturday morning to get some shots of the investigation.

After that I went to a food drive at a bank parking lot in Springdale where they were offering free personal document shredding.

Then I headed up to Lowell for their annual Mudtown Days festival. The Lowell Fire Department sprayed water from one of their ladder trucks hourly to cool everyone off that wanted it.

And the evening ended with me covering a wedding reception for our profiles section.

Sunday began with a wild art hunt and I found these kids playing on the playground at Wilson Park.

And I finished up the day covering the Naturals hosting their in-state rivals, the Travelers.

All-Star Week is over for me

After a rushed morning finishing up All-Star Week on my end, today was a rather relaxed day.

My day began shooting portraits for feature stories to preview both the boys and girls All-Star basketball games. Unfortunately, these two were practicing in two different locations at the same time. But I made it work. I don't think the portraits are that great by any stretch, but I feel like I did better today than the other day (see previous posts).

I then went to the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Arena in Fayetteville where local emergency responders were learning techniques for farm equipment related accidents including a rolled tractor onto its operator (photo posted).

Following that I spent the rest of the day driving seemingly everywhere TRYING to find people beating the heat. Finally I ran across this day camp where the kiddos were playing in a kiddie pool with one of them manning the garden hose.

All-Star Week

Started off the day with a truck fire alongside I-540 this morning. Unfortunately I got there after the fire departments had extinguished the blaze. But I still tried to make something outta nothing by showing the traffic stopped for miles behind the situation. Of course I shot and transmitted a normal perspective. And I won't know till the morning what was chosen by the editors.

Following that, I moved on over to the Jones Center for another installment of their Summer Youth Academy. And after that I went to shoot an advance assignment (as usual, not posted here).

Later in the day, tragedy struck again on I-540 -- this time less than two miles south. A one-vehicle accident resulting in all occupants being transported to the nearby hospital.

And my day concluded with the baseball portion of the high school All-Star week. I only shot game one of the double-header but that was mostly due to deadlines.

Day Late, Dollar Short

Usually when I skip a day on a post, I just combine days into one post. However, yesterday (Monday) was so busy -- good reason why I didn't post when I got home -- I decided it necessary to make separate posts.

And unfortunately, due to the rush of the day, I really feel like my work, especially on the portraits, faltered. But I'm committed to them so I'm posting 'em here anyway.

Busy Day

Started off the busy day with a profiles portrait on the UA campus. Following that, I went over to the Walton Arts Center for a choral camp.

I then found myself back at old familiar Arvest Ballpark for a feature for the news section and of course some good 'ole baseball between the Naturals and the Tulsa Drillers.

And my day ended again with a sad story, unfortunately. I covered a funeral/memorial service for Springdale Police Capt. Laney Morriss.

Rolling Trucks

Today was the epitome of how my job encompasses highs and lows. I started early with an overturned truck at the Greenland exit on I-540. Then I headed out to Goshen to shoot a quick portrait. And immediately after that, I went to the Jones Center where they were holding the second week of their Summer Youth Academy.

After that came the bad. Yesterday afternoon a pair of young siblings were reported missing at a Springdale home. After some searching, the 5- and 4-year-old brother and sister were found dead in the trunk of the family car in the driveway.

Whole Buncha Wild Art

While most of this post is wild art, I'm guessing a few of these may need some explanation.

There's a couple frames that went with stories including a trucking obstacle course competition and a welcome home party for any veteran that's served in a war.

Also included in this post is a picture of a rainbow. I just want to make clear that this photo has no PS work (as none of my photos ever do). But I know SOMEONE will ask. We had some severe storms pass through the area last Wednesday and the sunset created a VERY vibrant orange sky and provided a nice double rainbow.

Batman

This is just a series of wild art from the past three days and one feature photo of Harry "Batman" Harnish at Devil's Den State Park.