Photo of the Day

Charming

2012-01-27T23:32:00.000-06:00

Friends Richi Ramirez of Springdale, left, and Gabriela Caceres of Fayetteville smile as they talk while enjoying the view of downtown Fayetteville from Mount Sequoyah Park.

I saw this photo as I pulled into the parking lot at Mount Sequoyah Park in front of the cross while on my way to shoot something else. It was so charming, it made me remember time spent just like this.

The light of day

2012-01-26T23:51:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville senior guard Kile Graves, center, soars to the goal while in transition as Har-Ber sophomore forward Isaac Jackson, left, reaches to defend during the first half at Fayetteville High.

We covered the girls game, so this photo did not run. It may never run. I really like it, so I thought I would put it up here.

All fired up

2012-01-25T23:14:00.000-06:00

Asbell Elementary School kindergarten students, from left, Brylan Sims, Marc Franklin and Joshua Harris celebrate Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, while singing the schools song during an assembly to announce and celebrate the awarding of a $100,000 check from Target after a nomination by a parent through The Ellen DeGenerus Show.

By the time school officials had gotten done working these kids up about the grant the school had received from Target, they were like a crowd of spider monkeys hopped up on Mountain Dew.

Love the kid in the orange.

Big 'E'

2012-01-24T23:52:00.000-06:00

Eric Larson, a maintenance worker II with the city of Fayetteville's Parks and Recreation Division, uses a chain saw while working with others to clean up around the city's sod farm near the Pump Station Dam River Access on the West Fork of the White River in Fayetteville. Larson said crews were taking advantage of the good weather ahead of expected rain to get work done in the area.

Everyone calls Eric "Big 'E'" and it's clear why they do. He's a big guy, but what a nice man. He has a heart of gold and it doesn't take very long to figure that out. It makes me smile when I see Eric and I always stop and talk.

Miss it

2012-01-23T23:26:00.000-06:00

Ramay Junior High's Garret Wuehler, left, reaches to score in transition as Heritage freshman Antonio Anima defends during the first half at Ramay Junior High in Fayetteville.

I was sent to Ramay to shoot a photograph to accompany a roundup of recent junior high basketball action set to run several days later. We haven't covered junior high basketball games this whole season, and after covering two games a week for nearly 20 years, it's an odd thing. I have to admit, I really miss it.

The year of the dragon

2012-01-22T23:06:00.000-06:00

Skorch, the dragon mascot of the Fayetteville Public Library, greets children during a program about Chinese New Year at the library. The coming year is the year of the dragon in the Chinese tradition.

I love Skorch. The fact that it's the year of the dragon this year made his visit all the more fun. The program, though interesting, didn't provide many opportunities for me to get a photograph that was going to be strong enough to lead the paper. Skorch coming in was great and perfect for the story, given that he is a dragon. I'm just glad it's not the year of the snake.

Tough

2012-01-21T23:21:00.000-06:00

Bethany Harper, a junior at Fayetteville High School, center, plays the clarinet along with other members of area high school bands during rehearsal in preparation for an afternoon of concerts as a part of the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association's Region VII All-Region Junior High and High School Bands Clinics and Concerts at Har-Ber High School in Springdale.

I was asked to gather photographs from this event for all four papers for which I work, which means I needed to find students from high schools in Benton and Washington counties. It seemed easy, but when I got there, it was difficult to tell which schools the students were from. I shot several photos and, during a break, got their names and the schools they attend. I was so glad to have found students from different schools.

The occupation

2012-01-20T23:31:00.000-06:00

An estimated crowd of 70 protesters gather in front of the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building in Fayetteville in concert with 100 other planned protests around the country to protest the second anniversary of the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that rules corporations are persons entitled to constitutional protections. Organizers of the protest, including Occupy NWA, Move to Amend Arkansas and the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology, oppose the concept of corporate personhood and propose a constitutional amendment to overturn the court decision, as well as the passage of a city ordinance to condemn the decision.

We are always uncertain how to deal with protesters when they descend upon Fayetteville. Protest is a large part of the fabric of the city's past, but on the other hand there seems to be a protest of some form or another weekly. This forces us to choose what to do with our coverage. With this being a part of a national movement, however, and there being so many folks who showed up for it, it became quite clear that we needed to cover the event. At some point, an effort is big enough to become part of the town's history, and this certainly qualified.

Whoops!

2012-01-19T23:37:00.000-06:00

A sign directing traffic along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Fayetteville near Interstate 540 is misspelled, lacking the second 'I' in Prairie.

I noticed this right off, and I'm proud to say that. It's probably because of how many times I have to type the word and make the same typo. Work at the intersection is just now completed, so this sign has not been up long. I wonder if they will replace it.

I love signs and all the misspellings and malaprops they provide. My favorite was when I received a call from a friend who said to get to the Wendy's restaurant in Springdale as quickly as I could to shoot the sign out front. I drove up there and got there just as they were putting the sign back together. It had read "Now hiring closers," but the 'C' had fallen off in the wind. Just missed that one.

Balance

2012-01-18T23:59:00.000-06:00

Andrew Nam, a student at Butterfield Trail Elementary School, left, reacts as he attempts to spell a word during the Washington County Spelling Bee at Woodland Junior High School in Fayetteville.

I hesitated to run this one for fear that it would make Andrew feel bad. He did so well to have placed in the top five of the event, but missing a word was hard and it made him sad. The photo was just too good not to run. It says so much about the event, its difficulty and how much it means to those kids. I always try to serve the reader without forgetting about the people we are covering. It's a tough balance to strike.

No answer

2012-01-17T23:43:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville junior post Tyler McCullough (54) scores in the lane as Fort Smith Southside senior post Jesse Young (25) and senior guard Dequan Collins (3) defend Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, during the Dogs' 60-57 win at Fayetteville High.

To think of McCullough only being a junior and that he still has room, and time, to improve, is amazing. He is a terrific kid and so very good.

More photos here.

The Elk Burger

2012-01-16T23:49:00.000-06:00

Elkins' Spencer Jones (10) leaps to score as West Fork junior Trusten DeSoto (22) reaches to defend Friday, Jan. 13, 2012, during the Elks' 62-60 overtime win at Elkins High School.

It was a great game and Jones is spectacular, and the Elkins gymnasium is easily the best to light because it gives such beautiful results. There is a railing that surrounds the stands and power outlets beneath it, so it's easy to hang strobes in such a way that it looks beautiful. Yet, better than all of that? The Elk Burger at the school's concession stand. Best burger in the county, no doubt about it.

Getting it straight

2012-01-15T23:40:00.000-06:00

Maddisen Garrett, 9, a Brownie with Happy Hollow Elementary School Girl Scouts and Brownie Troop 5101, center, helps other girls with "Cookie School," one of several stations in a workshop for scouts, organized by the Fayetteville Service Unit of the Girl Scouts Diamonds of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, to learn about selling cookies as area troops prepare for the annual cookie sale.

After shooting this photo, I worked with one of the group's representatives to get all of my information correct. For quite some time, I've seen 'Diamonds' on the uniforms of Girl Scouts and Brownies, but have been unsure of what it meant. I assumed it was a new sort of scout, perhaps an intermediate step between the younger Brownies and the older Girls Scouts. That's not it at all, apparently. The Diamonds is the name of the regional organization of Girl Scouts. Glad I asked.

One of the best

2012-01-14T23:30:00.000-06:00

Trey Marley, associate producer for the Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas, edits video for a project the center is working to complete.

I've known Trey for nearly 20 years and if you've ever watched an Arkansas basketball game on television or attended a Razorbacks football game, you've looked through his camera many times. He operates an under-the-basket camera during basketball games and runs a sideline camera for the SmartVision board at football games. He's one of the best in the business.

Short days

2012-01-13T23:40:00.000-06:00

Paiman Farrokhvar of Fayetteville returns a shot from playing partner and friend Robert Wilson while taking advantage of the mild, clear weather to play a game of tennis in Fayetteville's Wilson Park.

Our expectations for an assignment went unmet for the front page, leaving me looking for a photo to anchor the front page tomorrow in the moments between my assignments. The days are short this time of year, so I didn't have much time before the light was gone. Yet, the falling light made this photo work well, I think.

Schedule

2012-01-12T23:33:00.000-06:00

A passenger disembarks an Ozarks Regional Transit Bus on West Dickson Street while it makes its way on ORT's Route 40, a route with stops at Hillcrest Towers, the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks, Fiesta Square, the Northwest Arkansas Mall, the Springdale Walmart Supercenter, Foxfire and Spring Meadows apartments and Ozark Guidance Center.

To request a photo of a bus with passengers boarding or leaving seems like an easy assignment, but it can be frustrating. The schedule that ORT operates on is an estimate since the bus is making a loop through two towns. The wind that was well below freezing made standing on the corner and waiting for the bus to come unpleasant, but it was thankfully close to being on schedule.

Kinda blue

2012-01-11T23:59:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville High School junior band member Logan West plays a portion of music on a drum kit along with Blue Man Group drummers Ramsey Roustom, left, and Michael Petrucci as longtime Blue Man performer Kalen Allmandinger, center, watches during a visit from the performers to FHS. The group, which is in town for performances at the Walton Arts Center, came to the school to put on a workshop for members of the high school and junior high school bands.

When I saw this assignment come across my desk, I was excited to shoot the kids interacting with a member of Blue Man Group, but when I got there, it was clear that Allmandinger had not come in full makeup. I can't say that I blame him. It was 8 a.m. and they had performed the night before. The makeup takes a half hour to apply and another half hour to get out of. Plus, it would have been quite out of character for a Blue Man to speak.

I have to admit I was let down and began to worry that my photo wasn't going to be very strong. Then the musicians that play during the group's performances held a mock audition since most of the crowd was made up of high school and junior high school band members. They played a very complicated rhythm that the kids were then asked to duplicate. The music was daunting and something that I could never have replicated, but West was amazing.

Flip a coin

2012-01-10T23:17:00.000-06:00

Sarah McCall of Fayetteville, a recent graduate from the University of Arkansas, walks onto the UA campus along West Dickson Street through a light rain while on her way to apply to graduate schools.

With our few ideas the front page washed out because of rain, I set out trying to use the rain as my advantage. McCall was very nice. I really like this photo, and another that I shot a few feet away of traffic on Dickson Street in the rain. It's a more subtle shot that grew on me quickly; one that I've seen many times but never needed to take until today. I sent them both in to my editor who also seemed to like them both, but never made it clear which one he chose. I will have to wait to open the website and print edition tomorrow to see.

Difficult people

2012-01-09T23:27:00.000-06:00

Robert Killian, a worker with Wyatt Contracting in Calico Rock, smooths gravel in preparation for the installation of reinforcement and the pouring of concrete for a new boat ramp at Lake Sequoyah. Work to install the new ramp and a 20-foot walkway and 30-foot dock is taking place while the lake is closed through Jan. 14.

After I greeted the three men who were working on the ramp, I was told by one that he didn't want to be photographed. Fair enough. That's why I introduce myself, so I can make sure the people present know why I'm there and can opt to be left out of the photo that I am there to take. I began to talk to Killian who was a very nice man. We laughed about the weather and he explained to me how they poured and positioned the portion of the ramp that is under water.

When it came time to get names, Killian gave me his name, but couldn't recall the last name of the man operating the backhoe. About that time, the third man returned to the site. It had become clear that he was the owner of the company that was doing the work and Killian asked him what the backhoe operator's last name was. The man became very short with me, claiming he was "in the witness-protection program ." I hear that joke at least once a day, but he refused to give me the backhoe operator's last name and was generally unfriendly to me.

If a person takes a job that is paying public money to work on a public project, they are subject to coverage in the newspaper, among other things. That's how public money works. I was more than willing to leave him and his name out of it and did just that, but the name of his business is a matter of public record and Killian was fine with being photographed, so I didn't have a problem with the photo and with using the names that I used.

Unfortunately, I have to deal with unfriendly people quite often. Normally, I can talk to them and find a way to work with or around them, and this was no different. Yet, it's in my personality to want to like and be liked by the people I meet, so this bothered me more than I'd like to admit.

Mugger

2012-01-08T23:09:00.000-06:00

A cyclist rides past a kiosk featuring art work by Holt Middle School students in Gordon Long Park in Fayetteville. Fayetteville Public Schools and the city of Fayetteville's Parks and Recreation Division have worked together to make the kiosks available along the city's trails.

The best photo that I made of people passing the art by was of a couple in red and yellow as they jogged past. The way the whole thing came together, it looked great, but the guy thought it would be funny to wave at me as he passed, so I couldn't use it. We call this 'mugging' and it can be frustrating. People think it's funny, but it just makes an already long day for me that much longer.

Road work

2012-01-07T23:03:00.000-06:00

Workers for the Washington County Road Department operate an excavator to improve a ditch along Washington County 228 south of West Fork as they work to improve the roadway.

I really like this photo, one that I saw before I even stopped the car. I wish I had brought the 300mm so the compression would have been greater, but I like it at 200mm too.

Busy

2012-01-06T23:43:00.000-06:00

Tiffany Dixon, left, and her 13-year-old son, Austin, right, swing her 4-year-old son, Owen, while playing in Gulley Park with their foster dog, Hank. With highs in the mid-60s, the family was making its second trip to the park for the day.

Today was very busy. I had several assignments for stories that are set to run in the coming days and a request to find some wild art for the front of tomorrow's paper in the few moments between my assignments. I was lucky and found something on my way to work, but liked this better, though I had only a few minutes to shoot it after another assignment before the light went.

Rotors

2012-01-05T23:58:00.000-06:00

Emergency personnel work to load an injured motorist into an Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter after a three-car collision on Arkansas 45 east of Goshen. Two other motorists were transported via ambulance to area hospitals.

The severity and remote location of this wreck created the need to send out the Air Evac Lifeteam helicopter, which landed in the middle of the state highway and closed it for nearly 40 minutes. It's a dramatic thing to see a helicopter used in this way and I was glad to have gotten to the scene and to have made a photo of it just before it took off.

In the back of my mind, every time I shoot aircraft, is a former editor who lamented when I turned in a photo of an airplane in flight. I was quite proud of the photo and didn't understand what he didn't like about it. I had shot the photo with the shutter set at 1/1000th of second, which made for a crisp photo, but froze the blades of the propeller. It looked like the plane was going to crash because the rotors weren't turning. When I looked at it again, I had to agree. It looked funny. If these folks were busy loading this woman into the door of a helicopter with the rotor that looks as if it was not turning. That wouldn't look nearly as exciting. In flight, it looks plain weird, but it's an easy thing to forget about when you're shooting.

Though the blades are moving quickly, one can shoot at 1/500th of a second and still freeze the rotor of a helicopter for the most part. To look right, I go with at most 1/250th, as I did here. Honestly, 1/125 of a second looks the best. It's slow and you almost always get camera shake, but the aircraft ends up looking right.

I remember when you were THAT tall...

2012-01-04T23:28:00.000-06:00

Penelope Olive, 12, of Fayetteville laughs as she skates beneath a limbo stick while enjoying a day of roller-skating at the Starlight Skatium in Fayetteville. The business adjusted its operating hours to allow for school-aged children to skate during over the holiday break which, for most school districts in the area, ended today.

It wasn't until I stopped her to ask her name that I realized that I knew the girl with the blue-green hair who was whipping round the skating rink and having a blast. I tried to avoid telling her that I remember when she was a little baby, but I simply couldn't. Why do we do that? I think we're amazed to see someone grow up right before our eyes. Time flies when you're older than 12 to a degree that astonishes me.

Fill flash and the reflective vest

2012-01-03T23:45:00.000-06:00

Mitch Brock, left, and Jacob Kersten, top, both workers with Lincoln Consolidated Maintenance, work to remove a lighted holiday decoration from a utility pole on the town's downtown square as Paul Don, right, operates his lift.

Normally, I would have used a fill flash on a photo like this to light up Brock, but the reflective vest that he was wearing would have lit up like, well, a Christmas tree.

Fans

2012-01-02T23:44:00.000-06:00

Mike Thompson, a representative for Easton Sod Farm in Bixby, Okla., operates a skid-steer loader while working with Federico Juarez, left, Arturo Saucedo and Antonio Cervantez, right, to lay Patriot Bermuda sod on a playing field in the Farmington Sports Complex at 323 S. Southwinds Road in Farmington.

Thompson was a fun guy. He stopped for a minute to put his University of Oklahoma ballcap on his head so he would be wearing it in the paper.

Renovations

2012-01-01T23:40:00.000-06:00

Richard Massey, director of communications for the Mount Sequoyah Retreat and Conference Center, speaks inside the Sarah A. Clapp Memorial Auditorium on the center's campus in Fayetteville. Officials at the center plan a fundraiser to renovate the structure which was built in 1939.

Officials at the retreat center want to renovate the auditorium to serve as a performance space for the area in an effort to renew the soon-to-be 90-year-old center and bring more visitors. They estimate it will take $1 million to make the auditorium modern and comfortable.

Tough times

2011-12-31T23:13:00.000-06:00

Brian Chism, a mail handler for the U.S. Postal Service for 10 years, places first-class mail into bins while sorting mail at the sorting facility in south Fayetteville. The U.S. Postal Service is considering the closure of the regional sorting facility in Fayetteville in an effort to save money. The change would relocate the work of sorting mail for Northwest Arkansas to the service's Little Rock facility, moving or eliminating several jobs in town.

There is discussion about whether or not the closure of the local facility would save as much money as the postal service suggests it would, but no one seems to be debating the loss in jobs or the change in the level of service for mail patrons in the corner of the state if the planned closure goes through. A letter sent to a neighbor might take two or even three days to be delivered. Yet, more poignant is the loss of so many local jobs.

Big mess

2011-12-30T23:51:00.000-06:00

Officials with the Washington County Sheriff's Office search Friday for evidence while investigating a reported assault at a house on Washington County 291 south of Cane Hill.

By the time I left the scene, it was becoming apparent that the underage caller, who had claimed that a man in a ski mask had attempted to assault her, had possibly made up the whole incident.

No faces

2011-12-29T23:09:00.000-06:00

Don Glover, corrections officer with the Northwest Arkansas Department of Community Corrections, right, uses a shovel while helping residents at the Northwest Arkansas Community Corrections Center in Fayetteville to plant 1,300 daffodil bulbs at the Willard Walker Hospice Home in Fayetteville. The bulbs were donated by Brent and Becky's Bulbs to Fayetteville in Bloom which is working on its second planting of bulbs of the season at the facility.

The donation of the bulbs and the work being done at the hospice home made it important for me to get a photograph of the planting process. The only catch was, I couldn't show any of the residents' faces or show their name badges so they could be identified. This comes up quite often, something that I understandably had to reassure the officials at the detention facility of. I am hopeful that they will contact me in the future with what they are doing now that they know they can trust me not to make the mistake of taking a photograph that allows one of their residents to be identified.

Road work ahead

2011-12-28T23:05:00.000-06:00

Workers from Nabholz Construction Services in Rogers and the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department work to construct a barricade to close the northbound, outside lane of North Crossover Road in Fayetteville in preparation for upcoming improvements to the state highway and the drainage structures that run alongside it. The $12.6 million project will widen the highway to four lanes with a raised center median between Old Wire Road and Birdie Lane and is expected to take eight months to complete. This is the first stage of a plan to improve and widen 2.2 miles of the highway between Mission and Joyce boulevards.

Whenever a project promises a lane or road closure to a roadway, we try to do our best to let everyone know about it. We've written about this several times, but we thought we would use a little bit of space that we have in print in tomorrow's edition and the gallery on the website to let everyone know this is going on. Eight months of two-lane traffic on a busy highway is going to take some getting used to for some drivers. Crossover is a popular way to avoid the traffic on North College Avenue that now has a bit of a bottle-neck.

College trees

2011-12-27T23:22:00.000-06:00

Cody Templeton, left, Randy Moore and Bob Miller, all workers with the city of Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Division, inspect a tree planted along North College Avenue before crews begin working to replace dead and damaged trees between Dickson and Maple streets. Crews will close the outside lanes of College Avenue from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. while working. The inside lanes will remain open and all lanes will open outside work hours. Officials with the city expect the work to be completed Wednesday.

Often are the comments from longtime Fayetteville residents about the sugar maples that once divided the portion of North College Avenue where crews are working. From the postcard that most point to as proof of their beauty, they were stunning. They were reportedly taken out to establish a turning lane along the busy state highway as the area grew. That turn lane has been replaced in small sections with a median that features trees. Crews also added trees in containers within the sidewalks to make what could be a beautiful experience for drivers and pedestrians.

The difficulty has been in keeping the trees alive, and city crews are once again working to replace the trees that have been damaged by weather or traffic and once that have died in the past few years. The lane closures are enough of an inconvenience to alert our readers, but we wanted to explain the reason behind them as well.

Jet

2011-12-26T23:03:00.000-06:00

Jet, left, and his friend, Nikki, pose with Chaddie Platt at Platt's business, Dog Party USA in Tontitown. Jet was found seven months after escaping from Fayetteville Animal Services staff while on an outing at the Fayetteville square. He recognized Nikki from his time with her at Wedington Animal Hospital after he was rescued from an animal hoarder, allowing him to be recaptured and placed into foster care at Dog Party USA.

Poor Jet. He's not really great with people, especially ones who he doesn't know. But he seemed really sweet. What a neat story.

The reshoot

2011-12-25T23:22:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville junior quarterback Austin Allen and Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton are the Northwest Arkansas Media Big Six Player and Coach of the Year respectively in the wake of the Bulldogs' 29-28 overtime win over Bentonville in the Class 7A state championship game Dec. 3 in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

This is the second go-round for shooting this photograph. The first was shot in a similar fashion, but Allen and Patton were in street clothes. Though they looked good, my sports editor wanted them to be in uniform, matching the other players and coaches featured in the year-end features that we are running. It makes sense and I am glad that both Allen and Patton were nice enough to let me shoot this again.

I wince when I am asked to reshoot something. I fear the subject who has to once again stand for a photograph will think that the earlier photo "didn't come out." After so long doing this, I have lost my sense of humor with this question, and that's probably pride talking. That's a difficult thing to ignore sometimes.

Christmas and dUKe basketball

2011-12-24T23:45:00.000-06:00

Kyle Adams, left, and his wife, Johneese, sing alongside their son, Mason and daughter, Alex, during a portion of a Christmas Eve service held in candlelight at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.

Kyle is the head boys basketball coach at Fayetteville High School and has to be one of my favorite people in town. I was so glad to see that they were sitting in the spot in the church where it was best to shoot the candles and the crowd. This vantage let me stand on a step to get over the crowd a bit and allowed me to shoot diagonally across the people, giving me more candles in the shot. Short of having the devil himself or Mike Krzyzewski sitting in that spot, I would shot anyone who happened to be sitting in that spot because it was so nice a photo. It was so great to have coach Adams and his family sitting there. I hope he enjoyed it.

What I wouldn't give

2011-12-23T23:30:00.000-06:00

Wylie McIntyre of Fayetteville reads a story to his sons Kaleb, 6, right, and Gavin, 2, in the children's wing of the Fayetteville Public Library. The library will be closed Saturday through Monday for the Christmas holiday, but will reopen at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The library will host the Winter Break Movie Festival with 2 p.m. daily movie. Tuesday's movie is Cars 2 with Smurfs, Mr. Popper's Penguins, and Kung Fu Panda 2 planned for the remainder of the week.

When I take photos, especially of children, I do so as a 40-year-old person who has finally learned that time does pass, and no matter how much they might not want to, children do grow up and grow old. I imagine these boys grown up as I am now with a father who would then probably be in his 60s or maybe even his 70s. I then imagine all three remembering this day and the days like this day when they were small boys or a young father with small boys.

I like to shoot with an eye on how much this photo would mean to all of them and how it would let them remember, for a bit, that time. This approach finds itself in some small way in nearly every photograph that I make. It's a sort of mournful nostalgia that shapes my personality and my work that can be both difficult and useful.

It's him, it's really him!

2011-12-22T23:30:00.000-06:00

Charlie Lewis, 7, center, and friend Addison Moore, 5, both of Fayetteville, wave to Santa Claus while waiting to visit with him and have their photograph made at the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville. Santa is available at Center Court today from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a break from 3-4 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a break from 3 to 3:30 p.m.

I got there early with the hopes of having enough time to check in with Mr. Bishop at the mall office and still catch Santa as he walked through the mall to the mall's center court. I had images of star-struck kids as they watched Santa walk by, but all of the kids he passed failed to notice him; failed to notice a large man in a red suit and beard. Luckily, these two were waiting in line to have their photographs made and saw him right away.

For all the right reasons

2011-12-21T23:30:00.000-06:00

Ashlee Andrews, a University of Arkansas student from McKinney, Texas, distributes cans of soup at Leverett Elementary School in Fayetteville. "I am stuck here for work [over the holidays], so I thought I would help out. I was getting a little stir-crazy," Andrews said. The effort, now in its 25th year, provided bags of groceries and household items for 44 local families using donations from members of the community.

It was impressive to find a volunteer who had no tie to the school and who had decided to volunteer for the pure joy of volunteering. I think everyone thought I chose her because she is pretty — and she is — but she gave me such a great quote and was there for such a charming reason that I couldn't resist.

Celebrity

2011-12-20T23:30:00.000-06:00

Billy Thompson, left, laughs with Cpl. Mark Laird of the Fayetteville Police Department as Laird delivers a Christmas gift and helps to deliver his daily meal from Fayetteville Meals on Wheels. The gifts were donated by the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center members, the city of Fayetteville Community Resources Division, city employees and members of the Fayetteville Fraternal Order of Police.

We heard about the city employees donating gifts to the folks who receive meals from the local Meals on Wheels affiliate and thought it would make a good photograph. It's good to give credit where it is due, and the folks at the police department and the rest of the city came up with a great idea to help people this year. The tough part was going to be working with a resident to get a photograph. I can understand if a person did not want their photograph made, especially when we come knocking on their door unannounced. I was so glad to meet Mr. Thompson and to see how thrilled he was to have his photograph made for the paper.

Tough crowd

2011-12-19T23:15:00.000-06:00

Jan Davidson, a volunteer and member of the Fayetteville High School Parent-Teacher Organization, left, and Ashley Seat, a University of Arkansas junior and volunteer, work to fill bags of household items for donation through the Fayetteville Public Schools Safety Net program.

A room full of women working to put household items in grocery bags for the needy would, at first, seem like an easy assignment. One would expect to simply watch and make photographs of them as they worked in a small area of space. Easy stuff, right? Not really.

Of the four women who were there when I got there, one told me before even introducing herself that she didn't want to be photographed as she motioned to herself and what she was wearing. A second woman hid in the corner while the other two worked. Of the two who were left, one happened to have hair that fell into her face as she worked, making it difficult to shoot a usable photo of her. That left me with one volunteer to shoot, and she was not happy about being photographed either. I got only one photo before the whole thing crumbled. With more time, I might have gotten a photo that was very complimentary of her than this particular photo happens to be, though that truly isn't the reason that I was there. Yet, with only one photo to choose from, I had to use it whether it made her look good or not.

The irony is that these are very pretty ladies who were dressed appropriately for the work they were doing. They were working in a cold and dirty former kindergarten classroom to make sure people in need in our community receive items that they require. There is nothing more attractive than that.

Lighting up Dixie

2011-12-18T23:10:00.000-06:00

Junior McCratic of Lincoln turns out his horse, Dixie, to a pasture in front of his home along West Pridemore Drive after covering her in holiday lights.

The McCratic's lighting display for the holidays is something to behold. We are doing a story about the many big, private displays in the area and their house and yard qualify for a photograph even before you add Dixie. But seeing how she pranced around the pasture for the cars that were passing along Pridemore Drive in her lighted blanket was worth the trip.

Ouch

2011-12-17T23:50:00.000-06:00

Central Arkansas Christian's Jared Clasen, top, and Fayetteville's Jaxon Nolen wrestle during the Fayetteville Classic at Fayetteville High School.

Not that there was ever any doubt, but this sport simply is not for me. That looks like no fun for a man with the shoulders and knees of a 95-year-old.

Fuzzy's, Fat Toney's and The Red Hibiscus

2011-12-16T23:39:00.003-06:00

Workers collect unbroken concrete blocks after buildings that once housed Munchies and Tony C's Bar and Grill were razed as a part of the state's plans to improve Garland Avenue.

These buildings were home to Fuzzy's, The Red Hibiscus, and Fat Toney's Barbecue when I got to town in 1993. Fuzzy's was home to the coldest beer in town, without a doubt. We did a story once and brought along a thermometer and tested it. The cheeseburgers were great, but I enjoyed the playbills the most. It was home to the theater-types in town in some way or another. Your waiter, more often than not, was an actor of some sort and the walls were lined with playbills from years of community theater productions. The Red Hibiscus was a flower shop in what is the building still standing in the photograph where I bought many flowers for girlfriends along the way. It was where I went on the days before Mothers Day or St. Valentine's Day to get photos of folks working to make flower arrangements. Finally, Fat Toney's, now the rubble that the workers are sifting through, was home to decent barbecue and, well, Fat Toney. He was an ardent supporter of the Razorback Marching Band, but ran into a bit of money trouble by the late 1990s.

80 and counting

2011-12-15T23:11:00.001-06:00

Baltazar Baguio, owner of Expert Sheet Metal and Roofing LLC. in Farmington, works to remove shingles from the roof of the Galloway Cafeteria on the campus of the Mount Sequoyah Retreat and Conference Center in Fayetteville. The center is one of three nonprofit organizations, including the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks and the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, that received money through the city's Community Revolving Loan Fund earlier this year. The loans are intended to make buildings associated with each organization more energy efficient. The city used $220,000 in federal stimulus funds to create the revolving loan program. The Mount Sequoyah center was loaned approximately $160,000 to add a new Energy Star-certified roof at the cafeteria, which was built in 1964. New heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are also being installed in the center's administrative offices and the Bailey Center, where various gatherings and group meetings are held. If the program works out as expected, the nonprofit groups will pay back the loans at a 1 percent interest rate over a 10-year period with savings they're expecting to see on their utility bills.

I had fun seeing Baltazar again. He's a real daredevil and very accomplished as a roofer. I also had fun getting up on the roof because it gave me a good photograph instead of having to shoot from the ground. Even better, however, is how easily it was to get my car in the photo since I was overlooking the parking lot. That makes an even 80.

End of an era

2011-12-14T23:48:00.000-06:00

Workers remove roofing material from the southwest corner of the former Washington County Livestock Auction building as work continues to raze the building. North Carolina-based Campus Crest LLC has plans to construct ten apartment buildings, a clubhouse, swimming pool, parking lot and a pavilion on the site.

Seeing the Washington County Livestock Auction building come down marks the end of an era that saw raising cattle as the county's top money-maker. It also means no more Thursday morning peanut butter pie at the diner that operated at the sale barn.

Celebrate good times, c'mon!

2011-12-13T23:48:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville High School senior Brad Culp, center, celebrates with friends during a surprise pep rally and celebration for the school's football team which won the state championship Dec. 3 with a win over heavily favored Bentonville in War Memorial Stadium. The players met at the school's field house for a photograph and were told that the photographer had failed to come and then taken to the gymnasium where the student body was assembled.

I was glad to hear that the coaches had told the players that the photographer who had not shown up was from a competing publication instead of from the newspaper, which was the initial plan. Not show? Me?

I passed several players as they were leaving the school to go to the field house who probably would have said, "We saw Shupe. He was headed to the gym."

More photos here.

Long time

2011-12-12T23:58:00.000-06:00

Opal Merhige, chef for Lean Green Cuisine in Fayetteville, prepares food Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011, for patrons for the coming week. The business is at the center of a struggle with Nestle Foods which owns the Lean Cuisine line of food and wants the local business to change its name.

I haven't seen Opal in a very long time. She was once, among other things, a belly dancer in a local dance troupe that danced at a lot of local events. My mother danced as well and made costumes for several friends who also danced. Opal was a very talented dancer, and was in several photos that I took since she danced at the front of the group. I was amazed that I remembered her so out of context. That's not always easy for me to do.

Wreaths Across America

2011-12-11T23:53:00.000-06:00

Pepito Estrada, 15, of Boy Scouts of America Troop 450 in Bentonville, lays a holiday wreath at the gravestone of a U.S. military veteran during the annual Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Fayetteville National Cemetery.

It's a stunning sight to see all of the holiday wreaths laying in front of all of the gravestones. It's a sight that, through a photograph on the Internet, led to the enormous growth of this event from a small effort at Arlington National Cemetery to a nationwide event.

Santa!

2011-12-10T23:52:00.000-06:00

Portia Hugh, 4, right, smiles as she prepares to speak to Santa Claus alongside her mother, Briawna Hugh, and sister, Teya, 18 months, during the annual Cookies with Santa event at Elza R. Tucker School in Lowell. The event featured cookies and photographs with Santa Claus and silent auction items and is a fundraiser for the Elza Tucker PTO.

I have to admit, even I giggled a bit when Santa walked in.

Good works

2011-12-09T23:04:00.000-06:00

Mark Wilburn, assistant principal and sponsor of the St. Joseph Catholic School Middle School Ambassadors, right, helps students, from left, Shiloh Bemis, 13, Peter Kieklak, 12, and Nikos Klenakis, 11, as the group works to rake leaves and decorate for the holidays at the home of former St. Joseph organist Larry Pereira and his wife, Rita, in Fayetteville. This is the second year for the honors and service-learning group to work at the home.

They say doing good works is the result of being a Christian, and not the other way around. These kids proved that with the work they did for the Pereiras.

Alley cats

2011-12-08T23:04:00.000-06:00

Pedestrians walk past an unnamed alley off West Dickson Street in Fayetteville. The City Council is discussing naming the city-owned alley to ensure timely emergency response to the area.

There has been a groundswell of support of a Harry Potter-inspired name, but having never read the books, it was totally lost on me. There is also support for naming it Shipley Alley, given its proximity to the former Shipley Baking Company's building.

Bulldog Angel Tree

2011-12-07T23:23:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville High School basketball players, from left, Jawan Smith, L.J. McLaughlin, Tyler McCullough and Manuale Watkins shop at the Northwest Arkansas Mall for a student in the Bulldog Angel Tree program, a group of Fayetteville Public Schools students who are identified by officials in the district as having pronounced needs or are homeless. The basketball team, now in its ninth year of shopping for a needy student, bought items for four students with funding provided by the team's booster club, players and their families.

To see the list that the district provided and see that, in this case, under 'wants' was written 'a coat' was just humbling.

Pearl Harbor Day

2011-12-06T23:34:00.001-06:00

John Haveman, a member of the Honor Guard of Bella Vista, reflects while holding the U.S. flag as he takes part in a moment of prayer during a ceremony in Riordan Hall in Bella Vista marking the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that sparked the U.S. involvement in World War II. The event featured several veteran groups from the area, a performance by the Jack Mitchell Band and a presentation by Bella Vista Mayor Frank Anderson.

My grandfather spent time as a corpsman at Pearl Harbor while he was in the Navy, so I was really excited about this assignment. My GPS unit had a hard time finding Riordan Hall for some reason, and I was worried I would be late, but I found it once I started following all the cars. It was great to see so many people come out for this.

Backstage

2011-12-05T23:25:00.000-06:00

Cecile Bowen, 12, left, gets some help with her makeup for her character, Imogene Herdman, from backstage coordinator Kathi Blundell as they prepare for a dress rehearsal for "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" at the Arts Center of the Ozarks in Springdale. The play, now in its 18th consecutive year, features more than 70 actors and runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. For information about the show or to purchase tickets, call the center at 751-5441.

There is always more going on backstage than on the stage for us to photograph. I love the mirror and the little girl watching Cecile have her makeup applied. She watched everything Cecile did. Remember how it felt to watch the 'big' boys or girls when you were small?

I stand corrected

2011-12-04T23:17:00.000-06:00

A group of participants in a candlelight vigil sponsored by HIV Arkansas at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville join together around candles arranged into the number 30 to represent the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Normally, when an event organizer tells me that they plan to do something or another to because they want to take a photograph of it for themselves and suggests that I hang around, I don't hold out much hope. I stay nearly every time just to see what happens and more often than not, what materializes is a group photo that I don't end up using. This time, the photo that they had planned made for a very good photo for me. I really like it.

Stunner

2011-12-03T23:12:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville players and coaches rush onto the field after the Bulldogs' defeated Bentonville, 29-28, in overtime to win the Class 7A state championship in War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock.

Most considered this a blowout barely worth actually playing. "Go ahead and mail the trophy to Bentonville and save us the trouble of driving all the way to Little Rock," is what we were all thinking to be quite honest. Yet, instead of the expected blowout, we watched what had to be the greatest state championship football game ever played in Arkansas. What a great high school game.

More photos here.

Buzz saw

2011-12-02T23:08:00.000-06:00

Farmington quarterback Deon Clay, right, reaches to fend off Malvern defensive lineman Isaac Wright during the first half of the Cardinals' 49-25 loss in the Class 4A semifinal game at Claude Mann Stadium in Malvern.

Malvern is a town about half hour south of Little Rock. Since I was going to be in Little Rock for the 7A state championship game against Bentonville and Fayetteville Saturday, I tagged along with our writers to shoot the Farmington's game in Malvern.

Spreading

2011-12-01T23:00:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville High School juniors Will Price, left, and Sam Goll work to assemble a cardboard box to be used as a shelter during the annual Homeless Vigil sponsored by the Fayetteville High School Student Council at Fayetteville High. Students, with the hope of raising more than $23,000 to support the district's homeless program that lends support to homeless students in the district, will sleep outside the school until their goal is met.

While I was there, two students from Springdale High School approached the StuCo sponsor, Vance Arnold, asking how they should go about organizing a similar vigil at their school. This event has raised a lot of money for the district's homeless program, but its effect is even greater if it creates a similar event in another city. Pretty amazing.

Traveling salesman

2011-11-30T23:32:00.000-06:00

Kenny Bartholomew places colored lights around the entrance of his Fayetteville home on East Elaine Avenue. Bartholomew and his wife, Billye, have lived in and decorated the home for the holidays for nearly 20 years.

I set out today looking for someone putting up holiday lights and found the Bartholomews decorating their home. When I approached Kenny as he worked in the beds near the front door of his house, I could tell that he thought I was a salesman of some sort. He wasn't very excited to have me there, and I can't say that I blame him very much. It isn't often that a person approaches a stranger and doesn't want something. Mine is an odd job.

I run into this quite a lot. More often than not, after talking to the person, I am able to get a photograph and end up establishing a good rapport with them by the time I leave.

Hi, I'm Andy Shupe...

2011-11-29T23:56:00.001-06:00

Robert Ford, artistic director of TheatreSquared, right, laughs as he speaks alongside actors, from left, Sabrina Veroczi, Andrew Dahl, Bryce Kemph and Coleman Clark during a forum to discuss the theater company's upcoming production of "It's a Wonderful Life," at the Fayetteville Public Library. The play opens Dec. 8 and runs through Jan. 1 at the Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios in Fayetteville. See the group's website for more information.

I've known Bob Ford for years; since he worked at the Fayetteville Public Library at its old location. Over the years, I have photographed Bob at his home in the wake of his plays and books, so it was a shock the last couple of times that he did not acknowledge me when we met at events we both were attending. When he walked up to me as I was talking to Kyle Kellams of KUAF and he spoke to Kyle, but did not speak to me, I was again puzzled. He finally reached out his hand and introduced himself after I had spoken to him and used his name several times. He was shocked when I told him who I am. It was then that I realized that he did not recognize me with short hair. It made me laugh. I wonder when I will finally "re-meet" everyone I know.

Quite a haul

2011-11-28T23:26:00.001-06:00

Andrea Chamorro, left, and friend Gail Quinonez, both of Clarksville, laugh while sitting beside a huge pile of bags inside the Northwest Arkansas Mall in Fayetteville.

The number of bags surrounding these two in the middle of the mall was causing quite a few laughs. Most who passed by them noticed and were as amazed as I was. As it turns out, they were watching the purchases for seven other friends who had left, presumably to get something to eat. I thought I was going to have a tough time finding something that I liked. Shopping photos can be tough. Yet, this just fell into my lap and made me laugh.

One of those days

2011-11-27T23:33:00.000-06:00

Lawrence Kimble, a shelter attendant for Fayetteville Animal Services, walks with two dogs to a row of play yards that were donated recently by the Friends of the Fayetteville Animal Shelter, while he and other shelter workers work to clean the interior dog kennels at the shelter.

After the Friends of the Fayetteville Animal Shelter made the donation for the purchase of the dog runs and we came to understand how much they were needed, we decided to do a story. So many people care about the shelter and like to keep up with the goings on there. The shelter staff has long made do with what they have or done without and I suspect that is the case at most shelters. This gift allows staff to clean more thoroughly the kennels and gives the dogs more time to be outside and socialize with one another.

I showed up to get a photo of staff and volunteers as they removed the dogs from their kennels, placed them outside and then cleaned. We were told of the normal time that they do this and I showed up a half hour early just in case to make certain I didn't miss it should they decide to start early. When I got there, staff was already finished cleaning and a volunteer was in the midst of bringing the dogs back inside. I had missed much of what I was asked to shoot, but I could still get the volunteer working with the dogs and show the new runs.

Then the volunteer decided he didn't want to be in the photographs.

A few phone calls got me back there later in the day for the second round, this time a staff member was moving the dogs who was agreeable to being photographed, getting me off the hook.

Cardinal Classic

2011-11-26T23:23:00.000-06:00

Shiloh Christian junior guard Darian Harris (33) reaches to score past Lincoln sophomore guard Payton Hulse during the first half of the Saints' win during the eighth annual Cardinal Classic at Farmington High.

Boy, am I rusty at shooting basketball.

More photos from the game are here.

Long day

2011-11-25T23:47:00.000-06:00

Shoppers wait in a line that winds through a parking lot and up Mall Avenue near the Best Buy store location on East Joyce Boulevard in Fayetteville an hour before the store's midnight opening.

Normally, stores open early in the morning on the day after Thanksgiving, but this year more stores were opening Thursday night — some at 9 or 10 p.m. Best Buy opened at midnight, so I decided to go and get a shot to go with our Black Friday coverage of the day of shopping. Up early and then up late made for a long day.

Giving thanks

2011-11-24T23:23:00.000-06:00

Virgil Bradshaw, post commander for the Shelton-Tucker-Craft American Legion Post 27 in Fayetteville, left, pours corn into a pot to be heated as Dave Elliott, ajudant and finance officer for the post, works at the stove Thursday as the two join others in preparing a Thanksgiving Day meal for visitors at the Legion Hall in Fayetteville.

With a photographer from our sister publication in the other room shooting photos of volunteers collecting food for meal deliveries, I went into the kitchen to watch the men cook the food. Such good people at the Legion Hall and Bradshaw and Elliott were no exception. They had spent much of the week preparing for the day and worked in a hot kitchen while visitors from around town ate what smelled like a wonderful meal.

What I wouldn't give

2011-11-23T23:53:00.002-06:00

Jacqueline King of Johnson laughs with her grandsons, Jake Myers, 7, left, and Sam Myers, 5, both of Springdale, while showing them how to slide down the hill in Wilson Park in Fayetteville. King spends time with her grandsons on Mondays and Wednesday, as she has since they were born. "When we go on an adventure, I don't tell them what we're doing until we get there," King said.

Always in my thoughts when I am spending time eavesdropping on other people's lives is how precious the photographs that I am taking will be to the people I am watching — especially the younger people — years from now. Photographs of my grandfather or grandmother and I spending time together when I was a kid would be cherished now that I am 40 and they are gone. I have no doubt that thinking in that manner shapes how and what I shoot. I had hoped to get a photo of someone preparing for Thanksgiving Day so it would be in the paper and online for the holiday. Yet, seeing this photo and the moment that it captures makes me think it's the perfect photo for Thanksgiving. What more is there to be thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving.

What's underneath

2011-11-22T23:02:00.000-06:00

Michael McPherson of E.Q. Muffler Company uses a razor scraper to remove paint from the side of the business on Archibald Yell Boulevard in Fayetteville. The building, which was originally an Esso service station, is sided in ceramic-coated metal panels which the McPherson family plans to restore while adding new signage to the longtime business.

Michael said that a customer had commented that he wasn't aware that this was a real muffler shop. He thought that it was time to put up a sign that made that more clear. When he started scraping layers and more layers of paint off the building, he found a ceramic-coated layer of metal siding from the days when it was a gas station. I look forward to seeing what it looks like once it's all finished.

Signings

2011-11-21T23:00:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville golfer Olivia Lavy, right, hugs friend and fellow FHS athlete Melanie Lee after Lavy signed a national letter of intent to play golf for the University of Arkansas during a ceremony at Fayetteville High. Lavy will play alongside her sister, Emma.

Nothing is more uninteresting than a photo of a group of people sitting at a table, looking at the camera. It's in the same category as folks in hard hats with golden shovels turning dirt at a ground breaking. The people in the photo think it's great, but no one else is interested. It takes work to get a photograph that is pleasing and interesting to the 99 percent of our readers who are not somehow involved with the event. Sometimes, the athlete is really stand-offish and doesn't interact with the crowd that comes to watch. I was thankful that Lavy was not one of those.

Near-miss

2011-11-20T23:53:00.001-06:00

Gabriela Soto collects food onto a serving tray before bringing it out to a patron at El Sol, a Mexican restaurant in Fayetteville. Soto works with her sisters and mother at the 4-year-old restaurant.

We needed photos of the Soto sisters and mother, who is from Guanajuanto, Mexico, working at the restaurant that they own for a story about immigration. Two of the sisters are citizens while the other two are applying for citizenship. Our reporter, Tony Hernandez, had spoken to them the day before and had arranged with them for me to come by and shoot photos. Plans on their end changed, leaving me to try to get photos of two sisters who had no idea what I wanted and why I was there. They were very helpful, though, and despite having few customers in the restaurant at the time that I arrived, I was able to get a shot of Gabriela serving food.

Lights of the Ozarks: The Redux

2011-11-19T23:36:00.001-06:00

Visitors watch as floats make their way past during the "Fayetteville Unites with Holiday Lights" parade which serves as the lighting ceremony for the annual Lights of the Ozarks display on the Fayetteville square. The display features nearly a half million LED lights and is the product of 2,000 hours of work on the part of the city's Parks and Recreation Division. The display is on daily beginning at around 6 p.m., and will run through Dec. 31.

Last year, I shot this from roughly the same place; at the same corner at least. I wasn't very happy with the results, so I thought I would give myself a mulligan to get it right. I like this one. Next year, it's on to another spot.

Retiring

2011-11-18T23:35:00.000-06:00

Retiring battalion chief Terry Lawson, left, laughs while being presented with a toy firefighter's helmet by fire chief David Dayringer during a retirement party in recognition of his 28 years of service at the Fayetteville Fire Department's Station One.

I've known chief Lawson for all of the years that I have lived in Fayetteville and worked at the Times. For many years, he was the public information officer for the department, and I worked with him quite a lot because of that, but we've been friends for years before and after his role as PIO. Lawson's a baseball guy and so am I. He's a St. Louis Cardinals fan, so he has it easier than I do as a lowly Reds fan, but we always have been able to talk baseball. He's also very active with the Fayetteville Youth Baseball and White River Baseball leagues. He's always been great to me at fire scenes and wherever I run into him and he will be missed.

Those in need

2011-11-17T23:02:00.000-06:00

Volunteers Mike Hill, center, and Tori Brunelli, right, serve food during a free Thanksgiving Day meal at the Donald W. Reynolds Boys and Girls Club of Fayetteville.

The size of the crowd that came to take advantage of the free Thanksgiving meal was a staggering sight.

Upon further review

2011-11-16T23:10:00.000-06:00

Evan Locklear, left, and Matthew Garen speak inside a tent while eating a hot dinner brought to the site of the Occupy NWA camp near the entrance of the Fayetteville Town Center on the town's downtown square. The city has allowed the group to camp outside the town's convention space since the weekend, but maintains that it may not make camp at any other city-owned property.

I got this assignment at the last minute at the end of my day, and it wasn't clear before I left what the story was about. Though I really liked this photograph as I made my way back to the newsroom, after I read what the story was about, it was clear that another photo that showed where the camp was located would better serve the reader and the story. Bummer, but that happens.

Yellow jackets

2011-11-15T23:36:00.000-06:00

Keith Bourg, right, and Darrell Madere, both workers with StuccoTech of Madison, Miss., remove stucco from the northeast corner of The Cosmopolitan Hotel in downtown Fayetteville. The stucco was incorrectly installed during a previous renovation and will be replaced before year's end and color changes are planned to complement portions that will remain its current white, according to representatives on site. According to a greeting on the hotel's answering machine, the Cosmopolitan has temporarily closed and is expected to reopen in fall 2012. A development team called Southwind Hospitality Holdings purchased the hotel earlier this year and has plans for a more than $7 million face lift to the exterior and interior of the building.

As if hanging out of the window 15 stories up and shooting photos blindly from around the corner of the patio while hanging onto a shaky handrail wasn't enough excitement for one photo, a mass of yellow jackets decided to all land onto my camera and sting my hand. Unreal.

No room

2011-11-14T23:13:00.000-06:00

Fayetteville firefighters work to control a fire that severely damaged a duplex located at 123 E. Drake St. in Fayetteville.

The light in this photo is nice, but I knew this shot would never run. We were so tight on space the day of this fire. The chances of a second shot running was slim. It's too bad. I really like this one.

Upended

2011-11-13T23:07:00.001-06:00

Fayetteville senior receiver Reid Holmes (17) is upended by Little Rock Catholic senior safety Jordan Hartnedy during the first half of the Dogs' 42-13 win in the first round of the Class 7A state tournament at Harmon Field. Fayetteville will travel to take on the Wampus Cats of Conway on Friday.

When Holmes landed, we all thought he was going to be really hurt. Football seems so brutal and I wince when I see kids hit like this. I know it will affect them later in life.

More photos here.

Video games

2011-11-12T23:34:00.000-06:00

Lonnie Woolf, left, and Brandon Wilson, both 17-year-olds from Fayetteville, compete in a nationwide Super Smash Brother video game tournament during the Fayetteville Public Library's celebration of National Gaming Day at the library. The event featured a high-score contest on the classic video game, Frogger, as well as board and card games.

The last time I played a video game, I was 12 or so playing on our Atari. Games have come a long way since then, apparently.

Veterans Day

2011-11-11T23:12:00.000-06:00

Alan Lane and his 3-year-old daughter, Ivy, wave say 'thank you' to veterans as they pass while watching the Veterans Day parade on the Fayetteville square.

After so many years of there being a well-attended parade in Fayetteville for Veterans Day, it went away for quite a while. Last year, it made a very humble return, but this year, so many folks got involved with its planning and it grew a great amount. Several hundred people were in attendance on a beautiful and warm afternoon.

More photos here.

Cliffhanger

2011-11-10T23:44:00.001-06:00

Crews from McKnight's Emergency Wrecker Service in West Fork recover a Jeep Wrangler from the White River at Twin Bridges after the car was found after allegedly being pushed into the water from the cliff above after being reported stolen earlier in the day. Beau Stewart Fugitt reported to Fayetteville police that his yellow Jeep Wrangler was stolen at 9:53 a.m. Thursday, according to a police dispatch log. He said it was taken overnight from his duplex at 2032 N. Leverett Ave. He reportedly left the car door unlocked with a spare key inside. The car was recovered at 12:44 p.m. No one has been arrested, according to Fayetteville Police Sgt. Craig Stout.

Initially, emergency crews had to operate with the assumption that the vehicle had driven off the road and its occupants were injured. It's quite a fall from Arkansas 45 to the river and anyone who took that plunge would surly be hurt. When I got there, they were still searching the area around where the vehicle had landed for its occupants. Soon, it became clear that this was probably the same vehicle that had been reported to Fayetteville Police as stolen earlier in the day.

Watching the crews recover the Jeep from the river was fascinating. I was impressed with how quickly they formulated what was clearly a brilliant plan to pull it out of the river. I assumed they would pull it to the launch, which is just across the river from where it was sitting, but this was so much better. Even smarter was using their big truck to steady the smaller truck as it lifted the Jeep. Clearly, this was not their first rodeo.

News cruise

2011-11-09T23:30:00.000-06:00

Gary Kilpatrick, a longtime maintenance worker for the City of Fayetteville's Parks and Recreation Divison, wraps holiday lights around the branches of an elm tree while preparing for the annual Lights of the Ozarks display on the town's square.

Again, I found myself looking for a photograph for today's paper, but today I never found anything worthy of being lede and supplanting the Crystal Bridges tour save for this. We chose not to run it since we ran something about the lights a few weeks ago. It's too bad. I sort of like this shot.

Going vertical

2011-11-08T23:34:00.000-06:00

Chris Wielopolski reads near a window in the reading room of the Fayetteville Public Library as heavy rains fall outside. Severe storms swept through the area Tuesday, but the National Weather Service is forecasting clear skies throughout the remainder of the week.

Seldom do I shoot vertical photographs, and I'm not really sure why, but the big blue window just cried out for it. The rain was the story today, and this allowed me to get a good photo of it without getting soaked to the bone as I do normally. To hear about a time when we got more rain than we have in the past 24 hours, you'd have to read the bible.

A second look

2011-11-07T23:38:00.000-06:00

Brittany Phillips, left, and Erin Von Feldt, both of Fayetteville, examine a display of conceptual drawings of details of the newly named The Dickson building during a press conference to announce the change in name, ownership and construct of the building formerly known as The Lofts at Underwoods on West Dickson Street in Fayetteville.

The last time I saw the view that is available to one on the ninth floor of this building was the day they hired a crane with a bucket to take up anyone who wanted to see what the view would be like once it was built. I hate heights. That was one of the scariest thing I've ever had to do. It was so much easier to enjoy the view from within a building, safe behind glass, while eating hors d'oeuvres.

First-hand knowlege

2011-11-06T23:32:00.000-06:00

University of Arkansas students rehearse their part in a planned performance of the parade scene from the 1980s movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," before the start of the UA's homecoming parade in Fayetteville. Floats from many campus organizations participated in the event that began at Highland Avenue and traveled west on West Dickson Street to the Chi Omega Greek Theater. The UA football team plays the University of South Carolina today.

As a person who lived through the 1980s, it made me laugh to see what the kids thought was '80s dress.' Apparently, all we wore was florescent clothes and Ray Bans.

Whoopin'

2011-11-05T23:56:00.000-05:00

Bentonville's Will Aechbacher celebrates as he nears the finish line during the state cross country championships in Harrison.

Of the top 10 finisher, seven were from Bentonville.

Wow.

More photos here.

The end is the beginning

2011-11-04T23:50:00.002-05:00

Farmington defender Jacob Naylor (36) strips the ball from Shiloh Christian junior receiver Ryan Michaelis during the first half of play at Allen Holland Field in Farmington.

More photos here.

This was the final game of the regular season for football in Arkansas. Now begins the playoff schedule that will take us through the next four weeks.

Shave and a haircut

2011-11-03T23:24:00.000-05:00

Eli Conley, 9, concentrates while learning to play the violin during an after-school club at the school that is supported by a 21st Century Learning Grant.

The piece of music, a very short work of a handful of notes, ended with the melody most commonly associated with "shave and a haircut, two bits." We've all knocked on doors along with that tune. It's one that gets stuck in one's head and that can be annoying. Try being in a room with elementary- and middle-school aged kids playing this over and over on violins.

What is that thing?

2011-11-02T23:02:00.000-05:00

Joey Vaughn, left, uses a shovel while Aaron Wood, both employees of the City of Fayetteville Transportation Division, operates a wheeled excavator to remove topsoil from the site of a planned bus stop along Center Street. Construction will require periodic closures of Center Street while the westbound lane will be closed between School and West avenues during working hours through the end of the month. The project, which will add a new bus shelter and improve sidewalks on the north side of Center Street, is being funded using a federal grant Ozark Regional Transit received in 2009.

We always have to know what the name of a piece of equipment is in photographs; in this case the machine being used to dig with. Turns out, it's a wheeled excavator. More often than not, most people want to call everything a backhoe or a bulldozer, but everything has a specific name.

Keeping count

2011-11-01T23:21:00.001-05:00

Stephanie Kellner, left, holds her 2-year-old son, August, so he can deposit paper into a recycling container at The Cliffs, an apartment complex in east Fayetteville. The City of Fayetteville is launching a program that will allow citizens who live in apartments to recycle using containers that are currently being rotated between two area complexes. "I saw this yesterday and I was so happy," said Kellner.

I liked this photo as I was taking it. Kellner was really very nice and excited to have the ability to recycle at her apartment. What sealed the deal was the happy accident of having my car in the background; the 79th time it has been in a published photo. Fun!

Boots

2011-10-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Kevin Cayanan, a University of Arkansas junior from Rogers, uses a pruning saw to remove an ash tree from the Wilson Springs wetland prairie in north Fayetteville during a volunteer work day sponsored by Audubon with support by Arkansas Land Trust, which owns the property.

This was good work for students to do, but though it had been cleared using a deck mower, the area was still pretty rough. There were blackberry plants, mud and deep grass in the area where the work was going on. I expected this and wore jeans and boots. The kids, most sorority and fraternity members from the University of Arkansas, came ill prepared for the work and the conditions, but the organizers were good about preparing them for it. The real work was being done by a group of professionals with chain saws who were wearing protective equipment.

Halloween

2011-10-30T23:55:00.000-05:00

Yesenia Giron, 11, of Springdale watches a movie while wearing a witch costume as she and other children enjoy the Creepy Crawlies Costume Party at the Springdale Public Library. Participants in the event enjoyed a costume parade and crafts in addition to the movie.

I was hoping for some sort of activity with kids in costume, but for the first hour and a half, the kids were watching a Halloween-themed movie. By the time the movie ended, I would have been well past my deadline, so I had to work with it. There were only a few kids who wore a costume to the event, which made it even tougher. I was so thankful when Yesenia sat down in the front row with a witch hat on.

Prostitution

2011-10-29T23:50:00.000-05:00

Prostitution in Northwest Arkansas begins, for the most part, with an ad placed on websites, primarily backpage.com. Similar to Craigslist.com, these websites offer listing categories that include 'escort services' where area police say the posters are able to arrange for customers.

Who else has a girlfriend who will not immediately want to hit them when they ask, "we're doing a story on prostitutes and I need you to model for me."? She even has the boots.

Radio

2011-10-28T23:55:00.001-05:00

Lincoln junior Cheyenne Vaughn (15) makes his way to the end zone as Greenland senior linebackers C.J. McMaster (20 and Michael Lewis (4) reach to make the tackle at Jonathan Ramey Memorial Stadium in Greenland.

The seventh game of the World Series began at the same time as this football game. I bundled up in a sweater and pullover and had the earphones from my little radio in my ear. I was all ready to listen to the game as I shot photos of the Greenland-Lincoln game. The station that was carrying the series switched to the Har-Ber and Fayetteville high school football game a half hour into the baseball game. Adding insult to injury, the two knuckleheads who were calling the football game were really awful.

Click here for more photos.

Two places at once

2011-10-27T23:40:00.000-05:00

Ramay Junior High's CJ O'Grady, center, carries the ball as Woodland Junior High defender Cody Davenport (12) reaches to make the stop during the first half of the Indians' 16-0 win at Harmon Field.

An assignment that I had before the game was supposed to start at 6 p.m. actually started at 7, leaving me across town at the kickoff of this game. By the time I made it to the field, I had missed the first quarter. I was so glad that there was a lot of action to shoot in the second quarter. It's common for us to, as we say, double-dip on football night and get two games in one evening. Yet, with junior high football being played in eight-minute quarters instead of the 12-minute quarters in high school, it's tough.

Tough

2011-10-26T23:37:00.001-05:00

Raymond Douglas, center, reacts along with his attorneys Ron Davis Jr., right, and Jimmy Moore, left, after Douglas was found not guilty in his first-degree murder trial at the Washington County Courthouse in Fayetteville. Douglas was accused of the murder of Goldie Thornsberry, who was reported missing in 1996.

Need more difficulty to the fun of shooting this through the arms and cameras of the four other photographers in a closet-sized room through a plate of cheap glass into three colors of backlight AND the juror's head who sat down just as the verdict was being read? The courtroom is what Johnny Cash said when he opened his closet: "It's dark in there." I needed another stop of shutter to make this crisper and I wish I had rolled it up there one more. My settings are usually enough, but this time the tough arrangement made it shake. Still, it's a nice moment.

1951

2011-10-25T23:42:00.000-05:00

Darian Froud, a junior at Greenland High School, draws his bow while practicing his archery skills in Wilson Gymnasium on the Greenland School District campus. The district has plans to renovate the interior of the gym after its exterior was remodeled in 1990.

This gym has so much character. It's always been a favorite of mine. When I first moved here, the high school still played its games in it. Finding power for our strobes was always a challenge, but the photos looked so authentic. Inside, it has the look, feel and smell of a gym that has been hosting ball games since it was built in 1951. It's still used, even it its advanced state of disrepair, all day for gym classes.

Food

2011-10-24T23:29:00.000-05:00

The menu at the Tanglewood Branch Beer Company, located at 15th Street and South School Avenue in Fayetteville, includes the Transcendental Chicken Salad Sandwich which features candied walnuts and Cran-Raisins for $7.

Former NWA Media photographer J.T. Wampler left the business to start a bar and restaurant in south Fayetteville. It was odd to be asked to come photograph food for a coworker who was so good at shooting food. I hope he liked how it turned out.

Trusty

2011-10-23T23:20:00.000-05:00

Mitchell Simpson, right, of Fayetteville and Charles Bartlett of Prairie Grove, both trusties at the Washington County Detention Center, fold laundry at the center in Fayetteville. Gov. Mike Beebe's prison reform bill, signed in March, is expected to reduce the number of state inmates staying at the jail while potentially bringing more inmates from the city courts to the jail which would cost the county more.

A person who has gained the trust of jail or prison officials for good behavior is rewarded with a job and the title of 'trusty.' This is different than 'trustee.' Confusing the two is understandable, but something that I have worked hard to avoid. The problem that I ran into is having two detainees who are in the trusty program, because I had to use the plural of the word. The plural of 'trusty' is 'trusties,' but 'trustees' is also acceptable. The problem is, if the latter is used, it's easy to think we made a mistake.

Art in the park

2011-10-22T23:25:00.000-05:00

Brenda Laney of Farmington paints a portrait while participating in the eighth annual Art in the Park in Wilson Park in Fayetteville. The event featured artists associated with Artists of Northwest Arkansas displaying their works and the Puppets in the Park event, both held in concert with Mayor Lioneld Jordan's Trail Tour.

This can be a difficult event to shoot for me and I normally opt to shoot the puppetry event across the park from the painters instead. It had been a few years since I shot the painters, however, so I spent some time with them today. I was lucky when I found two painters who were actually painting, making finding a photo a little easier. The weather being so great was an added bonus.

Senior night

2011-10-21T23:42:00.001-05:00

Fayetteville senior receiver Brad Culp heads to the end zone in front of the Rogers defense on his way to a 55-yard touchdown reception during the first half at Harmon Field.

The final regular-season game at Harmon Field was a blowout.

More photos here.

Names

2011-10-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

Ramay Junior High's Christion Dobbins (5) carries the ball as he is hit by Heritage freshman Tim Cole, right, during the first half at Harmon Field.

When I saw that his name is spelled 'Christion' on the roster, I had to read it several times to make sure I had that right. I don't always trust rosters, but this time, I had to. I assume it's pronounced like 'Christian,' but I'm always surprised at how kids' names are spelled these days. I just want to make sure I get it right.