...and bye bye stupid dogs...

attention five people that have actually looked at this blog, amelia and i have joined forces at our new blog:

www.dreamlandimages.com/blog

as always, thanks for looking...

d

bye bye baseball...

it's over, it's really over!

the naturals got swept by the travs this past weekend which marks the end of baseball season. how many fricking games did they play? minor league baseball isn't nearly as fun if you are prohibited from participating in dollar beer night.

d

ronnie b gives back...

former razorback basketball standout ronnie brewer donated $50,000 to the african-american studies department at the university of arkansas this afternoon. brewer left school a year early to enter the nba draft back in 2006, and is currently playing for the utah jazz. the gift makes brewer one of the first former student athletes in arkansas history to donate money to their alma mater for academic rather than athletic purposes. brewer, who still has 40 hours to go on his broadcast journalism degree (thinking ahead, smart fella), said that he promised his mom he would finish up, and that he still intends to keep that promise. the money will be used for a scholarship fund to promote the advancement of minorities in journalism.

much respect, ronnie, much respect.

d

ps - i'd like to give a shout out to the tv guy with the blinding light on his camera. you stood 6 inches from the guy i was supposed to shoot for at least 20 minutes, but together we both made it work.

hurricanes blow

thousands of "displaced citizens" have been transported to ft. chaffee down the road from us, so we went down yesterday for a bit. we had a minder the entire time, but i was able to meet a couple of people who shared their stories with me.



donald bryant (right) expressed frustration about the sleeping quarters in the barracks at ft chaffee. his family was sharing space with at least 2 dozen other people. "we have young girls sleeping in here and sharing a bathroom with men, so yeah, i'm concerned." bryant said that the bus ride from new orleans took 16 hours and that the bus driver got lost along the way.



clifford nixon (bottom left) and his son clifford nixon jr., 5, of new orleans, talk with united way volunteer tom kaufenberg at the ft chaffee intake center. nixon and his son had just made it back to new orleans in july after having been displaced by katrina 3 years ago.

homage to amelia

i liked this image because i thought i looked like a total amelia picture. the arm coming in from the side of the frame, the emotion, etc.

i know for certain she would have done it better, but hey, i'm trying...

d

updating machine...

well, two seemingly insignificant pictures today.

i really liked this dog at the shelter. her name was strudel. she was full of energy (that's shelter code for CRAZY!). i nachtweyed the hell out of that dog, word.

also liked the port-a-john, although i had seen this before during my sheet rock era. you really have to appreciate the thoughtfulness of the artist, just wanting to brighten someone's day. and before you ask, no, i did not check to see what was on the menu.

d

turkey man

well, we try to avoid these little mergers, but from time to time, they are kinda funny...

d

features...

the dog days of august are here in force, and the pickings are slim between football practices, but here are a few enterprise photos from the past week that i liked (even if i've shot them before).

d

ps - thanks for the motivation to get posting again, mom

goodbye coger drug store

coger drug store opened back in 1901 and has lasted through 3 generations of coger pharmacists. it is located on the square in downtown huntsville, and helps to maintain the classic main street look.

the curent cogers have worked at the store for 43 years, but are now ready to retire and travel...and they deserve it.

nuthin' special, but i just liked this shot of lois jean looking out the window at the empty lunch counter on a quiet final day.

d

da dawgs

i haven't posted anything in like a month...wow...there just hasn't been anything worth showing (sorry good people of northwest arkansas)

anyway, i got my 50 mm lens back after breaking it 6 months ago, so i though i would test it out on the dogs (they're so cute they could never break a camera!)

d

they call it stormy monday...

...but tuesday's just as bad.

lets hope not.

getting really tired of all the rain, but at least we didn't have any this weekend while in lexington for rob and brittany's wedding. got some really great stuff that will post soon.

d

the walmartians

they're back, and this time, they've brought little glowing dots with them...

this marks the week that wal-mart shareholders descend on our quiet little town making it impossible to eat out, drive across the university, or go anywhere without seeing those unholy little yellow smiley faces.

we are still only in the setup phase, so surely there will be more posts to come on this subject.

d

cowboy church

headed over to the crossbrand cowboy church in pea ridge last week and even got to do a little riding. great people, great light, great horses. one of those assignments that makes you realize most people dont get to do what we do everyday, much less get paid for it. this even got great play in the paper (thanks christie).

get along little dogie...

d

hang 10

shot this last week in the new pediatric wing of the hospital. just liked this kid's posture. he just recently had a stay in the ER following a segway accident (yep, a segway accident), so he was a good candidate to give his opinion of the new artwork.

d

Jeez Jesus

went to shoot the great passion play dress rehearsal last night. this thing is nuts. they have kids running around chasing whole flocks of sheep ("They're like two legged border collies" - our reporter). they've got camels and donkeys, a full on town that is three football fields long, and, of course, jesus.

but that's not who we were there for. it is the 40th anniversary, and the powers that be have revamped the script to include some more miracles and...drum role...SATAN.

so i was there to shoot the devil. getting ready, maybe a portrait, something different, but i was told by our handler that, "we don't feel comfortable focusing in on this young woman as the devil. plus, it's maybe a little controversial to have a woman in the role."

hey, you guys re-wrote the script. you guys included satan. you guys cast a young woman. what gives?

"blah, blah, blah, something about hannah montana, blah, blah, blah, NO"

i guess that's just showbiz for ya.

d

take me out...

well, we now have minor league baseball here in northwest arkansas. so far it has been a bit of an up and down experience. no internet access at the stadium and you can't shoot from the allocated spot because the fans behind you can't see. "i didn't pay to see the back of your head," ...whatever, whiny. the back of my head looks fantastic.

the good news is that the second basemen and shortstops love to fly through the air!

d

ps - love that morning news logo in the background. they'll be getting free ad space in the dem-gaz all season. smart folks over there...but there is still an opening in centerfield (hint, hint)

here we go again...

so the fayetteville farmers market is up and running again. wild art fun every tuesday, thursday, and saturday. EVERY tuesday, thursday, and saturday...

but hey, the light is nice, and who doesn't like the smell of fresh flowers?

d

one thing is certain...

...my mere presence at an airport can influence national weather patterns and airplane mechanics more than any other single variable. long story short, my flight back to arkansas was canceled yesterday, so i'm still in charlotte.

this was a great trip home, though. i got to: play catch with noah (he can throw farther than me, no exaggeration) and eat with jenn, have beers with chris, see sloan's townhouse (he's got big plans), meet chip's girlfriend (shes very cool), meet rob's girlfriend (also super cool), eat fonda's cooking (gain a few pounds, but its worth it) and play pool with pop and rob (and lose). we also had a new addition to the farm family, a stallion was born early saturday morning. also ran into grant lacey (twice), a good friend from many years ago.

aside from all the personal fun, amelia and i got to hit up the southern short course, my favorite of all the photojournalism conferences. where else can you stay up till 3 am quoting bill hicks with michael williamson? great to see so many familiar faces, and so much inspiring work. we also left with a little hardware, she won 1st place in the portrait category, and i got an honorable mention in the multimedia division. we will definitely be back next year!

best to everyone,
d

flying high...

attended the 18th annual eureka springs kite festival today...kite festivals are a lot more fun when you have a little wind. it finally picked up a bit around lunch time.

d

dodgeball

heads up!

shot a dodgeball tourny this weekend, and i decided to light it (shhh, don't tell anyone). on my way up to grab the light, i made a few frames from the walking track across from the flash. i just liked the rim light on the team at the top and the silhouette of the thrower. wish i had the whole shadow, though. i also liked that it's 1 against 5. GO 1!

d

ps - got a lot of comments about the rollergirls pic, so i just want to clarify, this was not a decision about the content of the photos. we were going to sub out the little rock rollergirl page with a northwest rollergirl page using my photos, but apparently the story was too "little rock" centered to go with the northwest photos...so, long story short, we subbed one photo and rest went on the net or in the trash. didn't mean to lead everybody on, the editor in question was just confused, not judgmental. sorry for the confusion.

editors and rollergirls...

shot a bunch of stuff at a rollergirls practice last week, but due to an editorial "issue," none of it will ever see the light of day...'cept this one right here!

d

balloons!

everybody loves balloons...especially car dealers.

d

everybody loves the dentist

well, it's dental awareness week, but lizzy stevens, 6, doesn't look too fond of the tooth yanking pliers she's holding.

can't blame her, i don't like them either.

d

oprey multimedia

forgot to add that my multimedia piece on west fork's little ol' oprey posted last weekend:

http://www.nwanews.com/ozarksidentity/multimedia/

check it out...

d

brrrrrr...

froze my feet off at the polar plunge today, but i was a wuss and only went in up to my knees.

got this with the waterproof housing on the point and shoot.

i'd be willing to bet this guy was colder than me when it was all said and done.

d

...and fire on the ground

...and fire in the old buildings full of asbestos.

major blaze at fort chaffee today. got down there a little late, but thanks to the 40 mph winds, the flames were still going strong. this guy, Firefighter Freddy Cain, with the Barling Fire Department, was totally cool and let me climb up on top of the truck while he was blasting the fire with the water cannon.

dan

ps - my new website should be up and running tomorrow (1/30) so please go by and check it out!

www.danhalephoto.com

Tim Lytvinenko back in NC did a kick-ass job putting it all together, so much thanks to him!

...and fire in the sky

wicked sunset this weekend...and there's nothing like getting a head start on your wild art for sunday by shooting something on saturday night.

d