Anatomy of a sunset

While shooting a sunset at Saracen Lake in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, I noticed the sun was liberally painting the cupola of the Jefferson County Courthouse in golden glow in front of an angry, stormy sky. Shot at 7:52 p.m.

When all else fails, one can do a story on kids, cows, puppies, or sunsets and have a winner most of the time. Following that logic, today is a sunset day. A couple of weeks ago late on a Saturday afternoon, I looked outside and discovered a nice cloud formation in the western sky that should precipitate a great sunset at nearby Saracen Lake. Lucky me to live just minutes away from one of the best places on God’s green earth to watch and/or shoot sunsets.

The evening of June 19, 2015, I got my first Saracen Lake sunset shots on the card at 7:59:07 p.m. A storm cloud was approaching the lake from the south.

Click the picture for more Saracen sunsets at Corndancer dot-com.

I beat a path to Saracen and not a minute too late, Things were falling into place for a decent sunset. The best sunset sequences are normally no longer than about 15 minutes or so give or take a few standard deviations.

The cool part about sunset shooting is that in that short time-on-target span, most sunsets change like an amoeba with an itching problem. So one sunset will normally yield a bucketful of unique images of the same subject. At this point, we are suggesting that you check our other recent sunset shots and story on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com. We’ll wait here for your certain return.

True to form within a few minutes, the cloud formation changed as the sun went further down. Shot at 8:04:27 p.m.

Just a few minutes later, by widening the view, we see a completely different picture of the sunset. Shot at 8:07:15 p.m.

A zoom in on the Saracen Lake sunset reveals dramatic shades of golds and yellows set off by dark blues and blacks three minutes later after the sun has set. Shot at 8:10:37 p.m.

As we prepare to leave, we grab a final wide shot showing the storm cloud rolling in. Shot at 8:10:37 p.m.

Even if you do not have a Sarecen Lake like place to watch a sunset, try to grab one occasionally. It’s like seeing a waterfall. You always feel better after watching some of God’s handiwork.

Thanks for looking,

Joe Dempsey

Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

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L. A. Corn dogs

Canines in the Corn

I went to shoot corn and the Higher Power put this dog in front of me. After our initial contact in the road, he decided to put some distance between us.

Click on the dog to see more pictures and the first part of the story.

Sometimes I am not certain exactly what puts me square in front of a lot of what I shoot. For this trip, there was one known and as far as I was concerned, that was all that was necessary. The known was a client request for corn and corn field pictures. L. A. is a honey hole for cornfields and I decided that southern Jefferson and northern Lincoln counties had a high probability of providing the fodder to satisfy this request. I was correct.

There was plenty of corn and the light was right in the target areas. But I was in for a surprise. Before we explore that, I encourage you to go to the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot-com and see where this story started.

I became engrossed in shooting corn pictures before I realized that I had a four-legged audience. I looked up from the view finder and a skinny black and tan pooch, whose gene pool is wider than the Mississippi at flood stage, was eyeballing me. With no collar, he is most certainly homeless.

After I offered a bit of verbal encouragement in my version of dog talk our reticent friend eased up a bit to see more.

When I aimed the camera at him, he got skittish and moved around the truck. After a few more tries, he decided that being up close and personal with me was not in his best interests. He skedaddled to the perceived security of the cornfield and from there kept his eye on me. I believe he wanted to be friendly, but decided the risk was greater than any reward that might be forthcoming.

After listening to more cajoling in my best dog persuasion, he decided to take a closer look.

About the time we were beginning to connect, a car approached and he swung around to take a look.

Then he looked even closer.

As the car passed, he watched it. I had high hopes he would get back to me.

The intruding vehicle left the scene and the dog looked back. I thought perhaps we had connected. Perhaps not. And it was time to go.

There was a second dog, probably a litter mate to our friend above (see him in our Corndancer article). The second dog made a brief appearance and then made himself scarce. It is not a natural concurrence to find dogs who apparently reside in a corn field. Almost certainly some no-good booger-eater dropped these dogs in the vicinity and left them to their own devices, a despicable act of irresponsible cruelty.

In the not too far distant future, the dog’s hidey-hole home will be harvested. A combine will go through the field with corn stalks in front of it and corn stubble behind it. What happens to the dogs nobody knows, in the event they survive that long. It appears that this dog craves human attention. The problem is no human craves him.

On that somber note, I thank you for looking

Joe Dempsey

Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

PS:

After getting all wound up over the dogs, I forgot that I originally went out to shoot corn. So here is some corn.

This corn is getting close to mature. When that time arrives, the stalk dries up and harvesting with a combine begins.

Up close and personal with healthy corn.

Thanks again,

Joe

Didn’t make the cut

I did not have a clue that I had captured the image above until I downloaded the camera card to my computer and started my image review. This pitcher was doing his warmup throws and had a nice wind up and throw routine so I fired a few series of him doing just that. Had I tried to get this shot, the odds were slim to none. Conversely, if you fire enough, sooner or later you will generally get something cool.

Shooting sports harkens back to a boy’s childhood vision pretending he was shooting a tommy-gun. Instead of holding the trigger back, one holds the shutter button down and lets the camera eat. As a net result, a good sports shoot results in substantially more images that will ever see the printed page or an electronic display. Far be it from the behavior patterns of most anal retentive photographers to cast off the unpublished images. We help keep the big-ol’-hard-drive folks in business.

The first base runner, reacting to a pick-off attempt by the pitcher is where he needs to be. We can’t say the same thing for the ball and the first baseman.

Generally speaking, except for forums like this, the photographer is not the final authority as to what will go to print or electronic display –  the editors make that ultimate decision. They make their choices on what will best mesh with the story and how it fits in their own criteria. I have no problem with that system. They have their jobs and I have mine, and all is well.

Click on the players to see more sports pictures at Corndancer dot-com.

There are a lot procedures to select published images. Most of them start with a group of “picks,” meaning these images have possibilities. Editors, art directors, and the like narrow down the picks to become the choice. That leaves some pretty cool shots languishing in the shadow of ignominy. Along those lines, we invite you to check out the Corndancer Photo of the Week at Corndancer dot-com where you will find more previously unpublished sports images from yours truly.

All of our images today are rescued from the ignominy closet. It’s not that these images are better or worse that those which were chosen. The chosen few fit the criteria of the time best. Now, all they need is a smattering of coolness.

This was close to perfect bunt. It quickly hit the ground with enough roll to cause a moment of hesitation between the catcher and the pitcher.

A long-armed, long-legged first baseman is worth his weight in Apple Stock. So is a fast base runner.

Six feet high.

‘I got it,’ says the guy in the middle and then the action picked up.

He made the shot. Had the defensive guy been a second sooner, he wouldn’t have.

A jump shot perfectly foiled. The defender has all ball at the moment of release.

See more of our sports pictures that did not make the cut in our “Did not make the cut” gallery with 32 sports shots.

Thanks for looking,

Joe Dempsey

Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html

LA soaked

This sign, at a boat ramp on Saracen Lake in Pine Bluff, Arkansas was covered with water a day or two later.

It’s starting to dry out here in LA (lower Arkansas). It’s about time. We’ve experienced the longest soaking we’ve endured in a long time. To make matters worse, the brethren and sisters up stream from us on the Arkansas River have experienced the same downpours. They have unwittingly sent their runoff to unwilling recipients. Us.

Click on the sign to see more high water pix at Corndancer dot-com

We’re not far from where the Arkansas River dumps into ol’ Big Muddy, the mighty Mississippi River, so we are the last to experience the Arkansas cresting. Fortunately that experience has come and gone. That’s not to say that Mother Nature does not have another nasty trick or so up her vaunted sleeve. It wouldn’t be the first time. Before we go much further, we are suggesting that you take a short detour to the Corndancer Photo of the Week on Corndancer dot-com where this story started. You’ll see more flood and high water pictures. We’ll wait here while you look.

The pictures you are about to see were shot a couple of days before the river crested, so as you look, in your mind, add about another foot of water. Mother Nature did it for real.

The U.S. Highway 79 bridge over the swollen Arkansas River north of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, May 31, 2015.

The north pier of the U.S. Highway 79 bridge over the Arkansas River north of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The river at this point was 45 feet and later crested at 46 feet. The numbers on the bridge get smaller as the water rises. They notify river pilots how much clearance is under the bridge.

These geese under the bridge are showing classic defense posture. One is the lookout, while the other one forages for food.

The river is at 45 feet in this video. A day or so later it rose to 46 feet.

You just saw the north end of the Highway 79 bridge. This is the road, the same day, for access to the south side of the bridge.

Saracen Landing in the foreground is reflected in a pond that few days before was a road from the entrance to the Pine Bluff / Jefferson County Regional Park.

Two days before, I shot this sign with a bird perched on it. As I approached it I wished I could get lucky again. Lo and behold, a Mockingbird flew up. Providential proffering perfection.

The Mockingbird, not long after he favored me with his presence on the sign, spooked when he saw me somewhere else.

Hopefully, this time next week, we will still be rejoicing in dryness. But don’t bet the farm on it.

Thanks for looking,

Joe Dempsey

Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind
http://www.joedempseycommunications.com/
http://www.joedempseyphoto.com/
http://www.corndancer.com/joephoto/photohome.html