A parade of misfits


Guitarist at the Starving Artist Cafe in North LIttle Rock, Arkansas

The performer is certainly not a misfit. He can whack that guitar with the best of them. He is entertaining a grateful dinner audience at the Starving Artist Cafe in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

I have a growing collection of pictures which have fallen between the cracks to mostly undeserved ignominy. Not because they are necessarily bad pictures, they just did not fit a story at the time they were fresh. I suppose they are functional misfits. Given that commonality, it occurred to me that a parade of misfits would give these previously not-yet-seen-the-light-of-day pictures their 15 minutes of fame.

short eared owl in tree

Click on the owl for more misfit pictures,

The only thing these pictures have in common other than who pushed the shutter button, is that they have nothing in common.

Well, they do have something in common with the pictures on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot com. They are from the same litter. Click to visit Corndancer dot com and see the misfits that got this whole thing started.

fishing tack wrapped around telephone lines

The collection of snarled bobbers, weights, and a few lures continues to grow on a telephone line crossing a narrow part of Noble Lake southeast of Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Folks fish from the bridge and as they sling temptations to the fish, they sometimes run afoul of the wire. We’ve shown this location before, but not this particular picture.

wind turbine components on rail car

You are looking at the hub and gear housing for a wind turbine snaking its way across Pine Bluff, Arkansas via the Union Pacific Railroad. The housing is bigger than a large RV. We’re talking humongous here folks.

ruins of gym at Mount Rock School

The grounds of long defunct Mount Rock School in northern Louisiana are well kept and mowed like a cemetery. And given the deceased school buildings on the premises, that comparison is not a stretch. These are the remaining shambles of the former gym, no doubt promoted as the home of the fighting “sumpinanothers.” As the wind whistled through the ruins, I believe could hear some faint cheers for the fighting “sumpinanothers.”

large ship in the mississippi river at new orleans

Further south in Louisiana, a huge ocean-going vessel has just gone under the “Crescent Connection,” bridge across Mississippi River. Back in the day when my brother lived in Nawlins, they called it “the great chicken bridge.” Why, I do not know.

fountain and lakeside pavilion at saracen landing in pine bluff arkansas

Early afternoon sunlight turns the spray from the Louis L. Ramsay Fountain at Saracen Landing in Pine Bluff, Arkansas into shimmering aquatic jewels. This is normally not a good time to shoot, unless you want a fountain to look like shimmering aquatic jewels. Seemed to be the right thing to do at the time.

crane lifting air conditioner units over three story building

Finally, a big ol’ crane is moving some huge air conditioning outside units which are surrounded by buildings. The crew handling the event was as impressive at the big machine. There were a lot of them and they took their work seriously. Reminded me of a shuttle launching.

Band at Starving Artis Cafe in North LIttle Rock, Arkansas

Well, I guess there’s an exception to every rule. Here’s a band that performed in the same program as the guitar guy in the first picture at the Starving Artist Cafe. They were good entertainers. The beer bottle to the right side of the image seemed to be a good part of the story.

This post is respectfully dedicated to all misfits. Including myself.

Thanks for dropping by,

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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Two tigers, two sunsets


tiger at little rock zoo

Thank goodness for long lenses. You can look the tiger in the eye and successfully retain life and limb regardless of how the tiger sizes you up

This week we are looking at critters and scenes from our film archives.  All of these pictures are scanned from 35mm transparencies, AKA slides. We started this adventure on the Photo of the Week page at Corndancer dot com with a Jaguar, an African Crowned Crane and a gorilla mother and child. Click here to go there and see the critters.

This particular tiger was a resident of the Little Rock Zoo. I say “was” because this shot is from ’94 archives. Tigers in captivity make shooting easy. They develop a routine for sauntering around their enclosure, so you know pretty well where they are going to be and when they will arrive.  In one case, I put the camera on a tripod, focused on a blade of Johnson grass in the enlosure which the tiger always passed and then concentrated in starting the motor drive when he came even with the grass. Worked like a charm.

tiger at little rock zoon

Same tiger, a bit farther back. Look at the markings over the eyes. They are the same, but are different on every tiger. The tiger is wet, having just taken a dip in the handy pool in the tiger enclosure. Unlike most cats, tigers dig dipping.

The picture below shows Lake Pine Bluff which has since been renamed Saracen Lake (Google still calls it Lake Pine Bluff).  Even though no two sunsets are every exactly the same, the probability of this sunset view and the one below repeating are even more remote since a structure has been built on the west side of the fishing pier. That is not a bad thing. In fact, it is a good thing. The structure is Saracen Landing, a first class over-the-water public pavilion. The shot below was my first serious shot of a sunset on this lake, I have since shot dozens, some recently. This is one of the best locations on the planet for great sunsets, free for the looking.

sunset over lake

I chased these clouds for about 30 miles and finally wound up at what was then called Lake Pine Bluff. This was my first serious shot of a sunset on this lake, I have since shot dozens, some recently. This is one of the best locations on the planet for great sunsets.

As a part of downtown Pine Bluff, the lake is a popular fishing spot and a great place to take a lunch if you happen to work down town.

lake sunset

Turns out, money can't buy one of the best parts of my home town, to wit: a sunset at Saracen Lake. Almost every time I go to the lake to shoot a sunset, I run into people who are witnessing the phenomenon for the first time. "I never knew ... " are normally the first thing out of their wondering mouths. A great place to fish at sunset. If your catching luck is down, the scenery will help you forget it.

Isn’t amazing what we find in our own back yards. The first requirement is you have to go look. My I be presumptuous and suggest that you do just that.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

See all of the Corndancer and Weekly Grist pictures plus a couple of surprises in our weekly high resolution gallery. Click here to go there. Takes just a couple of minutes and well worth the click.

Thanks for dropping by!

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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