I’ve had few chances to shoot nature images this past summer due to several reasons, the most important is that I purchased a little piece of God’s Country and I’ve been working hard making changes, repairs and alterations. I’ve just about completed all the projects and have started to concentrate on what originally brought me to the Buffalo River area – PHOTOGRAPHY!

The place I was so fortunate to find and purchase is at Compton, AR. It has incredible views with the eastern view looking out over Steel Creek and the Buffalo National River Park. The view to the south looks down a canyon with Ponca and the Buffalo River at the end, to the west has awesome sunsets. One point seven miles to the northwest is a mountaintop owned by my friends Jack and Camille Carpenter, they own and operate Mountain Springs Cabins. They are also the ones responsible for me finding this fabulous place that I can now call my own piece of God’s Country. They brought it to my attention as soon as it was listed on the market and with the help of another friend and real estate agent Bill Cochrane, I was able to make the purchase. Bill and his wife Regena also have a cabin rental business. Like the Carpenter’s, the Cochrane’s are great people and I’m blessed to have them as friends. Both of their cabin rental businesses have websites and you can find them on my Links page. I’ve stayed with them both and highly recommend them!

The elk have been rutting in Arkansas as my front page image shows. Notice the ivories in the upper jaw of the bull as he bugles, this shot is one of the very few that I have showing them. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to photograph them in the beautiful Buffalo River area!

Ed

Testing new server

I apologize for the long silence in my BLOG. We had trouble with the server and had to make a temporary switch while the bugs got worked out so I was unable to update the site, but we’re all fixed up now thanks to Steph!

Vacation at The Great Smoky Mountains National Park was excellent! I highly recommend anyone that has never been there to take a few days and see what eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina have to offer. You won’t be disappointed. Check out the gristmill in my Landscape Gallery, it was taken just outside of the park at Cherokee, NC. Also, in the Critters Gallery is a Black Bear picture that was taken while on the Caddes Cove drive through the park. What a great place to visit with all the wildlife and 6600 foot elevations!

Last weekend was the 2nd annual Color Fest in Ponca, AR at the Elk Education Center. It was put on by Mary Ann Hicks and she did a wonderful job! Thanks Mary Ann for all your hard work!! I was invited for the second year and had a ball visiting with all the people and talking photography. I’m looking forward to next year and participating in Color Fest again!

My new homepage image was taken while in the Buffalo River area as were the waterfall images in my Landscape Gallery. The combination of fall colors with the runoff from the recent rains made for some spectacular sites to see. E-mail me if you’d like directions to where any of the photos were taken.

My Guestbook is the victim of pornographic spamming leeches that continue to post links to pornographic websites, about a dozen entries in the last twenty four hours. I’ve tried to stay one step ahead with deleting entries as soon as possible and the webmaster (Steph) has tried to install blocks on keywords, both efforts have fallen short and the spammers prevail. So, the Guestbook has been shut down and no more entries will be allowed.

It’s very unfortunate that this world contains people of the caliber of these spammers. What they want to do with their own lives is their business, but to infringe upon my web space for the profit of the pornographic business is nauseating.

I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words and entries into my Guestbook. Please e-mail through the Contact page me or visit my Forums to make comments or ask questions.

Ed

It feels like the long hot summer is finally starting to wind down!

I’ve added some photos to the Deer Gallery and would like to thank my friends Mike Komp and his son Michael “Kompton” for all of their help. They were instrumental in me getting some great captures of a herd of monster whitetail bucks! Thanks guys, you worked hard and I appreciate your help!!

Ed

My patio thermometer read 116 degrees this afternoon. This is getting ridiculous!! COME ON OCTOBER!!!

I finished up the industrial shoot yesterday evening by taking exterior pictures of a bottling plant from a sixty foot tall boom lift. Thanks to a friend and fellow photographer, Clay Porter for helping out by running the lift while I shot pictures. It was quite an experience to say the least, but we handled all the adversities well and delivered some nice semi-aerial photos to the client.

Everyone stay cool!!

Ed

Okay, so I’ve been lazy about posting in my blog! (ha ha) Actually, I’ve been working hard in the photography business and my sales job is at its peak season, so, life has been hectic!

People have been the focus of my photography attention for the last few weeks, although I have found time to pester the hummingbirds. I’m also in the midst of an industrial shoot for a local spirits bottling company. Photographing bottles as they whiz past on conveyor lines has been interesting and a learning experience. Thank goodness for the high ISO capabilities of my 1D Mark II N!

There is a continuing problem with hackers posting in my Guestbook, we’re working to eliminate them, but they are very persistent and ingenious in their methods. So, the battle is a tough one that may result in having to close down the Guestbook permanently. We’ll just have to see what happens in the immediate future, but for now please overlook any SPAM you might see in the Guestbook or Forum. I’m deleting anything that doesn’t belong as soon as I discover it.

The Newsletter subscription page is up and operable. Please subscribe so I’ll have you in my database and can contact you when the website is updated, when specials become available or when something of interest arises that you may like to know.

Back to photography ~ the hummingbirds have been fun shooting although I haven’t been getting the flying shots I’d like. They are the toughest subject I’ve ever worked!! Not only are they incredibly quick, but they’re low contrast so the auto focus has a difficult time with locking the split second focus. It’s a challenging subject and I welcome anyone that may have advice on capturing these little jewels. Drop me a note in the Forum and let’s talk shooting hummingbirds!

Football practices have started, schools are either starting or preparing to start and the days are noticeably getting shorter. That all translates into this ole hot summer is on the downhill side and fall is just around the corner. I’m looking forward to getting back out into the field!

One of my fall projects will be Color Fest hosted by the Ponca Elk Education Center in Ponca, Arkansas. It’s the second annual and last year was a great success. I recently spoke with Mary Ann Hicks (curator of the Elk Education Center) and she tells me the dates of this year’s festival are October 20-21. More on that as the dates draw closer, but it’s well worth the trip up to Boxley Valley during this time as the fall colors are spectacular.

Ed

Wow! It was 106 in the shade on my patio a few minutes ago…come on October!

Changes are being made in the site – A Pricing Page is in place to show pricing on different items and services, but I still prefer to be contacted personally so I can give individual attention to every order.

Soon to come is a Newsletter that you can subscribe to. It’ll be my way to notify everyone when new images are posted, new galleries are up, there are changes in the website or if I just want to say “Hi” to all my friends.

Ed

103 degrees with a heat index of 107 - It is stifling hot!!!

I think the air conditioner would make a wonder photo subject today! I'm staying indoors!

Ed

It seems we’ve picked up a spammer and they continue to post links to illegal drug sales on my site in the Guestbook. They’re not taking any of my bandwidth, just hoping to raise their hits on search engine results. Steph (the webmaster) and I will continue to delete these illegal links instead of disabling the Guestbook; hopefully this person will find somewhere else to leech their space.

Your patience is greatly appreciated and thank you for overlooking these unsolicited and illegal links.

Ed

It’s been a while since my last Blog entry, no really good excuses other than the HOT weather, the lack of credible flora or fauna subjects, working on the site and being lazy.

Three new galleries are up –

Flora - with lots of images of flowers and plants. Some aren’t identified because I’m unsure what they are, if you know what they are, please drop me a message and help me out with identification.

Macro – This is one of my favorites with close up images of plants, bugs and some weird looking critters.

Turkeys – Tough to get images of strutting Toms and excited Hens. Not a lot there, but I’ll be adding to it soon.

I’ve also added images to several of the existing galleries so please browse through and enjoy the new images.

Oh, I haven’t seen the bear again, but have permission from the local landowners to come back in the fall and try again. With a little luck we’ll have bear images to look at by New Years Day.

Ed

I've been without an internet connection for almost a week. COX was the culprit - thanks to the tech that finally figured out the problem.

Last week I saw two bears while in the mountains near Jasper. I'm returning to the area again this weekend hopeful of capturing an image this time. The only thing I got last week was a glimpse of the bears and PLENTY of chigger bites. The bugs are terrible in the woods right now, but worth fighting through if I can see another black bear.

The wildflowers are awesome right now. I found and photographed an Indian Pink, which was new to this admitted amateur. I'll also be looking for more of them this weekend as well as any others that catch my eye. I have a pretty good guide that I'm surew will show me some unusual flowers. More when I return.

Ed

The site is doing well. Steph has been working on little nick knacks and doing a fine job. Another gallery is up and I have a few more to go before we slow down. The Forum settings are all pretty much all set and Mr. Viles is the new Moderator. Please, drop me a note if you see anything that needs attention or improvement. Thanks Steph for all your work and patience. You’ve done a fabulous job in record time! Ed

Steph made an adjustment so there shouldn't be any further problems with the Guestbook. Thanks Steph! Ed

Online purchasing is up and ready to go. I've added some new galleries, but have more to come in the near future. We're still working out the little bugs like with the Guestbook, so thank you for your patience. Drop me an e-mail if you have ANY trouble accessing any part of this site!

We're up and running - Thanks Steph!! We're a ways from being complete - the Forum, Blog and Guest Book are operational, but we're waiting on Pay Pal verification. As soon as we get that, online purchasing will be open. Once the site is complete this Blog will be the location where I let you know what my current and future photo projects are. Thanks, Ed

The new site is coming along nicely.