Abby hosted a beach-themed birthday party in celebration of completing her 6th year of life. She and Gina put together a fun-filled afternoon of beach-type activities.

The girls learned how to hula from an instructional DVD.

They played Pass The Coconut. Abby got clocked in the mouth with the coconut on one pass.

They squirted and got drenched in the splash pool. Abby nailed the camera man when he wasn’t paying attention.

The limbo was the big highlight. They also pummeled a palm-tree pinata, but I didn’t get any photos of that.

Some of the members of the geocaching outfit Team Jackass decided they wanted to go beyond just searching for geocaches and get into the cache-hiding business. Jodie, Team Jackass’s resident genealogy buff, had been on a so-far-futile search for the burial plot of our great-great-grandfather on our Dad’s side, John Rogers, and suggested we stash the cache at the Old Amity Cemetery. If we could find it.

We found the cemetery. Well off the road in the countryside near Nashville, Ark. The cemetery is suffering from a bad case of the brambles due to a lack of regular upkeep. Jodie says the last burial there was probably in the 1920s. We found John Rogers’ grave toward the back. It’s one of the few stones remaining upright. Jodie and Katie found a place near the cemetery entrance to hide the cache.

For those unfamiliar with the geocaching thing, geocaches are small packets of trinkets and log books hidden around the countryside. The geographic coordinates of each cache are listed on a website. Participants go to the site and find caches in their area and then go looking for them. The easiest way is to use a GPS receiver to guide you to the coordinates, but you could do it with the proper paper maps if you feel the need to drive yourself crazy. Upon finding a cache you sign the log and check out the junk left in the package, usually a plastic box or film canister. If you take a trinket geocaching etiquette demands you leave something in its place. Jodie came up the genius idea to leave tiny plastic Jackasses in each find made by Team Jackass. I’m sure that finding a Team Jackass plastic jackass will soon become a badge of honor in the caching community.

After making a couple of finds in Nashville proper, we moved on to Old Washington State Park, where we finished out the day with a cache at the old courthouse and one at the Pioneer Cemetery.

Team Jackass is the star of a classic YouTube movie.

Experienced flower girl looking for additional gigs.

Dad and I stood a few dozen yards from the creek bank looking at the worse-for-wear ladder with the metal bucket hanging from it and speculated on how such a configuration might have come about. The ladder had been there for awhile for sure. Vines of what appeared to be poison ivy entwined along and around the two remaining rungs. It seemed obvious that the bucket came later and we remarked that it was somewhat interesting that the bucket hadn’t already been removed by some passerby. But it didn’t seem odd that the ladder and bucket were together. Painters famously use ladders and buckets simultaneously all the time. What was odd, however, was the location of the ladder and bucket. In the middle of nowhere. In the bottom of an Ozarks box canyon miles from the nearest road of any consequence. The bucket had a single bullet hole in it, so that might’ve been a clue. Dad expanded the scope and began describing the ancient ladders he had seen still hanging high in the cliffs of the Grand Canyon. Then we continued with our hike. In an epic episode of failing to put two and two together, we totally missed the significance of the bucket hanging from the ladder.

Twenty minutes later, as we stood watching and listening to the thunderous roar of the waterfall, it came to me. It wasn’t a realization in a blinding flash or one of those moments when all your jumbled thoughts coalesce into a single brilliant idea. No, it just seemed to be there in its same old place. I don’t why I didn’t notice it at the proper time.
“I know the significance of the ladder and bucket,” I said.
Dad gave me that what-hell-are-you-talking-about look that people give when they wonder what the hell you are talking about.
“There’s a ladder with a bucket on it,” I continued, putting particular emphasis on ladder and bucket.
Still nothing.
“The name of the waterfall,” I prompted.
Dad cracked up.
Ladderbucket Falls is the name given the waterfall by guide-book author Tim Ernst. The waterfall guide book gives no explanation of how the waterfall got its name. I guess Tim meant for that to remain a surprise.

Saturday was a perfect day for waterfall photos, overnight heavy rain with rain continuing through much of the morning. We left Little Rock at 6:30 a.m. and arrived at the “trailhead” a couple hours later on John Mountain in the Ozark National Forest near Scotland.

The hike in to the waterfall, per the guidebook, is pretty much downhill except for a level section in the middle. The last part of the hike is extremely steep and there’s no established trail. However, the ATV trail mentioned in the guidebook is actually a somewhat decent logging road on the ridge above the waterfall canyon. A jeep or 4-wheel-drive shouldn’t have any trouble on it, but you’d have to find where it starts. Driving that road would knock off about three-quarters of the hike.

The water fall was running full tilt and is one of the best falls I’ve visited in the state. Definitely worth the steep hike.

The trail skirts the very top of the drainage containing Ladderbucket Falls and a good bit of water ran across the trail there. We could hear rushing water below so we dropped off the trail. After scrambling down a steep incline we found this huge overhang with a decent waterfall running over it. This fall is indicated on the map in the guide book, but isn’t named. We decided to call it Deer Cave Falls based on the profusion of deer tracks we found back under the rock.

We made our way back up to the trail/road and had a pleasant level hike for a mile or so through a designated logging area before dropping off the ridge top and into the woods. As we were making the final descent into the bottom of the canyon we caught a glimpse of a bear near the creek. He had obviously seen us and was making tracks upstream. It was smallish, maybe a cub from last spring. He headed in the direction we were going and we got very vigilant in the fear that a larger bear could be lurking. We came across several rotting logs with extensive bear damage.

We also came across several rare morel mushrooms. I don’t eat mushrooms and it had never occurred to me to look for these. I understand they are highly sought after in the springtime.

Near the beginning of the logging trail we came across this fantastic piece of illegal-dump art.

I fancy myself an aficionado of small-town-independent-dining establishments, so on the way home we stopped at the Overcup Diner for a late lunch. The place is a prime example of shabby-roadside-diner chic in the tiny berg of Overcup on Highway 9. We walked in and blanched at the condition and emptiness of the place. But it was 3 p.m., well after the lunch rush, so I thought that might be the reason for the dearth of customers. Sitting down one of the well-worn tables. we whispered serious concerns to each other about whether this place could serve edible food. Playing it safe, we both ordered burgers and fries. I stared literally gaped-mouthed when the waitress set down one of the loveliest cheeseburgers I’ve ever seen, complete with gourmet-style bun. Only the presence of the hated Krinkle Kut™ fires kept me from giving it my full endorsement. The eatery’s sign especially intrigued me. To increase nightime visibility, they’d clamped two of those portable work lights to the sign and powered them with common extension cords.

Bellies full and clothes muddied, we headed back to civilization.

No real good reason for the title of this post, except for this.

Saturday didn’t promise to provide optimum conditions for waterfall photography, but I went out anyway. I had not given Schoolhouse Falls serious consideration, despite its being relatively close to my house, because Time Ernst’s description in his waterfall book is not exactly glowing. That was a mistake.

The hike in is vertical but short and the Schoolhouse Hollow has a beautiful creek in the bottom with lots of interesting geology and topography. The light was pretty bright and contrasty and it hadn’t rained in a few days, which had me expecting just a hike and very little photography. Once I got down to the creek I found more water than I expected and thin layer of clouds taking some of the edge off the harsh light.

Schoolhouse turned out to be one of the most photogenic waterfalls I’ve ever seen. It has a decent look to the pattern of the water and it isn’t shrouded in trees. A nice-size ledge runs around behind the fall so it’s possible to get several different perspectives. A lot of our waterfalls have only one or two decent angles to shoot because of trees or topography. Schoolhouse offers practically 360 degrees of shooting locations, plus that ledge provides additional options. I was shooting at f/22 and the very lowest ISO setting on my camera, both of which are rumored to impact image quality. Additionally, I was using my new cheapo Rokinon 14mm lens, which can’t be used with filters. So no ND or polarizer filters to tame the light levels. The upshot of all this is that I could barely muster a slow enough shutter speed to blur the water. I knew I would probably have to do some HDR processing so I shot brackets of everything. These first and third photos are HDR efforts. I’m not the best HDR artist in the world, but I used HDR Efex Pro 2 and I think they came out all right. I’m definitely going to hit this waterfall again when we get some wet and cloudy conditions.

A neato slot in the rock ledge upstream feeds this little fall. The fall itself is only 4 feet tall but I was struck by the look of the plunge pool.

This map shows all the waterfalls in the latest Tim Ernst waterfalls book. Click a marker and pop-up will appear with the waterfall’s stats. This is a fairly primitive Web app and it won’t do some things it really should, like label the waterfall markers. I’ll keep working on it.

View Larger Map

Easter

Caught a flying squirrel in the attic. It died before we could release him.

Bridal Veil falls near Heber Springs

Disgracefully neglected bust of Wilbur Mills at Greers Ferry Lake.

Pano of Cedar Falls in Petit Jean State Park.

I loves me some jonquils/daffodils. I think it has to do with my dislike of winter and these flowers being the first real sign of spring every year. I also love the wacky festivals with their weirdo crap for sale and the great people watching. So we hit one of our favorites a couple weekends ago: the Jonquil Festival at Old Washington State Park.

I rented a high-dollar lens, the Nikon 16-35mm f/4, so I could see how the other half lives. It was the first time I’ve ever shot a gold-band lens and, from the technical point of view of image quality, those damn things can make you lose your mind and end up spending a bunch of money against your common sense. Unfortunately, we were at the festival at the worst time of day for photography and the skies were cloudless and the sun strong. So I didn’t bring home what I would consider great photos, but they are damn sharp from corner to corner. I was looking to get some shots of Abby in the festival namesake flowers, which are everywhere of course, but she got sucked into the vortex of bouncy houses and I didn’t see her for most of the day. The festival went all out on the bouncy houses this year. There were four of them and Abby got herself a day pass to use them all. While Gina kept the bouncy-house vigil, I wandered around the grounds. This particular festival is especially nice because it’s in a state park that’s a partially restored historic antebellum town. There’s a lot of building tours and interesting historical sights.

I stopped by the blacksmith demonstration and caught this guy’s concert of the porch of the blacksmith shop where the Bowie knife was invented.

Then I ambled down to the Pioneer Cemetery to check out the fabulously old tombstones. I was once told that some relations of mine were buried there, but I couldn’t remember their names or the details of their connection to Washington.

The tractor/car show field is always good for some overcompensating patriotic displays.

The music tent had a pretty good crowd on hand to see this group playing some Darling-family style acoustic jams. I should’ve requested “Never Hit Your Grandma With A Great Big Stick.”

I met back up with the girls in the dusty food-vendor lot where I witnessed the genius Bucket O’ Fries people do their thing.

On our way out, Abby insisted on getting something from the vendor who sells these branch sculptures. I wanted to buy this wooden stringer of fish as a gift for somebody, but the price was pretty steep. Abby got a wooden miniature turkey. God only knows why.

We went out for the now-traditional birthday dinner at Shogun for Gina’s birthday. This year we had a big crowd attending. I realize Gina’s not in the picture, but this was a funny moment and it gave me a chance to make one of those new-fangled animated GIFs that all the kids are talking about.

Back before digital, photography frustrated the hell out of me. It’s an expensive hobby and I was poor back then, so I didn’t have very good cameras or lenses. And there was the whole buying film and paying for processing and prints. On top of the expense, it took a few years for me to finally figure out that film processing and printing at Wal-Mart or the drugstore or even a dedicated photography lab was notoriously unreliable. It all became too much for me and I pretty much gave up on pursuing photography as a hobby and turned to golf. I did shoot a lot film for the podunky newspapers I worked for in the ’90s but that was mostly recording news events. The technical and artistic quality of the photo was well down on the priority list. Plus it was impossible to get decent reproduction on a newspaper press, so I didn’t sweat the details too much. When I got a DSLR back in 2007 I learned more about photography in a year than I had learned in the previous 20 years just because of the sheer amount of photos you can shoot and the instantaneous feedback on the back of the camera. I got it in my head that I could put that knowledge to use and go back and conquer my film demons. But I wanted to shoot something larger than 35mm. Film equipment is now very cheap compared to 10-15 years ago, so I had several realistic options in medium-format equipment. The medium format frame is four times larger than a 35 mm frame. All things being equal, that translates into better quality because it doesn’t have to be enlarged as much as 35mm. It seemed pretty cool to me. I ended up going with the cheapest option, though, because it’s the coolest looking: the twin lens reflex. The version I got is the YashicaMat 124G. It had been recently overhauled and is in great working order.

I bought five rolls of portrait negative film and five rolls of slide film for non-people shooting. I got Abby and Gina out in the backyard and plugged my new camera into a flash and went to it. I had to get the correct exposure by using my digital camera, which is probably more work than using a hand-held flash meter, but I don’t have one of those. Abby was totally uncooperative that day, so the content isn’t very good, but I learned a bit about how the camera handles the exposure and focus settings. I found out that getting medium-format film developed is not that easy. Bedford’s Camera said they could do it in their North Little Rock store and allowed as how it would be cool to use the machine for the first time in nobody knew how long. I didn’t like the sound of that, so I went with the recommendation of the mighty Ken Rockwell and sent my film off to California. It only took a week for the film to come back.

It took a another month to finish off that first roll. It turns out you become very selective when cost rises in proportion to the number of shots you take instead of the other way around. (That’s not exactly true. If you include the cost of the camera and the computer and the software required to shoot digital, it’s probably a wash when it’s all said and done. Although, you’ll have about 6 million more photos.) I loaded up a roll of Velvia slide film and it took me seven months to shoot that entire roll.

I can see the technical problems with my film, which could probably be largely mitigated by the use of filters on the lens, but I’m not sure I want to go to the trouble of finding the obscure accessories that fit this particular camera, which haven’t been made for 30 years or so. Additionally, another factor is the scanning, which is a subjective thing just like printing or finishing in Photoshop. I really don’t think I want to get off deep in the weeds with film shooting. It’s just a hobby after all. The YashicaMat is fun to shoot. It’s a got huge ground-glass finder and I kinda like the square format. I also like how selective I am when I shoot it. I’ll look at something I want to shoot and really try to see it as a photograph. Most of the time it looks crappy and I don’t trip the shutter. (I realize that most of the time when I do trip the shutter the real photo also looks crappy. Imagine the ones I didn’t take. Imagine the ones I took but didn’t include on the blog.) The exposed slide film itself is beautiful. I’ve never shot positive film before and didn’t really realize that the film would be worth looking at just as you would look at a print. Especially when the frames are nearly as large as a standard print from Wal-Mart.

I love this bit of graffito. Too many of your modern graffiti perpetrators see themselves as artists. Almost all of it is angular and impossible to interpret. Unless you’re a current gang member, I guess. Nearly all of it is derivative and boring. But this simple message on a bridge piling hearkens back to the day when spray painting public structures was simple vandalism, which today makes it a piece of art that provides a statement about the present. Really, I’m serious.