Our new life in the Ozarks: July 2014

This is me setting up a shot on Pettit Jean Mountain on the first trip to Arkansas that Penny and I made together .

(Note the red hair !! Now it's all gray ....)

And what a view !!
This was when Penny was still falling in love with a "mountain man" .... and she could be convinced to sit out on bluff edges .... with a crack in the rock .... that could separate at any moment . She is much wiser now ..... I still do that kind of stuff though !

My first camera ever ! A Kodak 110 Instamatic . I still have some of the pictures that I took with it .

My next camera was this Minolta Freedom 50 . It was a real step up , as it has a built in flash and auto focus .
I took a lot of photos with it .

My next step up came in the form of this Kodak digital . I loved it because there was no more sending film off to have it developed . It featured a real zoom lens ........ I was big time now !

The back side .....

For my next camera , I wanted something compact that would slip into a pocket and be handy for my on the go lifestyle . This little Kodak sported 7 MP, a zoom lens, and would fit into a shirt pocket . It is a great camera .... I still have it . It has recently been designated as my "stay in the truck camera" to have handy for when I see a cool shot when I am driving.

Along about Christmas last year , I was wanting to up the game in the camera department , and wound up buying this Samsung digital . I have learned a tremendous amount about photography while I have explored its many features. It takes great pictures , has 18x Zoom lens , shoots HD video and is still small enough to fit into a pocket , or a side pocket of a backpack .

After only owning the Samsung for 6 months , my insatiable appetite for a camera with more features has led me to order this Panasonic model. It has a super zoom 60x lens , and the ability to shoot exposures as long a 60 seconds ... which is great for night time photography. It is MUCH larger than all my other cameras , and my appetite for better, more creative photos has finally outweighed my usual pocket size frame camera that I have always stuck with . I am going to be the guy tramping through the woods with a camera bag and tripod , as well as a backpack .
This series is called a "bridge" camera , as it bridges the gap between smaller point and shoot cameras , and the professional DSLR cameras the pros use . I think this will do everything I need , and is about 25% the cost of a Pro DSLR camera .

Here is my latest camera buy ... A Canon G16 . It has a host of features usually only found in higher end DSLR cameras . I tried an Olympus DSLR for a couple months , and it shot fine pictures , but it was too bulky for my use with all the lens and accessories needed for it. This Canon is still pocketable and can shoot ISO's at high as 12,500 ! It has built in star time lapse mode which I am excited about as well . Click ... click .... click

Stay tuned for more good photography and videos !

Sorry for the image quality of the video .... it is really great in HD format.

It is summertime in the Ozarks .... time for fun and sightseeing. I had a few extra days off from work , so Penny and I decided to use one of them for a road trip over to the Ponca area in the Buffalo River upper wilderness area . It is a great area to visit , and was one of the first areas I ever visited in my youth , which started my longing to live in Northern Arkansas. The Buffalo has been declared a National River and is protected from developments and is a popular float stream for canoes ( It's time to go again!) .

On the journey over , we stopped at Penny's favorite flea market store , the "Junk-Shun" in Harrison. We didn't find any major scores today , but had a good time browsing anyway . After that we headed to Harrison and had lunch at Wendy's along with 350 (!) children from a church vacation bible school . We then left town and headed south to the mountains .... my favorite part of the day !

Once down in the Ozarks , I settled in to my routine of gawking at mountains , rivers and trees and snapping pictures of anything interesting . I finished up with a dip in the Buffalo River at the Ponca low water bridge area which was GREAT !

Enjoy the pictures !

A short slideshow of the Bull Shoals fireworks celebration .