Fort Smith National Cemetery – Candlelight Vigil

This is a follow up to my last post, featuring the Wreaths Across America Program at the National Cemetery in Fort Smith.  Monday Dec. 14, they held a candlelight vigil to honor the those who have given their lives to provide the freedoms we enjoy in our beloved Nation.  These are a few shots from that vigil.

Fort Smith National Cemetery – Wreaths Across America

Today Dec. 12, 2009 citizens of Fort Smith honored the servicemen and women of our community, who have made the ultimate sacrifice for nation. Family, friends and volunteers transformed the Fort Smith National Cemetery by placing one wreath on each of the 12,000 headstones in their honor.

The “Christmas Honors” was derived from Wreaths Across America where as part of the program, the Arlington National Cemetery’s gravesites are decorated every Christmas season with wreaths with red ribbons to honor those who have given their lives to provide the freedoms we enjoy in our beloved Nation. The cemetery is transformed into a vision of beauty, and the families of those buried at Arlington take comfort in seeing the respect that is shown to their grandfathers, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends and other fallen heroes who so loved our Country.

In addition, there will be a candlelight vigil at 5:30 p.m.  Monday, Dec. 14 for friends, family and our community.

Photo Exhibit – Arkansas River Valley Nature Center

For the month of November I will be having an exhibit at the Janet Huckabee River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith.

The exhibit will consist of 12 Gallery Wrap Giclee prints on canvas in varying sizes up 3′ x 5′.

Beside continued development of Iris prints, in the past few years, the word “giclée”, as a fine art term, has come to be associated with prints using fade resistant “archival” inks and the printers that use them. These printers use the CMYK color process but may have multiple cartridges for variations of each color that increases the apparent resolution and color gamut and allows smoother gradient transitions.

Why Canvas?

Canvas prints last a really long time, typical dye based inks will fade in only  a matter of months, while the archival pigment inks will offer up to 200 years depending on material used and proper storage.

Images printed on conventional paper pale in comparison to canvas prints, which have an heirloom quality.  Canvas prints become a fine piece of art, not just a snapshot.

Gallery wrap provide a print that is ready to hang and display without the need for matting and framing.  Canvas prints look more like original paintings but with the rich colors tonal depth and detail of a photograph, giving the best of both worlds.

The exhibit will run thru the month of November.

Mud Pit Racing – Poteau Oklahoma

Little boys like to play in the mud with their trucks, and big boys love to play in the mud with their trucks.

Mud pit racing, mud racing, mud running or simply muddin” is a form of off road racing in which the goal is to drive a vehicle through a pit of mud of a set length. Winners are determined by the distance traveled through the pit or, if several vehicles are able to travel the entire length, the time taken to traverse the pit.

This mud race was a part of the Poteau Balloon Fest held on Halloween weekend and sponsored by Team AIS Motorsports.

Hot Air Balloon Glow – Poteau Balloon Festival

The annual Poteau OK Balloon Festival was held on Halloween, and I attended to shoot the spectacle.  The photos here were taken during what is called a “balloon glow”.  A hot air balloon glow is when the balloons are set up and inflated at night or dusk, and the pilots light the inside of the balloon with the propane burner used to create the hot air that causes the balloons to fly.  The flames from the burner cause the colorful balloon envelopes to glow in the dark.  The balloons due not actually take off, so the pilots can only run the burner for a short time and then let it cool down to keep from lifting off.  The events now known as “balloon glows” were invented in Albuquerque in 1979, when local pilots inflated balloons on Christmas Eve night as a “thank you” to local residents.

Correction:  I received the following coment from Frank Capps.

“Not that it matters very much, but the Balloon Glow was “invented” by Dr. Bill Bussey in Longview, Texas at the Great Texas Balloon Race over 30 years ago.  It was done at the Longview Mall.  The mall still is a major contributor to the event and still sponsors the Balloon Glow. Albuquerque did not start their own Glow until the mid-80′s. I participated in the first Glow at the Balloon Fiesta.”

Thanks for the correct information.

Greg