Hot Air Balloon Festival, Butterflies and Elk...

Just got back from a long day's trip to Harrison that began @ 4:30AM. I traveled to Harrison to today to photograph the Arkansas Hot Air Balloon Festival. I took pics at this event last year and had a great time so I wanted to do shoot this again this year. The weather didn't cooperate as well but the balloons did get to fly both in the morning and evening. No one grabbed the key this morning to win the $10,000 prize.

After the balloon race was over @ 8:30AM, I traveled to Branson with a few friends and we ended up at the Butterfly Palace. We took lots of pics and had a lot of fun.

From the Butterfly Palace, we traveled south to Ponca to photograph elk. We saw two different herds in the fields around Ponca but most of them were too far out to photograph. There was one real nice 6x6 bull in the bunch.

After shooting the elk, we went back to Harrison to watch the final balloon race of the evening before heading home.

Had a great day. I got some good pics and video. Now I'm ready for a nap...but I have editing to do...

New site in the works

I'm currently working on overhauling both my websites (jasoncrader.com and arkansasphoto.com). When I'm finished, I'll only have one site (www.jasoncrader.com). I'm going to display both my portrait and nature work on this site. I plan to use this blog extensively from here on out to post current information about my photography business. Check back soon for news on my updated website.

Canada Goose and Gosling

I recently photograhed this pair and lots of other geese on a recent photo trip to Arkansas Post. Went in search of alligators and found lots of geese and goslings. I wonder how many of these goslings become alligator food???

Workshop update

The workshop Ernie and I hosted today at Pinnacle Mountain State Park went very well. Thanks to all of our participants. We look forward to having another very soon. Check the site out in the coming days for more details.

National Wildlife 39th Annual Photo Competition

I received the information below in an email earlier this week from John Nuhn, the editor of National Wildlife magazine. He asked me to pass this along to my readers, so I'm doing so. I encourage all of you to participate in this wonderful contest.

INFO:

It’s time again for National Wildlife’s Photo Contest. The magazine invites you to enter your favorite images in its 39th annual competition.

This is its biggest contest ever: Cash prizes totaling $25,000 plus other gifts will be awarded to winners in Professional, Amateur and Youth divisions, including $5,000 each for two grand prize winners, one professional and one amateur. You can submit as many as 20 images in any combination of the following seven categories:

Birds: portraits and behavior
Mammals: portraits and behavior
Other Wildlife: portraits and behavior (includes underwater life, reptiles, amphibians, insects and more)
Backyard Habitats: wild creatures, native plants and natural settings in your yard
Landscapes and Plant Life: scenic views and native plants in wild settings
Connecting People and Nature: people enjoying the outdoors
Global Warming and Wildlife: portraits and behavior of specific species affected by global warming (complete list of species at http://www.nwf.org/photozone/categories.cfm).

● $25,000 in Cash Prizes
● Two $5,000 Grand Prizes
● Pro, Amateur and Youth Divisions
● Submit up to 20 Photos
● 7 Categories
● Free One-Year NWF Membership and
Subscription to National Wildlife

The deadline for all submissions is July 20, 2009. For more details about the categories, the rules, how to submit your photos and other information, go to http://www.nwf.org/photozone/enterphotocontest.cfm.