Flanagan Prairie
April 17-18, 2004
It was about time I spent a Saturday at
home doing chores instead of going off on another adventure,
but by afternoon I had the entire yard weed-eaten and had done
eight loads of laundry, so I decided to reward myself with a
quick trip to practice some camera techniques. I'm going to a
Tim Ernst photography workshop next week and there are still
some basic things about close-up shots that I know almost
nothing about. Also, Cliff was under the impression we were
going hiking today and I didn't want to disappoint him too
much.
There are a couple of tracts of prairie
land near Charleston that are protected thanks to the Arkansas
Natural Heritage Commission. I
thought these might be good spots for some spring wildflowers
and maybe a sunset photo. We arrived at Flanagan Prairie about
20 minutes before sundown. While it wasn't exactly an ocean of
wildflowers, there were lots of little yellow Wingstem daisies
and some orange Indian Paintbrush here and there. I rushed to
get some shots while there was still light, and Cliff ran off
in search of prairie dogs! I didn't have the heart to tell him
there weren't any.
I also found some patches of tiny yellow
Buttercups low to the ground. While I was trying to shoot them,
Cliff found a ladybug nearby and wanted me to get a picture of
it too. We were robbed of a nice sunset by some thick clouds
right on the horizon so we headed back home early.
I returned early the next morning for
another try. There was just enough breeze to move all the
flowers around and make it impossible to photograph them, but I
did get to witness a great sunrise.
