Showing posts with label Hope Johnstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hope Johnstone. Show all posts

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Dreaming of a White Christmas


What a magical Christmas Eve it was...



I hope that everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas!

Thank you Hope, once again, for the amazing pictures.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Main Street Arkansas visits Siloam Springs

Photos by Hope Johnstone

This week, Siloam Springs received a visit from members of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program's Main Street Arkansas division. According to their website, the organization provides "technical assistance, design services and small business consultations that help create economic development in the state's downtown areas."
Susan Shaddox, Mark Miller and Greg Phillips from Little Rock were in town to meet with local downtown business owners and the Main Street Siloam Springs board to provide advice and strategic planning in order to help our historic downtown achieve its full potential.

Main Street Siloam Springs board members met on Tuesday evening, and afterwards a dinner was hosted by Todd and Shelley Simmons at their home. Thirty to forty board members and downtown business owners attended. The event was catered by Emelia's Kitchen, a Fayetteville restaurant that will be opening a new location this fall in Siloam Springs at the corner of Mount Olive and University.

Greg Phillips from Main Street Arkansas talks with Don Wardon, director of the Siloam Springs Museum.


Lovely lemon chicken from Emelia's Kitchen.


Bob Landsaw, a Main Street Siloam Springs board member, with Christina Drake, a realtor and owner of Local Flair Art Gallery.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

2009 Heritage Festival

Photos by Word on Main Street contributor
Hope Johnstone












Thank you, Hope, for your gorgeous photos and thorough coverage of the festival!

Monday, June 22, 2009

Disney's Beauty and the Beast

Photo by Hope Johnstone

The Sager Creek Arts Center is currently showing performances of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Janelle Sando and Jason Henson perform the title roles. Word on Main Street contributor Hope Johnstone attended Sunday's performance and said, "This talented cast not only filled their roles as each character but added an appropriate amount of whimsy."

Upcoming performances will take place on June 25, 26, and 27 at 7:00 pm, and Sunday, June 28 at 3:00 pm. Tickets are $15 for adults, and $12 for senior citizens, students and SCAC members. Tickets may be obtained by calling the Arts Center at 524-4000.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

News from The Cafe on Broadway

Photo by Kirk Demarais

Breaking News: The Cafe on Broadway has a new website! Designed by local designer and downtown Siloam Springs resident Vance Reeser
, the site offers any and all cafe information you could possibly need. The site is welcoming, charming and user-friendly, not unlike the cafe itself!

Harmony Johnstone, the cafe manager and chef extraordinaire, said that in the future, there will also be fun new features on the site, such as "Now Serving"- where photos of daily specials and baked goods, fresh from the oven, will be displayed. Just think, the next time Shelby, one of the cafe's incredible bakers, places a mango-ginger pie in the case, you can be first in line for a slice. Delightful!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Charles Alsheimer Photography Seminar

By "Word on Main Street" contributor Hope Johnstone

I had heard about this photography seminar last year from Ron Harp, who has an award winning deer head in his Edward Jones office downtown. This year, the Main Street board decided to hold an expo along with the photography seminar because Charles Alsheimer is an avid hunter as well as a published photographer and Siloam has a grand hunting population. As luck would have it, an anonymous donor purchased my ticket, and I was on my way to the seminar. I was so grateful because I knew this experience was going to inspire me.

On Saturday, April 18, I walked into Community Christian Fellowship for the seminar. I was greeted by at least twelve deer heads that were lined up on display. This made me laugh because I had contemplated wearing a shirt that said "I shoot photographs, not animals." Seeing that the best hunters in Siloam Springs would be at this event, I had decided against that attire. I greeted Ron Drake, who was setting up for the event along with some volunteers. He introduced me to Charles Alsheimer who gave a very firm handshake and introduced himself as "Charlie." He was very approachable. I could tell he was a pro at meeting new people.
His first question was, "What kind of camera do you use?"
"Digital," I replied, "but I'm taking a photography class right now and we use a manual." We went on to talk about tri-pods and mega pixels. I was impressed at how friendly he was.

I made my way into the small meeting room to find myself a chair. I've learned in school that a front row seat is my ticket to success. I walked slowly over to the front row and placed my bag on a seat close to the middle of the row. I ended up being the only person seated in the front row. However, I could hear the camera chatter going on around me and felt comfortable knowing that these people understood my love for taking photos.

Ron Harp stood up and introduced Charlie. Charlie came forward and stood in front of a projection screen and gave all his credit for taking wonderful photos to Jesus Christ. Charlie then took a seat next to a slide projector, and cautioned that digital projectors lose some of a photograph's sharpness. All the lights went out and we sat in darkness for a few seconds. I heard the loud click of the projector and instantly a beautiful image appeared on the screen. It was so peaceful to be in a room with twenty-five other people, who are completely silent, staring at a beautiful photograph.

Charlie took us through the basics of photography and guidelines to remember when we're out shooting pictures. Having a focal point, framing the focal point, angles and light. He showed us about fifty of his photos. Many were covers of magazines. It was interesting to learn how he changed his style of photography to accommodate magazines. After the seminar he opened the floor up for questions. Some asked about camera/lens types, another person asked Charles how he waits in the forest for hours until an animal approaches.
I sheepishly raised my hand and asked, "So once we've taken the photos, what do we do with them?"
He responded, "Be sure to save them in two locations!"
He told an anecdote of how he loads his photos onto his computer, then onto an external hard drive, and once a week he copies his external hard drive onto another external hard drive that he keeps at a separate location. He also said that if you want to send photos to magazines or print companies (cards, calendars, etc), that you cannot send the same picture to different companies. I was appreciative of his answers.

After the seminar, I walked out to my car. It had just rained, and I couldn't keep my eyes from looking all around. I was searching for the greatest angle of the parking lot, then on my drive home I would look down streets and think of everything Charlie had said and attempt to visualize the best angle in my mind. Its a wonder I didn't drive off the road! Thank goodness I only live a mile from the church. This seminar was very educational and inspirational. I didn't think I would appreciate a deer expo as much as I did.
photo by Hope Johnstone