Suddenly it’s November and the nights get below freezing and sunset is at 5 p.m. The trees and shrubs retreat around us and we have holidays about death.

Sadly I missed most of those holidays, just catching the tail-end of a Halloween event in Fayetteville’s square, then wandering around Springdale for a few hours in an unsuccessful search for a little Day of the Dead action.

That’s OK, though. Springdale had other attractions: a man who had no concern with me taking his picture while his car was repaired, a high school choir concert and a series of strikingly geometric store fronts.

I always love taking pictures of groups of people right before their group portraits. Instead of a dozen of the same face, the mask is gone, and you can see a dozen different facial expressions, with their focus inward and outward and somewhere in the middle.

One last thing this weekend: shooting a few photos for a pair of acquaintances, Taylor and Jess, who are in a relationship together. It was sort of an impromptu favor to give them some photos for their families. That earlier sunset I mentioned gave us about an hour of gorgeous light, while Lake Fayetteville and these two provided the scenery and cheesy sweetness.

Thanks for looking,

Dan