Sometimes
you have to just figure that the Great Creator fixed something especially for
you to see and experience. I know
most of my readers feel that way. Chances are you have felt His attention at some time or another in your
life, maybe lots of times. The
more time you spend outdoors alone, in a natural world, the more you tend to
feel that way.
Time
was when I was young, I just lived to catch or kill something. A big fish, an unusual waterfowl
species, a rooster pheasant or wild gobbler, I just couldn’t wait to get
something wild and beautiful in my hands. When I did, I just couldn’t stop
looking at it and marveling at the beauty of wild things.
A
lot of that longing to hunt and fish and explore was my heritage, my ancestors
didn’t raise much stock to eat, wild meat was important. I never thought anything would replace
a rod and reel or a shotgun and rifle in my hands.
But
that new Nikon camera I bought a few weeks back is something I intend to shoot
a great deal more than my old model 12 Winchester. I got it out of the package, remembering my first camera
when I went to work for the Arkansas Democrat newspaper just out of college as
their ‘outdoor editor’. It was a
big heavy black box which took only black and white pictures.
The
first month I was there, I won a little award of some kind for a photo I
took. I nearly wore that thing
out, and I still have some of the square negatives in my files that it created.
When
I went to work as a naturalist for the state of Arkansas a year later, I bought
a 35 mm Pentax camera that indeed took color photos in the form of slide
transparencies. The state couldn’t
afford a camera for me but they did pay for film and developing. I kept
duplicates and I now have a few thousand old slides and prints that camera gave
me. I have added to that hundreds
and hundreds of color prints and when I want to find a certain photo, it my
take hours to run it down.
I
sold hundreds of photos to magazines when I finally became a full time outdoor
writer, and I think I sold more than 40 cover photos for various magazines. I learned that understanding the
technology of a camera wasn’t as important as just knowing what would make a
photo, and being out there where you could see things not normally seen. There was indeed money to be made from
selling photos, but not only that, if you sent an article to Outdoor Life or
Field and Stream, you had a much better chance of selling it if really good
photos came with it.
I
have never been more than an amateur
photographer but my cameras have been
professional, and this new one is something spectacular. I am going to have to find someone to
help me with the instruction book to ever find out how to completely understand
it.
So
three or four days ago, I just took a little walk down one of my trails to
practice with it. Now remember
that I have written recently about yellow-billed cuckoos, which are known as
rain crows to us country folks. I
have been here on Lightning’ Ridge for 25 years and never had a clear view of
one, although each summer they nest up here, staying high in the foliage of big
trees, as if they are trying to hide.
You see one for a second and then they are gone.
Walking
down that trail with the camera and two lenses, a rain crow flew down and lit
on a cedar limb I had trimmed along the trail. I brought up the camera and tried to see him through the
lens. Nothing. The lens cover was still on! I took it off, and just chose a setting
on the camera I thought would work, and clicked a couple of quick photos.
Too
far—then I remembered the telephoto lens in my pack and my shaky fingers worked
to find the way to push the right buttons to change them. I knew it was not going to work. He could see me so well, just 15 or 20
yards away. But somehow I got the
telephoto lens on, found him in the viewfinder and began to click the
shutter. That rain
crow sat there for at least five minutes, turning his head to give me different
shots, acting as if he was modeling for me. When he flew away, I headed for my office; so happy my feet
scarcely touched the trail. I
stuck the little card in the computer and there were the very first photos my
new camera gave me… spectacular
shots of a rain crow, something I thought I would never ever get.
I
really am inspired by those photos, and such a rare opportunity, and sometime
in the future I am going to find my best 100 photos, taken over 45 years as a
naturalist and outdoor writer, and publish them, with a page of information
about what each one is and where it was taken. I think it will make a good book, because if there is a
photo of a bird or animal or whatever, I don’t intend to just tell the facts
about that creature that you can find in a dozen books, but I want to tell the
story of my own experiences and observations and what I have learned that
hasn’t been printed on some internet account!
I
am not sure that better photos than I ever taken aren’t ahead, with this camera
I have. I am certainly going to be
spending a lot of time on the river and in the woods with it. That is the secret to getting good
photos, being where they are found as much as possible.
It
was only a short time ago that we obtained the ability to sell my magazines and
books over the phone via credit card.
I can’t do it, being computer illiterate, but my secretary can. Folks have been calling wanting
information about my ten books, and that is one thing I can do. We have made little sheets of info
about each one and I can mail you all of those if you would like. Just call and ask for those, 417 777
5227. You can email me at lightninridge@windstream.net or write
to me at Box 22, Bolivar, Mo 65613
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