Articles
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1. "The Eye of the Beholder" by Clem Wehner
2. "The Biggest Lie in Advertising" by Larry Foster
3. "ZOOFARI- The Real Story" by Clem Wehner
4. "The Sin of Laziness" by Larry Foster
5. "Thoughts on Beauty and Facial Portraits" by Carol Ann Dwyer
6. "Images of a Safari" by Clem Wehner
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“The Eye of the Beholder”
By Clem Wehner
(reprinted with permission from the PPO magazine, The Oklahoma Photographer, Winter 2007 issue)
“Did you enter some prints?, he said. “Oh no, I’m not good enough for competition”, she said. Twenty minutes later at the PPO convention, I overheard two different people, “Did you bring a print case? This prompted a discouraged reply “No, what’s the point? The same people get the high scores all the time anyway”. I thought back to last month when someone asked me for advice on entering print competition. They were concerned about not being “good enough”, and the rejection that comes from pouring your heart into something only to have it dismissed without comment, except for those devastating words, “76”.
Though I made a “D” in a miserable statistics class eons ago, I did learn one thing--even a small sample can be remarkably representative of a much larger group. Three observations of similar concerns about print competition in my small world in a short time surely must mean there are lots more people with the same thoughts.
The advice I gave the person who asked me, is to understand the purpose of print competition. It’s not to get high points (though it must feel really good judging by the giggling when someone gets them). It’s not about the points, it’s about the process. Get involved in the shooting, tweaking, learning, tweaking some more, and getting ready to enter, because of what you learn in the process. It’s how you grow as a photographer, how your eye becomes more educated, how you learn to critique your own work, what you learn about the elements of good photography and how to apply them. You’ll learn to really “see” like never before. The more you go through the process of preparing for competition, the better you’ll become as a photographer and the more your business will benefit. Keep your eye on the prize—it’s learning, not points.
We’ve all had the experience of looking back at some of our earlier photography and thinking how horrible it looked. The same will be true one day of your print competition entries. If you enter often, you’ll see yourself improving steadily, regardless of the points. Remember, points are fickle lovers. We’ve all seen prints that scored low at one competition hit the jackpot at another. The best approach is to force yourself to not get overly concerned with the points, but to realize the real objective is the learning process that comes with competing. There is a reason the best photographers seem to get all the points. But, they didn’t start out that good, and neither can you.
Remember, the true value of competition is NOT in the eye of the beholder of your images, but what happens inside of you.
Clem Wehner, January 2008
(Note: Clem writes an article for each issue of the PPO magazine. See "Clem's Corner" in the next issue)
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THE BIGGEST LIE IN ADVERTISING
by Larry Foster
We've all been there - the advertising sales person across from you is turning up the heat and moving in for the close. "So how much do you get from a portrait/wedding?" You reply proudly with a number and they reply, "well then, you can pay for this ad with one portrait/wedding." And you feel resistance slip away while the sales person plans how to spend their commission. Let's take a better look at this lie that will cost you money.
Let's assume that you have fixed expenses of $100, that the ad is $100 and that your cost of goods is 30%.
If you have no income and you have no sessions and you did not take out the ad your month looks like this:
| Income | $0.00 |
| Expenses | ($100.00) |
| Net Profit (Loss) | ($100.00) |
If you take out the ad and you get that one session of $100 that "pays for the ad", your month looks like this:
| Income | $100.00 |
|
Expenses
Fixed 100.00 Ad 100.00 Lab Costs 30.00 |
($230.00) |
| Net Profit (Loss) | ($130.00) |
Nice. You lost more money because you took out the ad and got the one session “that would pay for the ad”.
What if you have two sessions? Your month would look like this:
| Income | $200.00 |
|
Expenses
Fixed 100.00 Ad 100.00 Lab Costs 60.00 |
($260.00) |
| Net Profit (Loss) | ($60.00) |
We’re making progress, but we’re not making a profit.
It will take another session to break even.
| Income | $300.00 |
|
Expenses
Fixed 100.00 Ad 100.00 Lab Costs 90.00 |
($290.00) |
| Net Profit (Loss) | $10.00 |
Congratulations! You made a profit. Notice, however, it took three sessions to generate a profit from one ad. The statement of “it only takes one session/wedding to pay for the ad” is a lie because it does not take into account the additional expenses associated with producing the product. It also does not take into account the fact that advertising must generate sufficient income to pay for everything else in the business - lights, phone, equipment and hopefully a salary.
Let's say you have fixed overhead of $1000 and $1000 salary and 20% cost of goods. Breakeven occurs at $3125
| Income | $3125.00 |
|
Expenses
Fixed $1000.00 Salary $1000.00 Advertising $500.00 Lab Costs $615.00 |
($3125.00) |
| Net Profit (Loss) | $0.00 |
Observe how it took six times the cost of the advertising to break even.
Advertising is an investment - it must make more than you pay for it. It needs to generate three or more times the amount paid for it. I like to use multiples of 4-6. If an ad doesn't generate 4-6 times what I pay for it, I go looking for better media.
Larry Foster, November 2007
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ZOOFARI- The Real Story
by Clem Wehner
The television news cameras were waiting when we were escorted out of the zoo. After being held for over two hours against our will, we were led by security officials through the front gate of the Oklahoma City Zoo. They were happy to be rid of us. Through the exit turnstile we went, heads hung low, smiling as best we could at the news teams waiting for us on the other side. Like prisoners on a chain gang, we walked in single file—Wayne, Barbara, Fran, Clem, Dennis, Ellie, Vinny, Paulette, and let’s not forget Meghan. She had been a problem alright, having slipped away when no one was looking during our impoundment. But the security people found her near the tiger’s cage. They quickly marshaled her to the front of the zoo and out the gate with the rest of us. While the TV cameras recorded our every move for the evening news, a hundred onlookers outside the gates, a mob almost, stared and wondered how seemingly nice people like us had gotten into this situation. It was almost a heartbreaking story. A few onlookers shook their heads, and some glared in frustration. Karen Moore and her granddaughter were among those peering at us through the bars of the fence.
It all started nearly 3 hours before when nine of us showed up for the MPPA Zoofari. It was to be a glorious day of photographing wildlife on a Photography Guild outing. Into the zoo we went, without a hitch, without a care, unaware of what was about to be. We even got in free just for bringing a pumpkin bigger than our head. Seriously! We strolled past the elephants munching hay, saw the rhinos wallowing in the mud, stopped to see the little hippo hippo-ing along. The animals were all out enjoying the day as much as we, blissfully unaware of the violence that was about to begin. We walked slowly, chatting, shooting, and just reveling in the wonderfully cool fall morning air. We stayed together enjoying each other’s company and the joy of being with friends and doing something we love. Not far down the path we spotted the lions who posed majestically for us. We took magnificent images—competition prints for sure. This was going to be great fun. We were so glad to have come.
Then it happened. Somewhere nearby two chimpanzees got to arguing, screeches were exchanged, ugly gestures were made, more yelling at each other, more waving arms in almost obscene gestures. One chimp pushed the other, that one pushed back, and it escalated from there. The first chimp pushed again, this time harder, and the other one fell into the moat. That made him really mad. That’s when our day started to unravel.
A zoo official quickly spotted us and directed us into a nearby building We were told to stay there until the chimp could be caught. How hard could that be? We’d know the answer to that nearly 4 hours later. It’s not easy to catch a monkey, especially one that’s PO’ed about getting thrown into the moat. Oh, excuse me, they’re chimps, not monkeys. Meghan had to keep reminding me. As she said, "chimps are smart", and that was part of the problem. Under the watchful eye of our guard, we could hear the walkie-talkies blaring. “ Give him some food”, “We’ve almost got him”, “He’s got the grapefruit!”, “Darn, he got away again”. What’s the big deal?, we asked. The zoo guy watching us, explained that the moat is the final containment feature keeping the wild animals from getting to us. Having a wild animal breach the moat is serious because of the danger to us and to the animals. Oh, in that case, let’s just sit here and have a nice chat among ourselves. It was a nice time. We stayed together and talked about all sorts of things. We never get to just sit and visit.
In the meantime, the chimp was eluding capture again and again. They’re tricky little guys. As time wore on, we also learned about Mother Nature in the wild. She has no patience and she was reminding us. We convinced our host that we were going to revert to more instinctive behavior in the bushes if he didn’t get us to a restroom. So off we went following our leader, actually going over a river and through the woods. No kidding, we really did. That’s when Meghan was discovered missing. A zoo search party was sent back to find her.
After a rest stop, we were in a much better mood and were offered a chance to leave the park. Lunch sounded like a really good idea about then and became our new goal for the day. After all, they didn’t need us tying up resources who could be helping catch the chimp. I’ll bet he was having a high old time by then, probably having gotten over being tossed into the moat.
So that’s how we ended up at the front gate. There were people trying to get into the zoo, but the zoo was closed. That’s how there came to be all those people wondering how we got in and why we were being escorted out. That’s why the news cameras were there. This was a pretty good story for a Sunday morning on a slow news weekend. In actuality, the zoo personnel were really great to us and were most gracious. They had a lot more fun watching us taking pictures of each other than the poor folks chasing the chimp through the bushes.
So off we went to lunch together for more fellowship and lots of laughing about our day at the zoo waiting for the “monkey business” to end. We didn’t get in a lot of shooting, but we did have fun, and we became even better friends than we were before. You should have been there.
Clem Wehner, October 2007
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2. "Common Sense Business Financial Management" by Clem Wehner
THE SIN OF LAZINESS
by Larry Foster
Several years ago I was attending Texas school and during a break in the class I was talking shop with one of my fellow students. She mentioned she photographed all her weddings with one on-camera flash. She continued, "The bride doesn't know the difference anyway." Comments like that cause the hair to stand up on the back of my neck, and I start making guttural noises similar to what my dog makes when the UPS truck pulls in the driveway. It's not her assessment of the bride's visual education that bothers me. Unfortunately, that assessment is probably quite accurate. It is the underlying attitude she has toward her customer that I find disturbing.
Let's look at this from the other perspective. Sometime ago I hired an electrician to install a new circuit in my house. The night before he came, did I get the city code book out and study wire gauge and electrical load specifications? Did I buy a self-help book to learn the proper technique to run wire through a second story floor? Did I go on the Web to investigate the differences between copper and aluminum wiring? No. I did none of these things. I hired a professional and had complete confidence in his ability to the job.
When we hire a professional, we expect three things from them. We expect them to do the job correctly, we expect them to do the job right, and we expect them to do the job to the best of their ability. Let's look at these one at a time. We expect them to do the job correctly. We expect that they will do the job to the standards of the industry, using better equipment and greater skill than we possess. We expect our plumbers to use the right pipe, our electricians to use the right wire and our accountants to use the right procedures. Have you ever hired a professional and when evaluating their finished job said, “I could have done better myself?” We expect more because they are a “professional”.
We expect them to do the job right - as in morally or honestly right. We expect them to fix the problem, to not "invent" new problems and to give us sound advice. I remember years ago I had one of those prepaid car care booklets at a national chain. Amazing that every time I took my car in for the “free” service, they would always find something else that needed repair. It’s no wonder they’re no longer in business. I have a much better mechanic now. I asked him to look at my daughter’s car one time. "I wouldn't fix it if it was my car", my mechanic replied. "Just keep an eye on it." He could have just as easily said it "had to be done" and charged me $1500.
We expect the professionals we hire to do their job to the best of their abilities. We expect our cars, our air conditioners and our medical ailments fixed the first time, every time. We appreciate the air conditioning serviceman who makes a service call at 7PM on a Saturday and spends 30 minutes thoroughly tracking down the problem, or the doctor that actually remembers your previous visit and listens to what you say. We grow irritated at the house painter who takes frequent and lengthy breaks and leaves equipment strewn about.
The application is obvious: our customers believe they are hiring a professional - they believe we will provide these three things for them. This will mean different things to each of us. It may mean that you get more training in lighting or posing or color balance. It may mean that you bring another lens to a session or take your tripod out of trunk and carry it with you. It may mean taking your flash off the camera (BTW: your flash should never be on the camera.) It may mean bringing some extra lights to a wedding or using an umbrella as a key light outdoors. It may mean spending that extra time with a shy child or taking the bride and groom outside to get the sunset when your feet and back hurt. We should always do our very best. And if these reasons are not motivation enough, just remember that someone who hates their day job is down at Best Buy purchasing a Rebel kit, and they will be more than happy to take your place.
Larry Foster, August 2007
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lem Wehner
Are you thinking of opening a studio? Do you already have one, but are working too hard and not making enough money?
Clem presents a lively, entertaining 90-minute program of essential financial concepts and considerations for starting and operating a successful photography studio.
· Understanding Cost of Sales, General Expenses, Gross and Net Profit, and why managing them well is critically important to your success.
· How to realistically estimate income, expenses, and profit/loss.
· How to avoid common money pitfalls.
· Managing cash and cash flow. Cash mistakes that can kill your business fast.
· What it really costs to have employees and how to know if you can afford them.
· How controlling costs can increase your profits more than adding sales.
· Typical expenses and incomes of studios today.
· Determining how much to pay yourself without hurting your business.
· How many sales dollars you need each year to keep your business alive.
· How much to mark up your products and services. How to set your pricing.
· The industry’s top recommendations for making your studio successful.
· Why you need more than "hope" as your business plan, and much more.
Speaker’s bio: Clem Wehner is a photography business owner with a solid background in business, management, and teaching. He completed a 21-year career as an Air Force pilot, a master instructor, and an educator, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. Clem was on the faculty of the Webster University Graduate School of Business, teaching business management at the post-graduate level. He later moved to the aerospace industry and retired a second time after 16 years with The Boeing Company. Most recently an executive Business and Program Manager, he directed a program valued at nearly one-half billion dollars with an operating budget of $50 million per year. In 1993, Clem and his wife opened a photography business and owned and operated a successful studio in Lawton, Oklahoma. Both are very active in several professional photographic organizations. Clem holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Speaking and Journalism, a Bachelor’s degree in Education, and a Master’s degree in Business Management. His experience in industry, private business, and photography taught him that the principles and practices of successful business are the same at any level. It is from this perspective that Clem presents a common sense approach to managing photography business finances.
If you have two sisters side by side, and one is ugly and one is beautiful, you notice it, but you would never talk about it out loud. That is taboo. You would never say to one, “You are so pretty,” and to the other, “Boy, are you ugly”.
Why is that? Because we value beauty, and we fear the opposite. We value brains, we fear stupidity. We value mental health, we fear mental breakdowns. We value physical health, we fear disease. We value youth, we fear death. We value heterosexual coupling, we fear homosexual. We live with these things, but we don’t want them for ourselves. And when we get too close to them, or talk about them, we may snicker or make jokes. The source of this snickering is fear. So if we talk about beauty or lack of it, we must be as professional as plastic surgeons at a conference on how to reshape faces. There is no euphemism in the entire language that conveys that meaning of “ugly” without having an edge of pain or insult to it.
So how do we know one sister is beautiful and the other not? We have a guideline inside our minds of the ideal. We have learned these rules from society:
--symmetry-two halves balanced.
--proportion and moderation, not extremes
--ears moderate, not big
--ears flat to head, not stuck out
--eyes big, not small
--eyes same size, not different
--eyes set in center, not too close together or too far apart
--eyes not bulbous
--forehead moderate, not too high, too much, or too low
--nose straight not crooked
--nose without a bump
--nose not too big or too small
--nose width, not too wide, not too narrow
--tip not too pointy, not too round
--nose not too turned up
--teeth white not yellow
--teeth straight not crooked.
--lips not too huge, not too thin
--skin smooth—no scars or pock marks
--skin clear not blemished
--skin smooth, not too many moles
--cheek bones visible, not too round
--chin nicely defined, not too pointy or “chinless,” recessed
--neck not too short, not too long
--neck tight, not loose flesh, neck firm not double or excess weight
--hair not too fine or too coarse
--hair not too thick or too thin,
--hair not too curly or too straight
--youth, not old, don’t want wrinkles.
--hair, not bald.
People are very sensitive and defensive about this. You must know how to help people relax. Beauty is not a line drawn in the sand. Beauty is on a continuum of more or less, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We often see subjects who are gorgeous but have no clue they are pretty. All humans want to be beautiful, attractive.
What’s in that word? ATTRACT the opposite sex. As long as there is procreation in this world, done the natural way and not in a petri dish, then professional photographers will have a job. Beauty gives us so much joy in life. But also causes us a lot of pain, because none of us feel we have enough of it. It makes me jealous when I see beautiful people having advantages in life, including financial!
What percent of the population thinks they are beautiful enough to jump in front of the camera and not worry about the outcome? Maybe 2%? Maybe Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie. I believe fear of not being handsome enough is what lies behind that dread of posing for a portrait. And men have it worse than women. Many portraits are made primarily for love, like family portraits. But that fear of not being handsome enough still trips us up.
The head shot photographer has three main skills: lighting, posing and expression. The only reason customers call us is because we can make them a better, more flattering portrait than they can make themselves. We capture beauty, or create the illusion of beauty, for one brief moment that lasts a lifetime. It’s more profitable, and more satisfying, to make a flattering portrait of an average person than of a “beautiful” person. We want that normal customer to go out to the car and cry tears of joy . . . “you made me the best picture of my life!” If you get a pretty face you can “shoot the garbage out of them” and give 150 proofs. But, average faces have fewer options. We’ll talk about that ONE BEST ideal pose/lighting that flatters the wide face, the double chin.
All little children are beautiful. You try for exact placement of the light on the child, but in reality get assorted light because kids don’t hold still. As long as you have delicate shadows with your high key shots, and a little darker shadow with low key, you are doing great with children. But by age 17, adult features come out. We start to deal with more weight, then drooping and wrinkles. Things are falling. By far our greatest challenge is the percentage of overweight subjects. 60%? Adult head shot subjects will hold still. You can have everything perfect. When you are good enough to get exactly the ratio and placement you want, and repeat it over and over, then you are truly a professional. Creativity is impossible without precise control. It goes without saying you need a good camera and lens. And for studio work, you need lights and a meter. Make friends with your meter and read the book.
The face is the essence of the human. The personality is captured in the eyes and expression. A waist up or closer with great light on face & eyes will beat a full length every time. See examples below.
CAMERA ROOM “BEDSIDE MANNER- Assure them retouching is magic, can fix anything.
When you are out of your element and don’t know what is expected, you feel so stupid. Subjects feel that way In the camera room. Explain at the start: “I will tell you everything you need to do, where to look, where to put your hands. You won’t have to ask me any questions, like “where should I put my hands.” If we have silence, just chill and enjoy. When you are setting up or fixing camera, look and make sure they are not smiling at you in the ready position. Ask them to look down, look away. Once you are ready, get an expression and SHOOT IT FAST. Don’t make them wait. Eyes start watering in 5 to 10 seconds. Everything after that is torture. If you don’t get the expression you want, tell them to look down or close their eyes and rest. Don’t shoot more than 2 or 3 in a row. Give them a rest, time to blink. Have real conversations, not glib phrases, to get real expressions.
So, make great portraits of ordinary people and flatter “challenged” subjects.
Carol Ann Dwyer, September 2007
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For information and scheduling, contact:_____________________________
What you missed if you didn't attended the Photo Safari.
IMAGES OF A SAFARI
by Clem Wehner
It was a beautiful day for a field trip, mild and clear, with an October breeze hinting that fall was near. Thirty-five of us with cameras and accessory bags, tripods and water bottles, clamored aboard a bus and a van which were to carry us into the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Lawton, Oklahoma. We were reminded to use the facilities because it was to be a 3-hour trip and the wilderness provides only bushes. Fran did a final headcount of all 35 photographers from the Metro Professional Photographers Association and from the Wichita Wildlife Photographic Society who were attending our "Photo Safari" weekend. Our guest instructors, Don Emmerich and Nancy Mickle-Emmerich, were in the first seat of the bus with their arsenal of cameras at the ready. Everyone was filled with anticipation and wonder of what was to come. This promised to be a fun trip.
Down the highway we went, heading west from the Refuge Headquarters with the public area of the refuge on our left, featuring rolling plains and rocky hills. Off to our right, behind a tall fence, was our destination—nearly 60,000 acres of Oklahoma wilderness consisting of high plains and granite mountains that were once home to Indian tribes and countless buffalo. The mountains, as we call them in Oklahoma, are not much in comparison to the present day Colorado mountains, but are much more impressive if you know their history. They were part of an ancient mountain range thought to be the oldest mountains in the world. Estimated to be up to 30,000 feet high and stretching from Oklahoma to Mississippi, they were the only east-west mountain range in the Americas. They have eroded through eons of time down to the hills that are now all around us. One day the Rockies may be this small.
Quickly, we were at the locked gate to the refuge "Special Use" area, where the public is rarely allowed and wildlife can seek refuge from man. It’s a vast expanse of plains and hills covered with lakes and creeks, making a home for buffalo, deer, longhorns, elk, turkeys, buzzards, majestic eagles, and countless little critters. Once the gate was unlocked, we rambled down a winding dirt road, if you can call it that. It’s more a trail through the wilderness, barely wide enough for our bus, and sometimes not, as our wheels bounced along over rocks and in and out of holes. Before us were vast plains of native grasses, not much over a foot or two high stretching for miles in every direction, and short scraggly bushes praying for rain. The grass was beginning to turn brown and everything seemed to be anticipating winter’s arrival. The prairie was dotted with rocky hills whose slopes were accentuated with patches of green trees. In the background in every direction were big hills and Oklahoma mountain peaks on the horizon, some so far away that their color faded to a cold, hazy grey.
When we stopped, there was no sound except for the wind blowing in the grass. It was so peaceful, so pleasant to us whose lives are filled with sound assaulting us from every direction. The gentle sound of the wind was instantly relaxing. It was unspoiled nature with no sign that man had ever been there. It’s the way it used to be, everywhere.
Bouncing along, the scene constantly changed as we turned and rounded hills. Sometimes the scene changed so quickly the perfect shot was there and gone before Don could yell "STOP!" and the old bus could come to a halt, brakes screeching and dust flying. Then, Don would leap out the door, followed by more people and cameras and excitement. Click, click, or "kercherrrk" if you had a digital camera, catching the photo subjects that were everywhere. The more we learned about what was there, the more we saw. Like the little plants at our feet that bore fruit that looked exactly like cherry tomatoes, only yellow and growing on the ground. We learned they were of the tomato family, but poisonous if you eat them except for one time of the year. That’s the thing about a place like this. At first glance you wonder what to take pictures of, but the more you slow down and open your eyes, the more there is to see.
Down the road we went, one minute in a vast expanse of rolling prairie and hills, the next moment climbing and turning on the old twisted trail, past ponds and lakes, and through creek beds some of which hadn’t tasted water in a long time, and through thickets of trees congregating along creek banks. Then all of a sudden right in front of us, a flock of turkeys flew past, just feet off the ground. Not far, nor fast, but impressive nonetheless, for the big birds can really fly. Click, kercherrrk, fast as we could shoot, through windows, over each other’s heads, without time to look through our viewfinders. Another Kodak moment, here and gone in a instant. Thank goodness for automatic cameras. Glancing up, we saw some buffalo headed our way, stirring up clouds of dust as their hooves pounded the dry ground--big ones, little ones struggling to keep up, still-suckling ones, craggy old ones, and mostly dirty ones covered with flies and dust. The big ones were big, six feet high and more than 1000 pounds, with course brown almost black hair, with huge heads and big shiny black eyes that watched our every move. We’d come upon a buffalo wallow, where buffalo squirm in the dirt covering themselves with dust to keep the flies off, in kind of a community bath. Nancy warned us that buffalo can be very unpredictable. She remembered her days shooting rodeos and how quickly large animals can turn on you. She was right, because buffalo can get up to 30 miles per hour in an incredibly short time. They’re not the lumbering, clumsy beasts they seem, but are amazingly agile and quick on their feet. Despite the warnings, a bunch of us ventured out anyway, planning to get under the bus if the herd turned mean. But it didn’t. Good thing, because ours was probably a dumb plan anyway. The buffalo swarmed around us, giving us every possible shot we could want. Some were so close we could count flies on their backs. The dust didn’t seem to do much good. We could see the catch light in their eyes from the late afternoon sun behind us. It was natural lighting at its best.
Off we went again, until someone said stop. Then more shooting. A pond here, a scenic mountain range there, a herd of elk running faster than the bus could go, and we were going pretty fast. At least it seemed fast. Maybe it’s because there wasn’t really a road! A large male elk stopped a hundred yards away, stared glaringly at us, ran some more, then stopped again. Holding his head up high, he made sure we saw the huge rack of antlers on his head telling us that he’s king here. Soon he decided he had scared us enough and headed off into the trees. No doubt he bragged to his harem that he chased off a pack of wild photographers!
Rounding a hill, down through a valley, then someone said "Deer!" and we jerked to a bumpy stop. "There’s two of them…, no three, there’s another one, and a fawn." "Where?" "Right up there by the tree line on the side of that hill. See ‘em?" "Be quiet or we’ll scare them." "Move your head so I can get a shot." The deer watched us nervously from a distance, ready to dart away at the first sign of danger. Unlike buffalo, they were delicate and vulnerable and more cautious than curious. In a minute they vanished behind big rocks jutting out of the hillside, taking their young ones with them. As quickly as they had come, they were gone.
In another mile or so, we stopped at a turn in the road where water was coming from an underground spring—water so clean and pure we could drink it. Coming out in a small, but steady stream from a pipe stuck in the hillside, it drained into a concrete trough made by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) decades ago. Most of us drank some and it really was good. The trough was one of the very few signs we saw that man was ever there. We think the deer we had seen were drinking there only minutes before. Then, we noticed that some of our photographers were missing. Apparently, the sound of running water was too much to bear. They were out looking for bushes!
We wanted to stay longer, but we needed to keep moving to be in an especially scenic spot suggested for a shoot at sunset. So off we went again, with the old bus creaking and rattling with every bump, until we came upon a wide-open rolling prairie in a valley surrounded by hills on three sides. There was a herd of buffalo nearby, perhaps 25 or so. And there were other herds in the distance in several directions, some almost a mile away looking like black dots on the distant brown and green hillsides. We stopped the bus, and immediately the closest herd began walking toward us, faster and faster. They stopped up close in a cloud of dust, almost close enough to touch, but by now Nancy had us thinking about getting squashed by their instantaneous burst of power and speed. Most of us were cautious and stayed in the bus or close to it. "Look over there, another herd is moving this way," someone said. And yet another herd was running toward us from far across the prairie. They were coming from every direction. It’s like they sent out a signal that there was something interesting to see. We realized that we were the curiosity, not them. They were coming to see us. It was a strange feeling, being watched--especially by another species of powerful beasts who greatly outnumbered us. There were probably 100 of them. We were the excitement of their day. We must have been pretty interesting because they all stayed a long time. Most milled around, slowly circling the bus, looking at us from every angle through those big black eyes. Most were watching us, except for a few males who quickly got bored and turned their attention to…well, you know…other things.
A few more miles of twisting, turning, bumping, and holding on tight and we were in the hills again, this time with tall peaks on all sides. These hills were a bit different than others we’d seen. These were more like enormous piles of rocks, as if some ancient giant had deliberately stacked them, balancing a few huge round boulders precariously near the edge, to worry people in an old bus passing through the canyon hundreds of feet below. But, he could never have known that --when a good shot is at stake--photographers are fearless! We stopped at a little lake because Don thought he saw a turtle and Don really likes turtles. I had read that they often find shrimp in rainwater pools in mountains this old. They hatch from eggs layed hundreds of millions of years ago when the mountains were under the sea. To put time in perspective, these hills are 600 million years old, the dinosaurs appeared on Earth about 65 million years ago and man showed up only 60,000 years ago. These hills have been here a long time. It made me feel rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but privileged to have been there. We learned that eagles migrate through the Refuge in January. That would be something to see.
Finally, nearing sunset, we came upon a place we thought would be perfect for the final shots of the day. It overlooked a valley with mountain peaks, ridgelines in the distance, and a small lake near the foothills. As the sun sank lower toward the horizon and closer to the ridgelines before us, we spread out along the road. In both directions from the bus, there were cameras being set up on tripods, Don and Nancy teaching, photographers turning dials, checking and double checking, everyone tweaking the composition in their viewfinders and getting ready for the big moment. Excitement was building. All were hoping to see a glorious Oklahoma sunset with brilliant colors turning the clouds into swirls of beautiful pastels and contrasting shadows—the kind of sunset that comes only once in a lifetime. We waited and waited, and then in an instant the sun was gone, and with it our dreams of THE competition photo. It was just a disappointing grey overcast evening. We did get plenty of shots, but none with a glorious sunset. Someone said, "That’s what Photoshop is for." On the way out of the refuge, Mother Nature teased us one last time with a brief show of beautiful bands of red and orange clouds beaming through the trees along the highway. Some people, led by Don, were out of the bus shooting madly almost before it stopped. Then the color was gone.
With that, we were back where we started and our visit was over. In three hours we had seen nature so primitive and unspoiled, so natural and peaceful, so inviting, yet wild and powerful. It was clear that everyone had taken away the same strong impression, that preservation of this place and its wildlife was especially important. Photographers, perhaps more than most, appreciate the beauty of unspoiled nature and the delicacy of its existence. What a great day!
Clem Wehner, October 2006
"Common Sense Business Financial Management"Clem Wehner
3Larry23 NW 35th St Phone (580) 678-0629
Lawton, OK 73505 email: PhotosbyFran@sbcglobal.net
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