Sunday, November 22, 2009

Photographers in the Mist




Just completed the annual meeting of the Great Plains Nature Photographers here in Kansas. Attendance was almost 140. Our featured speaker this year was none other than world renowned conservation writer and photographer, Boyd Norton. Excellent programs were presented about his work and the history of saving places both wild and beautiful all over the world. We also had a very interesting presentation by Gene Worsley of MPIX concerning color and color space.

I have been a friend of Boyd's since 1981. he and his wife, Barb, drove in from Denver on Thursday and spent the weekend at our place in McPherson. Great evenings of wine/beer/food and conversation. To make the weekend even that more special for me we also had Keith Schwamkrug (an excellent photographer and teacher of Photoshop) here along with great friend Allen Crenshaw (I worked for Allen in his studio in Denison, TX back in the 70's) and his brother Clark Crenshaw (a fine art photographer from Dallas, TX). WOW! Could not have been better for me in any way.

On Friday we drove out early to Maxwell Wildlife Refuge near Canton, KS. The goal was to photograph bison and elk on the refuge. The fog was so thick we were not sure we would even see any much less get chances to shoot images. Refuge worker and wildlife expert, Owen, took us out on the range in the refuge pick up. Within 10 minutes he had us in the middle of a herd of Bison. Owen apologized for not having sunny skies little knowing at the time that we were delighted to have the fog, a nice change for the type of images we were seeking. After 45 minutes with the Bison we left in search of the Elk. Again, Owen had us in great shooting range within just a few minutes. The elk, all big bulls, were spread across a hilltop with a row of leafless cottonwood trees faded into the foggy background. WOW! Excellent shooting again!

The photographers in the truck are left to right: Boyd Norton (www.wildernessphotography.com); Clark Crenshaw (www.clarkcrenshawphotography.com) and Duane Graham, my great friend from Hesston, KS and a shooting companion on many trips! Hope you can join us next year. www.gpnp.org



1 comment:

steve said...

Nice shots and all of these pictures are so beautiful. You are great job. Keep it up.
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