How often do find yourself running around taking pictures of this or that trying to get everything you can all at once? Yeah, I know…me too. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to simply slow down when I am out. Often I will have an idea of what I want to take, but sometimes it just doesn’t work…what I wanted to capture just doesn’t materialize. Sometimes when I head out I really don’t an agenda and just hope for the best. What I have discovered is that by slowing down and allowing the place to work, more often than not photo opportunities begin to materialize. There have been times when I’ve simply set the camera aside and found a shade tree to sit under and did just that…sit, sometimes for hours enjoying just being out. While I’m sitting there, I begin to notice things that become good photo ops…in many cases I notic things that have potential and deserve another look on another day, another time. Slowing down helps to jump start that visualization process and wonderful images often materialize as a result. So when you’re out and about and the moment just isn’t working for you…take time to slow down…sit a spell and wait. Nature will often begin to present itself to you in ways you might have missed otherwise.
If there is a hard way to do something, I’ll usually figure out an even more difficult way to do it. Photography has been no exception to that rule. You can’t imagine how many times I’ve been caught with the wrong lens for what I wanted to do. Numerous times a great photo op presented itself and all I could do was sit there and watch because I didn’t have my camera. Once while on vacation a few years ago, before I converted to digital, I drove all the way from Tulsa up to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Northeastern Oklahoma on a perfect blue sky, puffy white cloud day. When I pulled out my film canisters I discovered that all I had was 800 ISO film…way too fast and grainy for the conditions and I didn’t have time to drive someplace to purchase something more usable. Oh…I went ahead and snapped away hoping for the best…they weren’t. Some of the potentially best images I’ve ever taken of that area were basically rendered useless by the excessive graininess of the film because I didn’t check my film stock before I left.
Last year I traveled up there again with my new digital camera, but mother-nature just would not cooperate, stormy overcast conditions persisted all week. I managed to get a few good shots in spite of the conditions in fact the overcast conditions probably helped more than they hindered what I wanted to do in some ways. But, I had a preconceived idea of what I wanted to capture and was unable to do so for the most part because of the conditions. This year I hope my luck will fare better.
Photographing a place like the Tallgrass Prairie is more difficult than it sounds. Yeah, you can drive around and take snap shots from scenic overlooks, but in order to really capture the essence of the place you have to walk into it…get away from the scenic viewing places, and hike until no sign of human presence can be seen. It is only then that you begin to fully appreciate what is there and your photographer’s eye can explore your surroundings. The Tallgrass Prairie is characterized by the wide vistas and big sky, but oddly enough it is best observed up close. The subtle things are what define its character. By hiking into it and spending time in the open spaces, listening to its sounds, and feeling the wind in your face, observing it up close…you begin to truly understand the drama and history of the prairie and how its uniqueness was all but lost. The few precious acres of original prairie that are still left are but scattered and broken remnants of a once massive wilderness of tallgrass.
It’s hard work hiking across that rough and rocky terrain. Even in the springtime it can get quite warm and the ticks and chiggers can be a problem…some years are worse than others…and there is always the threat of rattlesnakes and getting trampled by a stampede of wild buffalo. Never stirred up any rattlesnakes, yet, but I’ve come close to getting stampeded a time or two, and you feel rather vulnerable standing out there with nothing to hide behind except your tripod. I jumped about 100 of them on one excursion. Two big ole bulls took offense to my suddenly appearing out from behind a creek bed so close to their group. I knew they were there as they had meandered between me and my vehicle cutting me off from my exit while I was hiking back from a long morning exploring a hidden arroyo. I took what I thought was appropriate action and made a long loop around them using the lay of the land to hide my presence…that is until I popped out of that creek bed and startled them. There was a portion of the group hidden by a grassy knoll that I had not seen. After much snorting and pawing and grumbling, the whole group took off running… right at me! Luckily they veered away after a few dozen yards and turned the opposite direction. The two bulls though brought up the rear and stopped about 150 yards away and continued to protest my presence. Never have I had a wild animal look so menacingly at me…they were really angry. I pleaded my case as strongly as I could….I apologized…then took another detour…a very wide detour around them.
You must be willing to take that kind of risk to get the best shots. Being properly equipped to attempt such a thing and to place yourself in a position to capture that one great image are other required elements. Even then, that one great image might elude your efforts…that’s when you do it all over again…and again if need be. Unfortunately, I missed probably the best images of the day of those angry buffalo’s because I was a bit pre-occupied trying to figure out how I was going to keep from getting trampled.
This is one in a series of blog’s where I will chronicle my past and present adventures and some of the things I’ve learned along the way while photographing a place like the Tallgrass Prairie. In the month of July at the Bob Kirby branch library here in Bowling Green I will have a small themed exhibit on display about Oklahoma’s Tallgrass Prairie. On my next adventure into that area I plan on capturing a few newer images to enhance that exhibit. I hope to someday expand on the material enough to create an educational exhibit suitable for school and/or private presentations…but we’ll see how that works out. In the mean time, I’m still in the figuring out process and will undoubtedly make changes the more I attempt this kind of nature photography. One thing I’ve already discovered is just how demanding physically it really is. I’ll try to keep these blog’s interesting and not too long-winded and as short as possible. I hope you enjoy the reading.