Wait On The Photograph

Great photo opportunities rarely just suddenly appear and even when they do, more often than not we're not ready. I've probably missed far more great photo opportunities than I ever captured and as a result I was educated a great deal about what it takes to capture the few amazing moments that do appear. I wait on them.

One of the most difficult things for a lot of photographers to comprehend is the concept of waiting for the photo. The waiting process is what defeats us. We don't like waiting, we want it now, and so we too often try to force the image. The results are usually predictable.

Over the years I could count on one hand the number of truly remarkable images I've managed to capture, but the number of mediocre images I have forced are countless. Waiting on the photograph requires us to look thru the fog of clutter that interferes with the image we are wanting to capture, to recognize the potential of what is there. It is the potential we are waiting on, not the immediate situation. Recognizing potential often means we must return again and again to the same location sometimes spaced out over months, but most certainly over the course of hours or days.

I once heard Sam Abell, a former National Geographic photographer, say about photography, "Compose and wait." What he meant by this was to see the image, but wait for the situation to develop. The situation includes waiting on the light, waiting on the action, and waiting for the right moment to release the shutter. Work the moment while you have the opportunity and build your image in layers from the back to the front. See past what is there now, and wait for the opportunity to present itself. Think in terms of Setting, Expression, and Gesture. Compose and wait on the photograph. Look for graphic details, look for angles, look for reflections, and eliminate convergences. Convergences are those places where separation of elements need to happen in order to add strength and focus to your composition.

Often it is those subtle separations that help to define the image. I've been guilty as I am sure others are as well, of trying to see the big picture without truly looking at the smaller elements within the composition. A splash of color, the angle of the eyes, the leaning against a wall vs having a small separation from the wall, the highlight that defines an important element, and the timing of the shot can make all the difference. Subtle changes, soft movements, a horizontal line, a vertical line, a curved line, random crossing lines. Sometimes these are what moves an image forward and separates it from the ordinary.

Luck sometimes comes into play but more often than not the observant photographer can manufacture his own luck by thinking through the equation of what is required to create a given photograph.

The Photographic Puzzle's 3 Distinct Parts - Sculpting with Light

Light is the chisel, what you are photographing is the marble, composition is the artistic interpretation. The three distinct parts of the photographic puzzle. When blended together create what is known as Fine Art Photography.


What is important about visualizing photography from the perspective of these three elements is they can be applied to any photograph taken by any photographer. Sculpting with light can change the outcome of your final photograph by using light to enhance the characteristics of your subject.

Using Light as the Chisel: Light moves in a straight line, yet it can be bounced, diffused, softened, strengthened, dimmed, and brightened. All of these characteristics can be used to the photographers advantage. Because light moves in a straight line it inherently will create shadows and shadows are good for photographers for they bring definition to your subject, especially people.

When it is bounced off a ceiling or a reflector surface, light will automatically spread out and soften those shadows. The source of light does make a difference. If it is natural, it's characteristics are as varied as the weather conditions. Clouds diffuse it, shade darkens it, used from behind it can highlight and from the front it can be harsh. It is therefore up to the photographer to determine how best to employ natural light.

Your Subject as the Marble: What you photograph is just as important as the chisel you decide to employ against it. Your subject determines what kind of chisel you will use. People can be used against a variety of light. Athletic bodies require shadows for definition, beautiful models need softer light to help define their unique look. Animals are difficult to light because they tend to move around, where nature is often finicky and uncooperative.

Compositional Interpretation: How you want your image to look requires you understand composition. A weak composition is like weak writing. The best written stories are the ones that stay on subject and use strong verbs and descriptive prose. Strong writing helps the reader to visualize the story and carries the story forward with each line. Weak writing bogs it down and the reader loses interest very quickly. The same applies to Compositional Interpretation.

Weak composition in a photograph becomes an ordinary image and the viewer never really connects with the story. Strong compositional elements carry the story forward and the viewer is drawn into the image. Composition relies on the other two parts for without them, the image looks flat and dysfunctional.

The Final Image: When all three of the Photographic Puzzle parts are used to sculpt an image, the photograph comes alive. The viewer instinctively recognizes how this happens without even knowing why...it just works. It is up to the photographer to recognize how to employ these ideas toward what he is photographing. When he/she does, your photographic images become much more than pictures, they become a visual book that is captured and told in a single moment of time.

First Snow of the Year - Birds Outside My Window

Had a few visitors yesterday during the first snow of the season...Kind of fun to video and watch them enjoy the meal we provided.

Project Planning

One of the most satisfying rewards of being a photographer is completing a well planned and executed project. It's not as easy as it sounds and requires a measure of perseverance and determination to pull it off. Just starting a photographic project of any kind can be a daunting undertaking, yet it is one of the best ways to move your photographic skills forward.

Back in the 1940's Ansel Adams, arguably one of America's greatest photographers, was commissioned to photograph the National Parks of North America. Certainly it was an enormous undertaking, but one he was up to. It took him several years to complete the project and was interrupted by WWII, but eventually he was able to follow through with the project and in the process produced some of his most amazing works. As a model to follow on how to accomplish a project, his would be the cornerstone example to follow. For most of us, projects tend to follow a less difficult path. Even so, every photographer can benefit by becoming involved in a personal photographic project.

I've started, floated through, and in some cases completed many projects. Most of them were short term examples focusing more on an event, or time of year, or just a whim of an idea I wanted to try just because I could. One of my more extensive projects was to spend the better part of a year photographing Shanty Hollow Lake here in Kentucky. It is a wonderful conveniently close location where as a photographer one can discover a myriad of opportunities, from waterfalls, wild flowers, dramatic sunrises and sunsets, to large amphitheater rock and cliff formations, along with all the seasonal changes.

Probably the most important thing I have learned by doing that project was how to plan my time afield. Even though the lake was close by, I was not always able to simply take off and start shooting. Sometimes I only had an hour or two, or maybe a morning or an evening in which to shoot. Many times the weather did not co-operate, and sometimes I had to scurry about grabbing my gear to rush over there to catch what I hoped was to be some great lighting. It did not always work out.

Most of the time I had an idea of what I wanted to accomplish on any given trip over there. I knew I wanted to capture some short video clips and so I planned around how I was going to accomplish that by myself. On other occasions I wanted some specific still shots from the lake before or just after sunrise while I sat inside my canoe. Shots like that one required that I get up several hours before sunrise, drive over, offload the canoe and camera gear, paddle all the way to the upper end of the lake to be on site well ahead of when the sun was to rise. It turned out to be a great project and produced some of the best photographs I've ever taken.

Some projects involved shooting a specific portrait or capturing a specific image, the kind of shot where you are wanting to capture a single image using unique and interesting lighting setups. Even though the project may only be for a single shoot, the planning of how to do the shoot took several days of diagramming and making experimental shots to see if the concept was even possible. Even so, once on location I had to work quickly to catch the background light at just the right moment and then setup all the lights, testing the exposures, then making the shot.

I even have one project that has been ongoing for several years. It's an almost never ending project often disrupted by distance and available time, yet a project that is special in many ways. That project is to photograph Oklahoma's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve. I started the project a good number of years ago and often get frustrated by the lack of time I have to get over there. Years have slipped by between shooting opportunities, and even when I do get over there the weather often interferes with my desired shooting opportunities. Even so, it is a project I will continue to pursue as time allows and has evolved over time. My current plans are to shoot a series of videos in the area to combine them with still images and create a documentary style program.

Much is still to do, still to prepare for, but it is a project that will challenge my ability as a photographer and thrust me into another world, the fascinating realm of videography.  Preparing for such an adventure will require more than just taking pictures. It will require physical conditioning, becoming more adept at shooting video, learning about editing and blending of photographic styles and techniques, writing and story telling, and yes capturing images that stir the imagination.

Projects will do that for you, force you to challenge yourself, to improve your technique, and encourage you to try new things. It will force you to accept failure as a learning event, and then propel you forward with a renewed vigor and enthusiasm for the art of photography.

Projects are a great way to employ your photographic skills. There are few if any better ways to lift yourself to a new level of accomplishment.

A Look at Fall in Kentucky

Every year plays out a different yet familiar dialog where the summer seems to linger and hang on well past the time most of us are ready to let go of it. September rolls around and we begin to see hints of what is to come. The evenings begin a progressive change from sultry to a welcoming coolness, wayward breezes search for the tops of trees, and the aroma of fall begins to prevail. Some of those trees develop a promising change of color, very subtle at first but as each day progresses, more and more yellow, a splash of red, a touch of orange infiltrates the landscape. The autumn harvest is in full swing as farmers tend to their fields stirring dust into the cleaner air as the combines do their work. Then October is upon us before we know it, yet the grasp of summer lingers seemingly never to let go until one day, near the end of the month, virtually over night the landscape explodes into a senses engulfing kaleidoscope of color. Fall in Kentucky has arrived and with it begins the photographers delight.

I actually enjoy all four seasons and especially those transitional times between seasons, but perhaps fall is my favorite, for with it comes probably the most dramatic change of the year where the prevailing green of summer explodes into the reds, oranges, and yellows of cooler weather. These color contrasts become a haven for photographers and capturing them becomes an obsession. Photographers become almost neurotic because they know the season is short and within a few days most of the color will be gone. So, we photograph in haste, searching here and far for that special moment of season defining light.

We develop a sixth sense where at a glance we spy unique blend of sky, color, and light across a field or hovering over a small back road stream. We travel the back roads with shifting eyes catching for an instant that one shot...then drive too far only to turn around to find it again.

We look closely into the trees and discover single leaves that speak to us about their last days of glory filled with a final vibrant message of color.

We zoom in close and isolate those moments, and then the next moment we turn around and recognize the contrasts of color against a cobalt blue sky.

We listen, we hear, we see, we sense what is happening around us. We are always concerned about the what if's. What if I had been hear earlier, or what if I was at that other location, or what if rains tonight and knocks down all the leaves before I can capture everything I aspire to capture.

Fall creates a neurosis in photographers like no other time of year. And yes, it is perhaps, or maybe certainly is my favorite time of year. I am a photographer and I live for such moments.

Adding Pop to Flat Lighting

Window lighting can be some of the best natural light a photographer can use. It offers such a wide range of effects I am amazed more people don't use it. I will from time to time use window light, but sometimes window light can fall flat. Under certain conditions it just falls off so much there simply is not enough light available to effectively light the situation. It may need a little extra pop to push it into the realm of beautiful light.

One way to do this is to use an off camera speed light and a bed sheet. Combining these two things you can take the natural softness of window light and add a level of photographic refinement. Let's look at one image and see how this was done.

On the day this first image was taken, it was a dark and overcast day...rather dreary outside. The family shoot we did was all done inside, mostly using natural window light in a room surrounded by windows on all sides. There was just enough volume of light in that room so we could shoot, but I also added a bounced flash or two along the way to help out. The photo above was taken in another room that had a single large window. As dark as it was outside, the room was even more so with very little outside light filtering through the window. Now, I could have used a higher ISO or slowed the shutter down to use the available lighting, but by doing so the background in the room would also have been brighter. I really did not want that...I wanted the room to remain subdued, but the mother and child be lit.

What I did was actually rather basic. I took an ordinary white bed sheet and taped it to the outside of the window, fully covering the window. I then placed a single speed light on a stand and stood it about 2 maybe 3 feet from the window. The speed light was zoomed out to a wide area focused lighting and powered to at least 1/2 power and could have been at full power, I'm not sure exactly, but it was set to a higher output setting.

I then simply set my exposure for the background lighting insuring it would be subdued and fired the flash remotely at the camera from inside the room. What happened was this. There was still some light filtering in from the window, but the speed light shot against the bed sheet created a large diffused source of light, giving what was already there just enough pop to light my subjects without altering the look of the darkened room.

Adding a little pop to your natural lighting can enhance the image. The trick is to not overwhelm your image with too much light. Using speed lights requires a bit of imagination and a soft touch. The light provided by them should be used to enhance what is already there and your image should never look like you used an old fashioned flash cube.

Story Telling Inside a Photograph

I walked somewhat sleepy-eyed along the gravel road, a road whose path wound its way toward an old country home tucked inside a gaggle of trees. It was late fall and the once dormant chill excited by a stiff wind engulfed the air surrounding me. The first light of the day was held in muted bondage by low hanging overcast that dipped close to the ground floating along pushed by the invisible hand of an approaching winter. The morning looked and felt gray. In the field to my left the rustic looking remnant of corn stubble stood as a testament to a successful harvest. On either side of the road an old fence row stood lined up like historic monuments to a time from the past.

About half way down the road a beam of the first light of the morning broke beneath the clouds and cast a cheerful glow across the home, the trees, and the tops of the the corn stubble setting the grass alight within the realm of the prevailing grayness. I positioned my tripod and camera composing the scene through the view finder, and released the shutter. A moment later the beam of light retreated back into the clouds and I was again alone standing on a country gravel road.

Photography is as much about telling a visual story as it is about capturing a moment in time. To capture a story one must first not only see what is there, but be able to feel the emotion of what surrounds you. It is the emotion of the moment that tells the photographer when to release the shutter and when you finally do, you instinctively know something unique and even amazing happened.

The visual story of a photograph may possibly be the most difficult element for a photographer to capture for it does not always willingly reveal itself. It is something you must seek out and to allow what is there to speak to your senses. Sometimes, it just happens. Most times it takes work and a willingness to turn off your other senses and allow your heart to grab hold of the story. Everyone must discover within themselves the necessary elements of how the world reveals such stories to them. It is not something that can be taught, only reminded. It is a personal reward well received, well worth sharing.

The Aviator - How It Was Done.

Several months rumbled by from the time we agreed to attempt a themed photo shoot I call The Aviator until we were able to arrange our schedules so we could actually give it a try.  I formulated the concept back in the spring when I spent several evenings photographing all of the aircraft on display at the Aviation Heritage Park here in Bowling Green, KY. One of my favorites was the one of the classic F4 Phantom air superiority fighter which was featured in a previous post. The idea of the aviator theme photo shoot was to duplicate as closely as possible the same lighting technique used on the F4 then add in an additional element of a model dressed in some kind of aviator outfit. This additional element complicated the lighting requirements significantly, but I believed the overall look of the image could be really nice.

First of all capturing an image like this one with the same kind of lighting is virtually impossible in a single photo. It requires multiple images that are blended together into a single new image. Please read the post "Shaping Light to Fit Your Subject" to see how all the blending was accomplished on the original F4 image.  So let's take a quick look at how The Aviator was made.

There are four images used to create this shot; three actual photos plus a supplemental blank image used in Photoshop Elements to clean up some background clutter. The first image was to build a bubble of red light reflecting underneath the airplane. Four speedlights were used, two clamped to each wing with the two inside lights using a red gel...that's where the red light comes from. The two outside lights were bare lights.

The second photo used a single light attached to a C-Stand extended upwards and angled to point toward the canopy. The four wing lights remained attached. This is where this image deviates from the original F4 image which used two lights for the canopy shot and no wing lights. Two lights would have been better.

Notice how the red lighting across the tarmac is washed out. This is why you must use multiple shots because the different angles of lights begin to work against each other and cancels out much of the dramatic effect of the light. Also note the camera is on a tripod and once the composition is made the camera is not touched or moved through the various shots. This is to ensure they all align properly when the blending process is applied.

The third photo retained the wing lights and a single light on the C-stand, but the light had a Snoot attached and was adjusted to illuminate our lovely model Sophie. The Jump Suit she is wearing is an actual NASA jump suit worn by an actual astronaut. I thought it was a perfect addition for the theme of the shoot.

Notice how the exposure was adjusted slightly for our model which darkened the red bubble of light. This is okay because for the second and third images, the only lighting that mattered was the canopy and the model. However, that remnant red bubble serves to help in the blended process.

The first step was to blend the first and second images to combine the canopy shot with the red bubble shot. A simple Select All and Copy was used on the canopy shot. This was then pasted on top of the Red Bubble image creating a top layer. Using the Erase tool, the bottom half of the top layer was removed to reveal the Red Bubble exposure underneath.

To clean up the background a blank black image was used as a new base image with the F4 photo pasted on top. Background clutter is simply erased out revealing the black underneath. A few slight tweaks of brightness and contrast and saturation and then this image was saved as a blended shot. This shot then became the base background image for the next process.

The third Model shot was then Selected and Copied and pasted on top of this blended image. Again using the eraser tool, the entire background of the shot was removed to reveal the bottom layer taking great care around the model. The brush size needed to be adjusted to a small size to allow for some detail erasing around our model. Both a sharp edge point and a soft edge was used to blend the area around our model so it appeared natural. The most difficult part was to include and blend her shadow into the red bubble light. A few more simple Photoshop tweaks and we have the finished image.

Thanks to our model the lovely Sophie and her mom for helping out on this shoot...They were real troopers on a warm and muggy evening...it was a lot of fun and I continue to learn more about using this multiple image technique to create interesting and unique themed photos. An extra thanks to the park ranger who allowed us another 30 minutes to finish our shoot.

A Photographers World: Hidden In The Chaos

Not so long ago I wrote a post about the Neurotic Photographer and how being one often proves an advantage over not being one. As a result I have learned how to look at the world through neurotic eyes, but even more important is being able to see beyond the clutter of nature's chaos. Hidden in that chaos one will discover intricate details illuminated by the various moods of light.

The world is filled with all kinds of visual chaos most of which interferes with our ability to isolate what is truly important. Being able to visually focus on what is actually capturing our attention requires employing a practiced skill. Novice and sometimes even accomplished photographers often fail to look beyond the obvious and tend to see only the big picture. But over time they eventually begin to realize how the big picture consists of a series of smaller moments of light. It is often these smaller moments of light that becomes the true photograph. Being able to wade through the chaos of the big picture and find those hidden smaller moments can result in the capture of extraordinary images.

Although Macro or closeup photography is a fascinating form of photography and certainly could be considered a part of what I am writing about, I am not specifically referring to just those kinds of tightly focused photographs. Sometimes hidden inside the chaos of the big picture resides a slightly more refined composition. The idea is to see what is truly there...to resolve your vision where you recognize that sliver of light opportunity that not only reveals what is the most important element of what you are seeing, but tells the larger story from a smaller perspective.

The photo above is a good example of this concept. Taken inside a congested wooded area on a very bright and sunny morning, visually the area appeared rather chaotic and cluttered. To the eye it looked very woodsy, but our visual acuity is able to separate and blend a wide range of light and dark contrasts. Even the most advanced cameras cannot do that. You end up with hots spots or washed out areas that eliminate the dimensional depth of the scene. Isolated on a stump was a graceful clump of grass illuminated by a single beam of morning light. This one moment of light told the bigger story of that wooded area in a dramatic yet simple composition.

Within the same wooded area you can discover a magnificent canyon with a wonderfully lively waterfall dropping from the apex of a horseshoe escarpment. It is truly a magical place to photograph as it provides a myriad of different looks. Once again, you might find yourself concentrating on the most obvious part of the scene, the waterfall, but, trying to capture the entire scene from that canyon can be a daunting trial. One particular fall day I stood near the base of the escarpment trying to compose an image with the waterfall as the main ingredient. Nothing was working, until I focused in on where my eye kept going which was a small group of trees with red and yellow leaves boldly accented against the gray stone face of the escarpment. On this particular day, that was the photograph I was looking for, I just did not see it at first because I was so fixated on the obvious, and failed to look for what was truly capturing my eye.

The first photo at the top of this post is another example of seeing what is hidden in the chaos. Sometimes it is not always a smaller view, it can be a wide view. The trick then is to simplify the composition and visually eliminate what is not needed. What caught my eye first were the reflections. By moving my location and arriving late in the afternoon just before sundown, I was able to position the two barns and capture a wonderful example of Kentucky back roads. Converting it to black and white and applying some creative cropping created a strong dramatic look. Within this image are several smaller images, smaller pieces of the composition, yet when combined within a wide overall view, those isolated smaller portions served to create a nice composition.

Sometimes we try to complicate the process by capturing everything in one image, but trust your eyes, they will point you to what is important. If your vision keeps returning to a particular spot, then something is there capturing your attention. Allow your instincts work for you.

The 'Natural' Light Box

Light possesses many moods, so many in fact it becomes difficult to define all of them. As photographers this abundant moody light resource becomes a treasure trove of opportunity because light in all of its moods is what we use to create images that serve to stir the soul.

We are taught as photographers the best possible light is usually found early or late in the day. As a general rule this is true, however, great light is where you find it no matter what time of day even if it is during the middle part of a bright sunny day. Finding great light in the middle of the day can be a challenge but knowing where to look can improve your chances of success and open photographic opportunities regardless of the time of day. A good place to start is to look for those Natural Light Boxes where you can capture interesting details without having to worry about harsh bright spots or high contrasts.

A light box of course usually refers to an actual box where you place objects of interest and then flood it with a soft even light using various techniques. They can be painted black or white and even colored and are a great way to shoot indoors. A Natural Light Box serves a similar purpose, except it occurs naturally and offers a great way to shoot outdoors even when it is bright.

What you look for are recessed shaded areas tucked into some kind of cover. The first photo above was taken within one of those tucked in shaded areas during a bright sunny day. A big bright sunny sky acts like a huge soft box and fills in the shaded area with a softer form of light than direct sunlight will provide.  The idea is to look for an open tucked away spot yet one that is exposed to the effects of the soft box effect of the sky. Sometimes you can help things along by using some kind of reflector to bounce a small amount of soft light into your subject or even a piece of foam board to provide a bit more shadow if there is too much sun filtering through.

The photo above was taken late one morning while the dew was still collecting on the blades of grass. There was a lot of sun filtering through the grass, some of which can be seen in the upper right hand corner, but this particular blade of grass sat secure inside a shaded area. I simply used a long focal length lens and zoomed in to capture the subtle reflections from the dew drops.

Your natural light box can be found almost anywhere. The photo of this fuzzy critter was found in an open area that happened to be shaded by a large tree. The background was also shaded and provided a wonderfully soft backdrop for this composition. The photo required some creative zooming and positioning of the camera angle to place everything in alignment, but even during a bright sunny afternoon, good light can be found. Although most any kind of lens will work, I find a zoom lens provides a better platform for blurring the background allowing your subject to stand apart, like the photo below.

Sometimes you want to use direct sunlight to illuminate your subject but avoid harsh shadows and contrasts. A good way to do this is to have the light project through your subject from behind and then align your composition so the subject is posed against a dark background not unlike the collection of leaves seemingly suspended against a dark background seen below. Taken in the early afternoon of a bright sunny day, it was a matter of aligning the branch so the light shined through the opaque nature of the leaves and using a shaded area as the background to make it appear suspended in an artificial setting. The exposure was such the backlit leaves were captured in great detail, but the shaded background area, which was actually a weedy, tree lined jumble, became a virtually black backdrop.

Looking for and using Natural Light Boxes can be a fun and productive way to photograph all through the day. It is just a matter of recognizing what makes for a good light source and then creatively using it. There are as many ways to do this kind of photography as there are people taking the pictures. This kind of photography also serves well for a Walk About photo shoot and can produce some amazing results. Give it a try. I do believe you will enjoy the results.

The Pseudo Panoramic

Most digital cameras today have the ability to create in camera interesting panoramic images. It is one of those things where you push and hold the shutter release then slowly pan your camera from left to right while the camera captures a series of images that are processed in camera to create a panoramic picture. It actually works rather well and I do use it from time to time myself. Even though there are numerous ways to create panoramic images there is another shot cut you can use to generate what appears to be a panoramic; The Pseudo Panoramic.

The Pseudo Panoramic is simply a creative cropping technique where by you trim the image across the top and bottom to create a wide area look. I run across photographers sometimes who tend to shy away from cropping probably believing this is what the camera captured and that is my image. They may also have a specific size image in mind like an 8 x 10 format or something like that. Certainly this practice is a perfectly rational and acceptable technique one where even I put into practice quite a bit. But sometimes an image serves itself well to take on a wider look.

There is no real magic here or complex formula, its just a matter of looking at the image determining what can be cropped and what should be kept. I typically do not worry so much about the aspect ratio, or size of the image. I just crop it until it looks the way I want it to look. If I need it to be a certain size I will usually create a poster format for a specific size and paste the image onto the background. The idea then is to observe the content of the image and determine how well it serves itself as a panoramic.

So give it a try. Using ordinary size images and making them appear like a panoramic can add a great deal of spark and interest to you photographs.

True Temper

Been under the weather in recent weeks and haven't felt like getting out nor spending the time to write a new post. But, I did spend some time looking through some of the older posts and found one of my favorites from October, 2011. It is called True Temper and is a reflection of growing up in southeastern Oklahoma in the little town of Wister. After reading it again I believe it fits well into my current attempts to take a nostalgic look back to early days. So I am re-posting it and hope you enjoy reading this memory laced example from a simpler time.

Last time I was there, there wasn't much left of the old part of town.  What wasn't boarded up was bulldozed down or burned into rubble.  A few cars from time to time did trickled through carrying their occupants to some other location.  Most were probably oblivious to the history here and rarely noticed the weathered and mostly faded advertisement for 'Big Chief' writing tablets on the side of one of the still standing old red brick buildings.  The rusted Judy's Drug Store sign still hung above the now boarded entrance and swung with an irritating screech in the hot summer breeze.  About the only businesses still operating were the bank and post office...the latter appearing almost new compared to the other redbrick shells.  Even so, it was at least 40 years old itself.  The former still operated from the same location on the corner for more than 80 years now I'd guess.  Somehow, they had managed to keep the doors open in spite of the economic situation.

Once a thriving but small community, its heyday peaked during the 1950's after the war.  Then the first flood came...actually the second flood...the first having occurred well back in the late 1920's.  A few businesses precariously clung to life after that, and the heart of the small town eventually began to recover, but the unmistakable signs of old age and downward trends had already infiltrated into the community...few saw or understood what was happening.  The flood of '61  shoved the little town toward its deathbed, but somehow it survived...and began to recover...until the flood of '66 gave it massive heart failure.  The high water mark eight feet high is still visible on some of the older buildings.

A year or so later, a new highway extension diverted what traffic came through town to bypass it on the north side.  Many of the remaining businesses simply closed...a few moved to a location along the new section of highway.  In a way the new highway gave the town a second chance and a new heart...but it wasn't the same town...nor the same heart.  It was never the same after the last flood.  The Mayberry like charm that was Wister, Oklahoma washed away with the brown receding waters that took it's soul.

True Temper Fishing Rod

The summer of 1963 was the last summer of what I remember as the old Wister...a Wister that retained its connection to the simpler days of the past, yet was faced with changing times in a modern era.  It was one where the recovery from the '61 flood was almost complete and a normal life was once again beginning to stir.  It was the summer I remember the most...the last real summer of my youth where the essence of what this little community was...still existed...at least in my heart.  It was the summer where my grandparents business...a dry goods store...came back to life and began to function again as it had in the past.

It was the summer I received my first real fishing rod and reel...a True Temper blue fiberglass rod with a True Temper bait casting reel attached complete with a few dozen yards of braided fishing line.  With that rod and reel combo, I began to truly explore for the first time, the intrinsic values only discovered in the sport of fishing.

My friend Geary, the grandson of my grandmother's neighbor Ruth, would also spend a lot of time during the summer in Wister.  More often than not we'd get into some kind of mischief that would cause both our grandmothers to grimace in disbelief and often sternly declare..."...Lands sake...what were you two boys thinking?"

I suppose we heard those words more often than we should have...usually during the times his or my grandmother would be applying a paste of baking soda to the multiple bee stings we had received after attacking a wasp nest with squirt guns and fly swatters.  I'm not so sure why we ever did such fool things...but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

But...fishing began to have a greater appeal...certainly less painful appeal anyway..and we'd ride our bikes up to Hammond's pond and use the old row boat to get out to the middle...where the big ones were...or we'd head over to Caston Creek and turn rocks to find crawdads or set out minnow traps for bait.  His grandfather kept a compost pile behind his house and we'd dig around in it for worms to fill a can for bait...threw a couple of bobbers along with a few hooks and lead weights in a sack...and head out.  It was great fun and we actually caught a few fish.  My old Uncle Manly, my grandmothers brother-in-law who was well into his 70's at the time, would take us out to another pond and let us do some crappie fishing.

It was that season we purchased our first 'bass plugs'...mine was a black and white Lazy Ike.  I kept the plug for many years and caught many fish on it too...then retired it for fear of losing it.  Made a mistake a few years back and used it on a float trip only to lose it when the line snapped after hooking a nice smallmouth bass.

Internet Photo - Lazy Ike like the one had

One time we hounded his grandmother to take out to the spillway below Wister Lake dam.  She did...dropped us off and left us there pretty much all day.  Our tackle box consisted of that same old paper sack with a few hooks and sinkers.  He brought along a homemade dip net he had made out of an old screen door.  With that net we'd lower in into the shallows and wait for bait fish to swim back in then slowly raise it trapping a few each time.  Before long we had a dozen or so bait fish we had tossed in the old beat up minnow bucket his grandfather let us use.

My True Temper Rod and Reel

They were not running too much water that day through the gates, so there was a narrow long island that jutted above the water.  Out in front of it was good fast moving water.  Near one end was some older man fishing.  He had a big tackle box and a couple rods and reels and look the part of a real fisherman.  We felt almost silly with our paper sack and cheap equipment.  Even so, I tied on a large hook and attached a large sinker a couple feet above the hook.  Grabbed one of minnows, and hooked him in the tail and heaved that old True Temper as hard as I could.  The line landed near the middle of the current and the sinker began to bounce and roll across the bottom.  Not sure how long it took or how many tries it took, but I do know we caught several large Buffalo, or Drum...not sure which...standing on that strip of gravel and shale.  My first one was the largest single fish I have ever caught.  Considered trash fish...but man did they ever fight.

The line bounced around and then appeared to get hung.  I gave it a couple of hard jerks and the rod bent almost double.  Geary asked if I had one on...I said no...I'm hung...but my rod kept bouncing and jerking.  After a moment or two I realized I wasn't hung, I had hooked a big one...and man was it ever a fight.  That old True Temper reel didn't have a strong enough drag and that large fish in that strong current simple spun almost all of my line out.  I literally could not pull that fish in.  Geary ended up grabbing the fishing line and pulled it in by hand as I took up the slack...he then simply drug it up onto the bank.  That older man just down from us couldn't believe his eyes...the best I can remember, I don't recall he ever caught anything as we caught several through the afternoon.

And such was the summer of '63.  As time went on, we spent less and less time during the summer there as my family moved around and settled in another community.  During that time, that old True Temper rod and reel provided a young boy with a tool that all but changed the way he viewed the world.  Where once play was the main emphasis of my day...the opening up of the world of fishing through that rod and reel refocused my thoughts and began a life long love affair with a grand adventure.

Although I was unaware of it at the time...over the years I've been able to more clearly grasp the significance of those years.  When I am drifting in my canoe during the pre-dawn light...casting a line toward imagined encounters with a rising fish...when I reflect on the moment seeking to discover deeper meaning from why I enjoy such things...it is not the older man I have become that does these things, it is the young boy who spent those days exploring the world in and around that little Oklahoma town...building confidence...developing strength of character through trial and error...that does those things.

Experiences such as those generate unspoken words that attache themselves to our young minds as we grow older...words that echo across time attached to memories...it is those words that still encourage me...words that carry with them reminders of how those years provided a True Tempering in my youth that only now is becoming evident.  Oddly enough, I hear them more clearly today...silent words only a young boy hears...words that allow one to laugh at misadventures...wonder about grand adventures...and grasp the significance of events long faded from most memories, but words still freshly residing in the recesses of my heart.

My grandparents retired shortly after the flood of '66...their long run of operating a business that over time saw fewer and fewer returns eventually gave way to the inevitable.

My grandparents store - circa 1951

They are now long ago gone and missed and over the years...their stately old house where my grandmother lived for close to 70 years was sold. I lost contact with my summertime friend...even so, I thank God for having experienced such things in my life...simple things, like an old True Temper fishing rod and reel.

My grandparents house
circa 1930

The old town of Wister has, in recent times, seen a small resurgence of sorts, as its larger neighbor Poteau, a few miles up the road has grown and many people have moved to Wister as part of that growth. A new generation with new ideas and trials now occupy the community...a new business started up in the same building my grandparents used all those years...the owner somehow contacted me a couple years ago and asked for some old photos of those years...I sent him several copies. The years and summers I spent growing up in that little town became the most important years of my life. That old town in its own right has earned the right to say with a degree of pride that it has endured difficult times and shown a level of True Temper...the memories of those days certainly prove so anyway.

Keith