A Steady Hold

The wind is always moving in Oklahoma but on rare occasions it settles into a drifting whisper. A whisper it was on that hot summer day more than 20 years ago when I drove the hour and half from Edmond to Catoosa near Tulsa to participate in a 4 position smallbore rifle shoot. It was my first time to try my shooting skills, limited as they were, against others in a friendly competition.

After signing in and moving over to my assigned booth, I felt a little embarrassed as I watched seasoned competitors remove their $1000 and even $2000 specialized target rifles from cases that cost more than my little sporting rifle. No one said anything to me, no one even cast a critical eye toward my feeble attempt to at least look like I belonged there, which I didn't. Most of the other dozen or so shooter suited up with their specialized shooting coats and gloves and rolled out their store bought shooting pads. Most of them setup their high dollar Nikon spotting scopes which allowed them to view where their shots fell on the 50 yard bullseye targets with ease. I used an old 8x pair of binoculars which were barely strong enough to do the job and only then if I set my eyes into a deep squint.

I cast envious glances at their beautifully stocked target rifles which were fitted with easily adjusted diopter target sights. A click right or left and up and down made easy work of zeroing in the sights. I had recently hired a gunsmith to replace the original v-sight on my rifle with a cheap peep sight that could only be adjusted if you used a screwdriver to first loosen the lock nuts then with another smaller screwdriver turn the adjustment screw. It took much longer to get the sight zeroed, but it worked, sort of.

I rolled out my shooting pad, a blanket, and attached the shooting sling, an old belt, to the front attachment, settled into the first position, prone, and after the range officer gave the signal, began to sight in my Montgomery Wards 22 caliber sporting rifle using CCI green label target loads. I knew in the back of my mind I stood little chance of really competing against these Olympic quality shooters and rifles, but I just wanted to see where I stood. I fired 3 shots at the sight-in target and with the binoculars noticed my pattern was tightly grouped but slightly low and to the left all inside the 8 ring. I made a quick adjustment and fired 3 more sighters. I wasn't sure where they hit as I could not discern with the binoculars any noticeable hits. The range officer called a cease fire, and we all walked out to our targets. My last three shots landed inside the 10 ring with 2 of them being 10x. I really thought I had arrived and these guys didn't stand a chance. My little old sport rifle was going to shoot rings around them...so I thought.

We went through the first round from the prone position and my steadiness of hand and the inconsistent nature of my low end rifle caused my scores to fall off some. When we returned to the shooting station we were not allowed to score our own targets, so we exchanged with the shooter next to us. I managed to score a 47 on one of the targets, and a 46 out of 50 on the other. The shooter next to me who was decked out in all the pro-style shooting gear and using one of those $1000 target rifles scored no better than I had.

When we handed our targets back to each other, he said, "Nice Shooting. What kind of rifle are you using?" I smiled rather sheepishly and said, "Oh, just that 20 year old (at the time) sporting rifle."

His eyebrow raised and he lifted my simple rifle off the table. "You shot this target with this rifle?"
"That's right," I replied.

He shook his head in disbelief and said, "Well done. Most of the shooters here with Olympic quality target rifles can't shoot that well."

As the shoot wore on through the other positions, sitting, kneeling, and standing, my lack of shooting skill and inferior equipment began to take a toll and my scores although respectable fell well short of what the others were doing. But it was a fun experience and I learned a great deal about what it really takes to become a great shooter. I returned from time to time through the summer for additional shooting experience but never really did fit in with that group...I just could not afford to purchase all the equipment I needed to be able to effectively compete.

Over the years I have spent time with my two boys teaching the basics of shooting starting first with a BB-gun and eventually graduating to the 22 and shotguns. They learned well and seemed to always enjoy those moments sighting on those targets. My youngest son eventually joined the ROTC shooting team at his high school and competed with them making it as a team all the way to the Junior Olympics. They did not win anything, but the experience was amazing for them and for him.

Target shooting requires skill sets that carry over into other parts of your life. Patience, steadiness of nerve, accuracy, practice and more practice, learning to focus, to control ones emotions, becoming one with your environment and using your mind and your body to build confidence. Even today, I will pull out that same old sporting rifle, now over 40 years old, set up some of those same 50 yard smallbore rifle targets in the backyard and launch a few rounds with my boys to see if we can shoot a tight pattern around the bulls eye.

Shoot Into The Sun

Being able to see light as the camera sees it is essential for the photographer. Our eyes are amazing organs in

that they have a tremendous range of visual acuity. They are in effect adaptable to wide ranges of lighting conditions. We can easily distinguish between subtle differences of tonal values and details. Even in dark areas, out eyes can extract detail. The camera however is less adaptable and is very direct in its interpretation of light. That is why it is so important for the aspiring photographer to learn to see light based on how the camera reacts to it and let go of his visual sense when it comes to capturing amazingly lit photographs.

Most photographers who have been chasing light for any length of time at all understands that shooting in the middle of the day in bright sunlight is not nearly as effective as shooting during those golden hours of the day; before and just after sunrise, just before and just after sunset. We tend to shy away from shooting in the middle of the day and for good reason most of the time, but, shooting in the middle of the day is not so bad as long as you understand how to use the light at those times to your advantage.

Sometimes I will thumb through all the old family photographs taken with one of those Kodak Brownie cameras way back in the 1950's . In almost all of them we kids were captured with severely squinting eyes as we were positioned so the sun was in our faces. The pictures sufferd with harsh and deep shadows along with unnatural looking expressions. Our parents were victims of their photographic upbringing when ISO's (ASA back then) were low and you litteraly had to stand out in the sun to get an exposure that wasn't too dark. We, however have no such excuses as todays SLR digital cameras provide us with tremendous light gathering capabilites.

Consequently, we can shoot just about anywhere and anytime without worrying so much about how much light there is...somewhat anyway. The best light of course occurs during those golden hours, but you can effectively shoot in the middle of a bright sunny day by doing one simple thing...well, three really. 

First of all place your subject so the sun is behind them and their face is in shadow. This will by itself create those great hair highlights and also will create a rim light around your subject. Next, boost your exposure compensation, that +/- button, up to around +1 or even +2. You can also use something to reflect light like a commercial reflector, foam board, or even a newspaper, into your subjects face, but that is not always practical to do. Don't worry about the background exposure...you want to expose for the face. Let the background fall where it may. This will often serve to isolate your subject and create that dreamy washed look. You can also look for somekind of dark background which will also serve to isolate your subject and to enhance the highlights from the backlight.

Another thing you can do is to throw some fill light into your subject by using either an external speedlight (flash), or simply use the popup flash on your camera. An external flash gives you more control of the light's strength and direction, but the popup will effectively illuminate the face. 

Don't be afraid to shoot into the sun. By using it as giant backlight, you can create some amazing images.

A Grand Adventure

I remember that day in February, 1962. Who could ever forget when John Glenn made his orbital flight

aboard Friendship 7 becoming the first American to orbit the earth (after two previous sub-orbital flights by Shepard and Grissom). Not quite 10 years old at the time, I was like so many other kids of the day, captivated by the early days of the space race. The idea that someone could be hurled over 100 miles high and fast enough to fly around the earth in less than 90 minutes was straight out of Buck Rogers. But, it wasn't science fiction, it was science on the cutting edge and it paved the way for future success.

John Glenn, along with the other original 7 astronauts became household names. Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra, Gordo Cooper, and Deke Slayton, I've never forgotten their names nor their exploits. Only 6 of the 7 actually flew those initial Project Mercury flights, Deke Slayton developed an irregular heart beat and was grounded, but later officially became Chief of the Astronauts. (He eventually did get to fly aboard the Apollo / Soyuz project).

When John Glenn passed away on December 9th this year, the last of the original 7 astronauts left us for his final flight home. Oddly enough, I was saddened when I heard about his passing. Seemed like a part of me died at the same time. So much of my youthful years was spent following the space program, it was almost like I lived it with them. In some ways I did, like the rest of us baby boomers who grew up during that era. I still have a strong interest in science even today and it was greatly influenced by watching those early flights play out live in front of us on those flickering old black and white television sets.

Remember those days, when every launch was carried live and every detail was explained so we could understand by the 'Science Editor' from all the news agencies. It was real news with high risk and possibility of a disaster unfolding in front of us. I was pulled alive into that small black and white screen and began to dream of adventures. We even had a television brought into a class room so we could watch the launches. What a great education. Instead of reading about it, we witnessed it happen. It was exciting history that changed our lives.

Today, I discovered and watched a three part documentary (Friendship 7: Full Mission) about John Glenn's flight. This documentary which runs almost 5 hours follows the entire flight from pre-launch to launch, thru all three orbits, re-entry and splashdown. Every radio transmission, file film footage, the entire flight replayed from beginning to end. As I watched the program I became that 9 year old captivated boy again. The legend that was John Glenn transported me back to those early days of exploring the unknown. I relived the moment when it appeared the heatshield on his Mercury capsule might have come loose prematurely. It was a real danger, yet he followed through with cool abandon. I watched as he had to take control of his craft when the automatic stablizing system malfunctioned. I cheered and shouted an 'atta-boy' when he walked across the deck of his recovery ship. I remember those days like they were yesterday. I long to experience such emotions again.

Sometimes I wish this country would once again initiate another grand adventure such as Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Even in the tumultous times of the 1960's, not unlike what we are experiencing today, the space program served to united us like nothing else could. As a nation we need another moment in time when we can once again be uplifted by the spirit of adventure. If I could ask the next president one question, I would ask him, "Is there a grand adventure left for this country to achieve, one where all Americans and indeed the world can benefit, and what must we do to achieve it?"