Looking for Mood

Most of you probably know by now, one of my favorite places to photograph is the Tallgrass Prairie area of Northern Oklahoma.  Over the past five or six years I've probably made in excess of twenty-five individual trips to the preserve often arriving before daylight and staying until after sundown.  This area may be one of the most under utilized scenic areas for photographers in the country.  That suits me just fine as on many of those excursions I was practically the only person there.  The prairie is not a place that can be effectively photographed from the gravel road or scenic overlooks. It is best observed up close by hiking into the interior and spending time amongst the arroyos and rolling hills.

I am often asked why I spend so much vacation time and effort returning over and over to the prairie...'Don't you have enough photographs?'  I used to try to answer in some profound way...but I no longer even try...instead my answer is more often, 'Well, I can't explain it'.  I've also been asked a number of times what I look for when photographing that area...and what I look for just in general when I head out on a photo shoot.  That's a tough one to answer as well, because there are so many variations.  The best answer I can give is to simply say I look for opportunities that generate a mood.


For a photographer, mood is determined by several factors..the most important being the quality of light.  Light alone though isn't always enough.  For light to be effective in generating mood it must be combined with an effective composition and interesting subject.

An area like the Tallgrass Prairie can never truly be captured in a single photograph.  What I've discovered is that a collection of related images viewed together does a better job of conveying the essence of this amazing landscape.  On any given trip into that area, I always try to capture what are called 'Establishing Shots'...or shots that captures the basic nature of the landscape.  I don't stop there...but I begin to look at it more closely and focus in on the smaller things that define the larger landscape.  Those include the common things like wildflowers, birds and wildlife...but they also encompass things like contrasting colors, shapes, form, and the action of wind and water.

Speaking of wind...there is a lot of it on the prairie which makes for ample opportunities to capture its effects. I often will use a small aperture and slow shutter speed and allow the wind to blur the movements of the grass.

What I try to avoid doing...not always successfully...is taking those cliche shots.  Cliche shots are those images you've seen a hundred times...time and place may be different...but the basic shot is pretty much the same.  Not all cliche shots are bad, it's just that I try to be a bit more creative.  Even so, I still struggle with avoiding doing so as it is easy to snap away and end up with hundreds of shots that all look alike.

I also often head up that way with a specific agenda in mind.  On one trip I may concentrate on morning or evening shots.  On another trip I look for birds or wildlife...and on still another I concentrate on wildflowers or related subjects.  Many times the weather does not cooperate so I try to remain flexible and adjust accordingly.

One thing I pretty much always do is to shoot early and late in the day.  Depending on the lighting condition, photo's taken in the middle of the day tend to be flat and ordinary.  Most of my middle of the day shots I use just to document potential locations for future early or late opportunities.  Having said that, sometimes middle of the day shots can be quite effective, but that requires a good combination of bright colors and/or contrasts of color or light.  Overcast days oddly enough are often great days to shoot the area because of the soft even light and especially if there is any kind of  texture in the sky.

In summary...the Tallgrass Prairie is a location filled with visual emotion expressed through many moods.  As a photographer, my job is to capture the changing moods of the landscape through the effective use of light...and then present the image in such a way that it generates an emotional response in the viewer.

Where what once was...still is

I've written a number of articles and stories about Oklahoma's Tallgrass Prairie.  I've also taken thousands of photographs of the area.  Some might say there's a bit of obsession involved.  Maybe so...but, I prefer to think of it as...well, let me try to explain.

Most people have never heard about the tallgrass saga, and most probably aren't aware that there are three distinct prairie regions in North America.  First, there's the short grass prairie which encompasses the western sections of the plains states.  It is characterized by short scrubby grasses...a hot and dry climate...and higher elevations found along the landscapes that reach eastward from the Rocky Mountains.  Then there is a thin ribbon of an area called the mixed grass prairie where the climate begins to change and a blending of the short grass and tallgrass area begins.  Finally, there is the tallgrass prairie.

The tallgrass region at one time was perhaps the largest eco-system in North America...it was a massive sea of tallgrass species that grew taller than a man and stretched from southern Canada, across the eastern Dakota's, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and into Texas almost to the gulf coast.  It stretched across southern Minnesota, almost all of Iowa and a good part of Illinois and northern Missouri, and there were even isolated pockets in Kentucky and Arkansas.

Three forces helped to create and sustain the tallgrass prairie:  1. The climate with hot summers, cold winters, and good moisture.  2. Millions of American Bison (buffalo) roamed across the area which grazed the grasses low, disturbed the soil, and dropped tons of fertilizer. 3. Fire...which burned across the grasslands often for days or even weeks clearing thousands of acres and preventing the encroachment of brushy plants and trees from choking out the grasslands.

The tallgrass prairie saga today is one of loss and restoration for between 1840 and 1890, in less than one generation, over ninety percent and in some areas as much as 99 percent of the tallgrass prairie was destroyed.  This destruction took form in multiple ways when civilization discovered the rich fertile lands.  The tallgrass region was plowed under, replanted with crops, fenced off and replaced with single species of range grasses.  The bison were killed, and fire was suppressed.  Within 50 or 60 years, almost all of the original tallgrass area was gone. The only place now where horizon to horizon vistas of original tallgrass prairie can still be found, is the Flint Hills region of eastern Kansas and northern Oklahoma.  It's difficult to grasp, but the Tallgrass Prairie is the most endangered land form in the world...even more endangered than the rain forests.

Northern Oklahoma is home to the largest of the few protected areas that remain...The Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, owned and maintained by the Nature Conservancy, is unique in the world.  No other location still uses all three of the original forces that sustained the prairie.  The climate has remained basically the same in the region, and there are around 3000 bison that roam free and wild across the preserve.  Fire is also used, although controlled, in the same way as the wildfires that once scarred the landscape.

I began my affair with the tallgrass saga over 15 years ago when I first visited the preserve.  It was pretty new at the time and only a few hundred bison were on the preserve.  Most of them I was able to watch from high atop a knoll as they grazed across a slope a few hundred yards away.  I watched my first legendary prairie sunset that day and even though I didn't own any quality camera equipment at the time, I made a promise to myself to return and photograph what was there.  It took over ten years before I would live up to that promise, but eventually I did return with camera in hand and began capturing the flavor and drama across this wonderful landscape.  Little did I realize at the time that six years later I'd still be searching that landscape for all of its photographic potential.  I've not even come close to finishing.

Oklahoma's Tallgrass Prairie is truly a place where what once was...still is.  At one time I thought of the prairie as just a big field full of weeds.  No more...for I've spent hours sitting under the shade of an isolated cedar tree just letting the sounds of the prairie infiltrate into my heart.  I've watched legendary sunsets and amazing sunrises.  I've face prairie storms and encountered close up angry bison.  I estimate that I've driven hundreds of mile on the gravel roads and hike dozens of miles through its fields and across its hills and arroyos.  I've sat atop a high knoll and surveyed a landscape that stretched from horizon to horizon with not a single man made object in sight.  I've watch white clouds drift across a blazing blue sky.  I'm still in wonder of this landscape and will continue to search its quiet beauty and the soul cleansing that it affords.

I'm often questioned about why I keep returning after all the thousands of photo's I've already taken.  I quit trying to find an answer because there is no answer that will satisfy that question.  The best I can do is to show you what I've experienced.  Please find time to watch this video...after doing so...maybe you will understand as well.   http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=182132195149227

Campfires I Have Known - Part2

Here is Part two of a story taken from the archives of stories I've written over the years.  I suppose it fits well into the category of "Beyond the Campfire".  

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I'll never forget the soggy fire my long time friend Rocky and I attempted to nurse into life back in our college days.  We thought we knew all there was to know about the outdoors...we didn't. We were home for the summer and apparently had nothing else better to do, so we put together a spur-of-the-moment trout fishing trip over to the Illinois River below Tenkiller Dam not far from Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where we were attending college.  What we lacked in actual experience we made up in enthusiasm.  We piled close to three tons of camping gear...2.9 tons of which we didn't need...into the back of his old VW he had converted into a dune buggy.  Dune buggies were pretty cool back then.  Of the 0.1 tons of gear we did need, almost none of it was food...we were going to be real pioneers and live off the land by catching trout and cooking them over a campfire.  We actually did catch some fish, but mother nature did not cooperate with us and a steady rain fell the entire trip.  We soon discovered that the old Coleman stove we brought along no longer worked...or more than likely we didn't know how to make it work.  So...we set about building a campfire...with now very soggy wood.

About all we could accomplish to that effect was a smoldering mass of wet smoke which did little to warm our cold hands much less provide enough heat to cook a fish.  Our filleting skills were also somewhat lacking and the soggy mixture of cornmeal and assorted fish parts fell well short of winning any gourmet cooking awards.  Even so, at least it kept us from starving...but just barely.  Had some other campers not taken pitty on us and loaned us a working Coleman stove, we certainly would have had a most memorable outing.  As it turned out...we still get a big chuckle about that experience even today.  Oddly enough...it was the campfire...or maybe the lack there of...that helped to create that memory.

Our skills at building campfires improved over the years...but we still had our share of shriveled tennis shoes, holes burned into tent fabric, and choking lungs filled with smoke.  One of the first float trips we made on the Buffalo River in northwestern Arkansas could be classified as the "no sleep float trip from hell."  One of our troop...who had been invited by one of our regulars...had without a doubt the worst case of snoring I have ever had the displeasure of experiencing.  Now I've heard some pretty good snoring over the years...even contribute my own style to this serenade...but, I've never heard such vile noises come out of a sleeping person ever...I never knew such noises could come out of a sleeping person.  Now, it's not all that unusual for someone to snore a bit when you get four to six guys together on a camping trip...it's somewhat expected and no one seems to be bothered by it...too much.  But, on this single occasion the snoring exploits of our guest not only kept all of us awake...but we had campers thirty yards away complain the next morning about the hideous and foul noises.  Cotton in the ears...nothing could muffle the thunderous rumble. Only two people got any sleep that 3-day weekend...the culprit...and Ralph who was able to disconnect his hearing aid and slept in silent bliss each night.  The rest of us suffered unmercifully.

I'll never forget the puffy eyed look of our crew as we all stood around the campfire each morning.  Never had coffee smelled so good nor offered more relief than on those mornings..that was the most memorable campfire we've ever had if not the most miserable.  Oddly enough, our guest turned out to be one fine camp cook...so when meal time came...all was temporarily forgiven.

The Buffalo River has been the focal point of many such campfires creating an array of unique evenings and images of smoke drifting across the campsites on cold mornings.  The aroma of coffee brewing and bacon sizzling on an open fire becomes an historical point of reference for each of those adventures.  Who could forget the sound and fragrance of freshly caught fish frying over a hot bed of coals as evening approaches...or the sound of the whip-o-will as smoke from the fire drifts low over the camp.  One of my favorite things to do after a campfire meal is to sit back and look up at the stars which are unfiltered by city lights and hear the crackle and feel the heat radiating from the hot coals.  These are memories that can only be experienced around a campfire.  When the stars come out...lost in another world...there is something magical about the fire.  They bring comfort...a sense of home yet a feeling of distance...and generates an enduring legacy that
remains vivid well after the amber coals have cooled.

Countless stories of embellished adventures we have told over the years while sitting around the campfire...hunting and fishing adventures...and more often than not...mis-adventures are recounted again and again.  It's one of the best uses of a campfire...they just seem to go together.

In more recent times I constructed a campfire area on the backside of our yard.  We live in the country and our yard is a long and skinny yard so the fire pit is situated a good hundred yards from the house.  We're surrounded by cornfields and wooded areas.  On occasion we venture out there and sit in the swing that I built and watch the fire run through its life cycle.  I enjoy adding logs to the fire and watch it flare up.  On those cool fall or spring nights...it's quite relaxing to sit out there and just talk about this and that and listen to the coyotes yipping and yelpping at dusk. My wife Kris and I certainly enjoy sharing those moments.

Wilderness may disappear in time...I pray that never happens...but the priceless images of those campfires will never be lost. I am certainly fortunate to have visited such moments...I plan on visiting many more.