There and back again…

My photographic journey began during college at the University of Missouri in the late 80’s. I was working at a local camera store and taking classes using 35mm film and a vintage Nikkormat camera. My instructor, Oliver Schuchard, was a passionate craftsman from the Ansel Adams school of landscape photography and he taught us the ins and outs of shutter speeds, f-stops, and focal lengths. He was a perfectionist and I recall spending many hours in the darkroom manipulating prints in trays full of chemicals and forever battling the tiny specs of dust that wreaked havoc on prints.

Over the years I drifted away from photography as it was an expensive and time-consuming pursuit and life always seemed to have other things going on. I mostly sat on the sidelines as the world drifted away from film and embraced the latest digital technology that seemed to advance at an astounding pace. I owned a couple of early digital cameras that I thought were pretty cool, but ultimately I wasn’t inspired to create with them and the image quality they produced was marginal at best.

Ironically it was the iPhone, with its ever-improving onboard camera, that helped reignite my passion for photography. Suddenly I was able to capture remarkably good images with a device that was always in my pocket. Not only were the photos good, they were instantaneous and editable, and I could share them with ease. Soon I was hooked on capturing images again and it wasn’t long before I wanted to go further. I purchased a used Nikon DSLR and began relearning everything I had forgotten about cameras while exploring all the new features of digital photography. It wasn’t long before a better camera, longer lenses, and Adobe processing software were all added to my tool chest.

Along the way I discovered the early morning beauty of Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area, a 44,000-acre wetland habitat just 10 minutes from home. To me, the abundance of wildlife and scenic vistas evokes an African safari, or at least what I imagine a safari would be like, since that experience remains on my bucket list. Most weekend mornings my devoted canine assistants (Poppy and Hawthorne) and I can be found at the Bluffs, eagerly anticipating the sunrise and all the wonders it reveals; one of us hoping to capture some inspiring images, the other two courageously defending the world from bunnies, deer, and other existential threats to humankind….