Governor Mary Fallin and Oklahoma Secretary of the Environment Gary Sherrer were recently presented with copies of The Illinois River Survey: A Visual Record during a presentation in the Blue Room at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Pictured are Kim Baker, STIR President Denise Deason-Toyne and STIR representative, along with Governor Fallin and Secretary Sherrer.

The book by professional photographer Kimberly Baker of Meeker was published with the help of Save the Illinois River, Inc. (STIR). Viewing the book are, from left, NSU John Vaughan Library Director Paula Settoon, STIR President Denise Deason-Toyne, and Tahlequah Public Library Branch Manager Robin Mooney.  The goal of The Illinois River Survey: A Visual Record is for the book to help create more awareness and appreciation of the Illinois River and Tenkiller Lake.

New Mexico artist and PBS documentarian, Fran Hardy and producer Bob Demboski, came to Oklahoma to film their documentary Earth Chronicles, which focuses on the intersection of art and the environment. Fran and Bob visited the Illinois River Survey event in May and filmed segments about my conservation photograph project and its collaborators for the Earth Chronicles documentary.

Fran and Bob visited artists from all across the state for their film series, which will debut at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art March 17, 2012. More info.

A group art exhibition of the artists featured in Earth Chronicles will open in the fall of 2012. Check back for more info.

Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art Press Release

Earth Chronicles teaser on YouTube

Earth Chronicles Blog

The U.S. Drought Monitor lists Oklahoma in the exceptional drought category .

I have been documenting drought conditions as they affect Oklahoma’s lakes and rivers.  On a recent trip to Chandler’s Bell Cow Lake, the trees in the lake drew my immediate attention.

I previsualized the picture and made plans to return during the best light to get the shot I wanted.

Many trees were not removed before filling the lake, and now with low lake levels they stick out above the surface more than usual and have a very strong visual appeal – like a weird ancient forest.

I spent a few hours there this past weekend getting pictures of a particularly interesting dead tree near the shore at a swimming area.

The fantastic shapes of the trees make great silhouettes at twilight. A long exposure captures the fading light as twilight reflects in the still water.

Later I used a low exposure to capture a scene near a brightly lit dock that threw directional light onto trees near the bank.

The place is so interesting that it is the location I chose to meet with Craig Day, a news reporter from News 6, the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, who wanted to interview me about my work. The segment should air in the next week. Check back for more details and a link when it comes out.

When I first started taking nature and landscape pictures, I did not have a full appreciation of Oklahoma’s beautiful landscape. I felt that the best subject matter was in the western United States and that is where I needed to go to succeed as a professional nature photographer. My views changed over time as I explored and found out for myself the photographic opportunities Oklahoma has to offer.

A photographer does not have to travel far at all to capture truly beautiful images; in fact, you can find dynamic images in your own backyard.

I like to utilize my local lake, Meeker Lake to both engage in creative pursuits, but also to capture images I may not be able to get otherwise. When you are close to home, you can get away on a moment’s notice to capture images that reflect rapidly changing weather conditions or unique and vibrant light.

I think of Meeker Lake as my very own Walden Pond, if you will. The lake is as red as Oklahoma dirt, but in the right light, anything is beautiful. The lake is small, only 211 acres, but it has 5 miles of riparian–rich shoreline that is all public. I love the concept of public land – I read a quote somewhere; public land “belongs to nobody, therefore it belongs to everybody. Most Oklahoma lakes have miles and miles of public land that you can explore to your heart’s content – even small local lakes usually have a radius of land around it available for exploration.

I often say one of the best things you can do is to get to know a river. The same is true for your local natural area. Take advantage of public land near you for honing your skills as a photographer. Oftentimes, you can capture awesome photographs of nature at its most glorious at your local lake or park because it is so handy when awesome weather and light are happening.

OVAC CAP Grant Announcement

For more information, registration, and workshop schedule check out the link below.

http://www.nwosu.edu/picture-my-weekend

On the spot, I told the class and my teacher I was going to be a photographer, my reasoning was you did not need a college degree to be a photographer. This was not entirely accurate, but you could not have convinced me of that at the time. However, this announcement set the course for me to be a yearbook photographer and to take photography at the local Vo-Tech my junior and senior year. Even though I went on to work in a field unrelated to photography, I never gave up what had become a passion for me – photography, in fact, photography was something of a salvation.

A lot has changed in photography since I first started – particularly the advent of digital cameras. I am something of a dinosaur – I still shoot film. For my serious work, I still shoot positive film with my Mamiya 645 medium format camera. I have a Nikon D-200 digital camera, but I have never been satisfied with the quality over my medium format camera.

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These shots of Pennington Creek near Tishomingo in south-central Oklahoma are the first digital photographs captured by my Nikon D-200 that I was satisfied with the quality.

I will continue to shoot film until they stop making it and developing it, because nothing matches the fine grain and saturation of Fuji Velvia.

I guess I am a purist at heart. I hope there are enough of us out there that film photography never entirely goes away.