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.

I tried to imagine the scene. You would think that with the Coliseum’s horrific history there would be a tangible bad vibe or atmosphere of death about the place. I guess during broad daylight with hundreds of tourists milling it can be hard to imagine and get a feel for the fear and death that occurred there; perhaps the ghosts come out at night.

Laocoön was a Trojan priest from Troy, who warned the Trojans that Trojan Horse was a dastardly ploy; the angry goddess Athena sent sea serpents to strangle Laocoön and his sons. The magnificent sculpture captures their agony and fear in striking detail.

Parts of the sculpture were missing, including Laocoön’s arm, Michelangelo suggested the arm was bent behind Laocoön’s body, other artists disagreed.

Pope Julius II held a contest, judged by the great artist Raphael, and a heroic outstretched arm became part of the sculpture.

Later, the original arm turned up and the sculpture was restored, coincidently, Michelangelo had been right about the placement of the arms position.

Here are a few additional pictures from that day.

(Below)

At the top of the St Peter’s Basilica. A little shop on the right sells religious and Catholic souvenirs.

(Left)
A close-up view of the dome of St Peter’s.

(Below left)
A view from the top of St Peter’s Basilica down to St Peter’s Square.

(Below)
The double helix, spiral staircase in the Vatican Museum is breath taking in its elegant beauty.

A small park with a picnic tables and a covered pavilion is located right off Highway 412. Visitors can climb a metal flight of steps to the top of Cathedral Mountain for an amazing view of the surrounding countryside, the Cimarron River in the distance, and experience for themselves the rugged badland type of typography of the region, also called Oklahoma’s Painted Desert.

I have been visiting the area for many years and have captured many pictures, but the area still calls to me to return. Lone Peak, just north of Cathedral Mountain is my personal favorite and I have spent many hours wandering around its base and summit seeking that perfect shot.

I have always wanted to visit the area when there is snow on the ground, but the three-hour trip in hazardous conditions always stops me. I have never visited on a really good cloud day either – you know the kind, big fluffy white ones that would be striking against the red mesas. Once, I was there the morning after a good rain and had nice atmospheric conditions, clouds and fog, for a few hours to work with.

There is an important lesson here. You can return to the same location repeatedly and get different photographs every time – different time of day, seasons, and conditions make for drastically different pictures. I very seldom get great pictures the first time I visit a locations, it is only after repeated visits, after I get to know a place, am I able to capture in photographs the true essence of a place.

A farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936. Photo: Arthur Rothstein

This iconic image (left) taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1936 of a farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Cimarron County, Oklahoma during the terrible days of the Dust Bowl is unfortunately, what many people around the world associate most with Oklahoma.

Today, western portions of the state are facing the same magnitude of drought condition seen in the 1930’s, but thanks to farsighted efforts of farmers, conservationists and government programs since those times, we are not experiencing the same effects. Crops are ruined, farm ponds are empty, and the situation is dire for many people and communities whose livelihoods depend upon agriculture, but we are not experiencing the same ecological damage as seen back in the Dirty Thirties.

The future of water around the world is critical. Millions of people do not access to clean drinking water. In the US, we use about 100 gallons of water each day, while millions of people in the world scratch out an existence with less than five gallons.

Climate change is heating Earth and glaciers continue to melt at an increasing rate. The seasonal run-off from glaciers in the Himalayans are the source of Asia’s major rivers such as the Ganges, the Yellow River, and the Yangtze River, the water source for over 3 billion people. The threat is real. A person would be gravely mistaken if they thought what happens a half a world away will not affect them. Our world is a global society, in 15 years 1.8 billion people will live in regions of severe water scarcity – a third of the world’s population, the results of which will have catastrophic consequences for world security.

The Oklahoman has a series about Oklahoma water in the Sunday, June 5 edition. Too often the Oklahomans Editorial staff slams those who do not wish to sell water to Texas as being misguided in their concerns – everyone should be concerned. Oklahoma’s future depends upon our water. Selling water at this point is not wise or in the best interest of the state. Every water basin in Oklahoma will experience significant population growth in the next decades, and water is one of the most important components of that growth. In spite of what some would have you believe, water that flows into the Red River is not wasted, there are abundant downstream users and major ecological impacts could result from significant withdraws. Any plans to sell water should be put to a vote of the people, and only after studies conducted upon good science, should there be any consideration of selling water to Texas, but it must be the right plan that will benefit the entire state not just a few select entities.

Resources:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/utilities/2791116/Water-crisis-to-be-biggest-world-risk.html

National Geographic Magazine. A Special Issue. Water. April 2010.

http://www.newsok.com/

http://www.newsok.com/supplying-oklahomas-water-needs-will-be-difficult-costly/article/3574023?custom_click=lead_story_title

Western Oklahoma is in an extreme drought, with no rain for months.
This is the Cimarron River south of Freedom, Oklahoma. There is no water, except for a very small pool along the bank, but plenty of salt.

Links:
http://climate.mesonet.org/rainfall_update.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/06/2011-drought-oklahoma_n_845419.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/06/135188594/oklahoma-facing-drought-comparable-to-dust-bowl-days

http://www.owrb.ok.gov/supply/drought/reports/drought_plan.pdf