Photo of Carolina mantid by Pat Folley
When the weather is just perfect, it is almost impossible to stay inside. So it is perfect for taking your camera for a hike. If you know a grade-school age kid or two, take them along. Then it is only necessary to find a neglected garden, a vacant lot, or a trail in one of the parks. My preference is Lake Thunderbird State Park or the woods around the pond here at home.
The reasons for taking a child are two: first, they are delightful company; second, they see much better than we do, and see it sooner. For most children, there is another reason: they are not allowed to do this alone. I understand the reason for that, and deplore it. My childhood was spent in the creek bottoms within a mile or two of my home in Oklahoma City. The house I lived in was for sleeping and eating and doing homework. I was never threatened, never frightened, never lost, always enchanted.
The reason for taking a camera is just one: you will want to bring home "trophies" of your discoveries. Some of them will be found alive, like the Carolina mantid in the picture. (If it is printed in black and white, no matter: it is naturally in shades of gray instead of the greens worn by the praying mantis). Some of your trophies will be trees or ponds or tiny foot-high waterfalls banked with moss and lichens. A photo, even one taken with your cel-phone, will help bring back those discoveries when the weather prevents your returning to them.
For a long time, I didn't take pictures: prints were never satisfactory, and they were never printed to display what I was seeing. Then, about 30 years ago, I discovered color slides. Popped into a projector, they became larger-than-life, vibrant with color, and evocative of the scents and sounds that accompanied them in life. Mostly I took pictures of flowers, because that is my passion. Sometimes when the slides came back from the processor, they contained surprises: a snake's nose and eyes emerging from the dark shadows around the lovely plant, or a jewel-colored bee gathering honey while I admired the flowers.
Years later, I find the accidental lichens, rock formations, cloud formations and tree-trunks are as interesting as the presumed subject. That is always in the center of my pictures, because I take them for records instead of artistic composition. Once in a while, art happens while the subject poses. The mantid was eating a small bug from the head down, like an ice-cream cone.
Now, of course, the expensive and time-wasting process of sending film off for someone else to develop has almost entirely disappeared. The miniature Nikon I carry in a coat pocket plugs into the computer when we get home, and Photoshop makes it easy to bring up on the screen the exact shade of green, the degree of sunlight, and the orientation of the picture.
Almost as wonderful as doing your own "developing" is getting a file clerk with it. While my study has boxes of slides carefully stacked in every corner and on shelves, a computer tower the size of one file box holds all the digital photos, and praise be, remembers where it put them. When I have to take a break, an automatic program brings up a slide show that randomly shows off my treasures.
That's just the support system, of course. The real object of keeping photographs of your adventures is that you get to relive them, when and as you wish. And don't forget those children: put your file on a CD for them to enjoy as well. Even if they don't appreciate them now, they will treasure them in years to come. And, of course, treasure as well the companionship you shared while you walked in the natural world in a time well-remembered.
Outdoors
November 5, 2009
Hunting with a lens
- Outdoors
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- Safety is vital when working with chain saws STILLWATER -- As Oklahomans clean up after the recent ice storm that left tree limbs shattered or lying around, care should be taken to ensure protection against unintentionally risking an arm or leg being added to the toll.
- Dolese Youth Park Pond teeming with trout for young anglers Oklahoma City resident Gaston Gallant goes fishing nearly every day of the two-month trout season at Dolese Youth Park Pond, a northwest Oklahoma City fishing destination currently teeming with nearly 2,600 rainbow trout.
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De-icing salt can harm landscape plants
Each winter, millions of tons of deicing salt are applied to state and municipal roads to keep the roads safe for vehicles to travel. Salt is spread near houses to avoid pedestrian injuries. This is necessary for safety, but did you know excessive salt can cause widespread damage to trees ? possibly leading to permanent decline and even death?
According to the Tree Care Industry Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the tree care industry, even severe salt damage might not be visible on a tree until the end of summer, leaving homeowners wondering what might have caused the problem. - Making it through That was a cold spell of what we used to call "Biblical proportions." It was made perhaps more interesting locally by the old heat-pump in the house, which died on New Year's Eve. For a week, the household was maintained by an old Franklin stove in the living room, and by the old owner, who had to carry in firewood so it could be fed every hour or so.
- University of Oklahoma team wins college fishing event ZAPATA, Texas -- The University of Oklahoma team of Mark Johnson and Chip Porche won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Division event on Falcon Lake Saturday with six bass weighing 34 pounds, 8 ounces.
- Great Western Feedout entry deadline Friday It is time to start entering for the Great Western Feedout of 2010. For those of you not familiar with it, the Great Western Feedout is a producer information feedback program that allows cattle producers the opportunity to evaluate the genetic merit of the calves they produce for feedlot performance and carcass value following weaning and a winter stocker program.
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Part-time lakes are of full-time importance
For the unlearned, old age is winter, for the learned, it is the season of harvest.
--Hasidic saying
Today's topic is the most important wetlands you've never heard of: Playa lakes and oxbow lakes. Playa lakes are usually saucer shaped natural low places with clay bottoms located in dry landscapes. - Christmas Bird Count yields unexpected rewards What am I doing here? It is incredibly cold morning and I am crouched here in the dark in the willows on the banks of the South Canadian River with a few stalwarts indulging in an activity called "owling.
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Increasing deer population leads to ornamental and garden plant damage
STILLWATER -- With more than a half million white-tailed deer in Oklahoma, many landowners experience nature in its purest sense as the deer can be viewed at close range.
However, this has become a problem over the years as the deer population has increased, forcing thousands of these animals into peripheral suburban areas, leaving homeowners to deal with damage to ornamental and garden plants. -
Wildlife Department to host town hall meeting
Sportsmen will have an opportunity to voice their thoughts on wildlife, hunting and fishing related issues at a town hall meeting hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
The meeting, one of a series, is set for 7 p. - More Outdoors Headlines
