Posted by Scott Bean on November 18, 2009 at 7:25 PM
Not sure how many people here might be members of GPNP or interested in becoming members, but the Great Plains Nature Photographers group is holding their annual meeting this weekend in Wichita, KS. Boyd Norton is scheduled to speak and their is a print competition. This is a meeting I've really wanted to attend the past few years but haven't been able and looks like I won't be able to this year either.
If anyone has been to one of these meetings before or goes this year I would like to hear how it went.
Posted by Rob Graham on November 18, 2009 at 11:03 PM
I've gone for the last 2 years. The first year Jim Richardson spoke, last year it was Rick Sammon. I've enjoyed both years, and will be there again this weekend. Lots of great prints to look at. The fee for the meeting gets you a 1 year membership, but I've never done anything else with the group since I'm 2 hours away. Photographers come from all around, including K.C.
Posted by Brad Mangas on November 19, 2009 at 12:53 AM
I have to admit I was not aware of GPNP. It's not a good weekend for me to attend either dangit. I will have to stay up on the meetings and see if I can make it to the spring one.
I see from their list of previous speakers our own Tim E. was a guest speaker in 1999. Wonder if there is any chance that could happen again. uhh,mmm....
Thanks for the info Scott
Posted by TIMERNST on November 19, 2009 at 6:40 AM
1999? Good grief, I was just a young pup then and did not realize that my mom even let me drive to another state! If anyone happens to talk with the old man Norton at this meeting tell him that I sent you a couple of slides of him from I took in the Virgin Islands that folks at the meeting might enjoy seeing - that will make him really nervous! The first time I met Boyd was in the wilds of Wyoming back in 1980 - he handed me a beer and I knew he was a good guy. Boyd has spent much of his career trying to save our planet, and besides being one of the very best photographers there is, he is also one really, REALLY terrific guy. He met his wife in KINDERGARDEN, and they just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past summer. He will be a very special treat indeed...
I owe much of my career to Boyd (don't tell him this - he might want a cut of the proceeds), and especially for one bit of advice he gave me that has stuck with me all these years and has been the foundation for my work - SHOOT LOCAL! (which is kind of funny coming from a guy who spends most of his time in other parts of the world) It is great to shoot and show images from exotic locations but your bread and butter will come from your own back yard, and that will be what you are the best at anyway so you might as well build on your strengths. His advice remains great today, for everyone...
Posted by Brad Mangas on November 19, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Thanks for the reply Tim. Sounds like Boyd must be a special guy being held in such high regards. I'm really sorry I am going to miss this fall meeting.
The mention of advice he had given as far as shoot local, seems so simple and obvious that it is very possibly overlooked buy most including myself. Most of us weekend photog warriors shoot local because we really have no choice. Limited time and funds and a desire to get out and shoot seem to be the reason we shoot local. There seems to be endless desires to travel to iconic locations so one can capture the "BIG" shot. When possibly the big shot is not a few from some distant exotic land that one may never see again, but many over time from local venues. Learning to see and appreciate even the most simple of lands and the ones we call home especially.
Advice from successful photographers such as Boyd and yourself resonates well with me, I think for the fact that something as simple as "shoot local" is simple. None complicated, not wrapped up in techno-jargin.
Learning to appreciate the things we see everyday is no easy task. They seem to become boring and we get complacent with the same old thing, leading to the desires to travel to distant lands in which to capture our "BIG" shot. Leading us to leave our backyards and head out to where the "grass is greener".
I just felt compelled to say a few things about this since I believe the advice that Boyd gave and you shared is truly great advice. Over the last couple of years I have found myself out on the prairies in the flinthills and even right across the street realizing there is so very much right here under my nose that I seem to miss and want to understand and connect with that at times I get overwhelmed with the need to experience at a greater level than I do. It is always encouraging to hear such simple straight forward advice on how to improve ones photography such as "build on your strengths".
Discussion
4 repliesMore info on the meeting can be found at:
http://www.gpnp.org/
or
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=154716099578
If anyone has been to one of these meetings before or goes this year I would like to hear how it went.
I see from their list of previous speakers our own Tim E. was a guest speaker in 1999. Wonder if there is any chance that could happen again. uhh,mmm....
Thanks for the info Scott
I owe much of my career to Boyd (don't tell him this - he might want a cut of the proceeds), and especially for one bit of advice he gave me that has stuck with me all these years and has been the foundation for my work - SHOOT LOCAL! (which is kind of funny coming from a guy who spends most of his time in other parts of the world) It is great to shoot and show images from exotic locations but your bread and butter will come from your own back yard, and that will be what you are the best at anyway so you might as well build on your strengths. His advice remains great today, for everyone...
The mention of advice he had given as far as shoot local, seems so simple and obvious that it is very possibly overlooked buy most including myself. Most of us weekend photog warriors shoot local because we really have no choice. Limited time and funds and a desire to get out and shoot seem to be the reason we shoot local. There seems to be endless desires to travel to iconic locations so one can capture the "BIG" shot. When possibly the big shot is not a few from some distant exotic land that one may never see again, but many over time from local venues. Learning to see and appreciate even the most simple of lands and the ones we call home especially.
Advice from successful photographers such as Boyd and yourself resonates well with me, I think for the fact that something as simple as "shoot local" is simple. None complicated, not wrapped up in techno-jargin.
Learning to appreciate the things we see everyday is no easy task. They seem to become boring and we get complacent with the same old thing, leading to the desires to travel to distant lands in which to capture our "BIG" shot. Leading us to leave our backyards and head out to where the "grass is greener".
I just felt compelled to say a few things about this since I believe the advice that Boyd gave and you shared is truly great advice. Over the last couple of years I have found myself out on the prairies in the flinthills and even right across the street realizing there is so very much right here under my nose that I seem to miss and want to understand and connect with that at times I get overwhelmed with the need to experience at a greater level than I do. It is always encouraging to hear such simple straight forward advice on how to improve ones photography such as "build on your strengths".
Thanks Tim