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Outdoor Photography

My son, Bob, calls nearly every day on the phone to check on me. He generally requires a report about my daily activities, including my fishing trips.

Recently I gave him a report that included a short summary of the previous evening's fishing. "I caught two," I told him. "I had missed trout in both spots that morning, so I went back in the evening with a different fly and caught them. One was seventeen inches, and the other was twenty."

Bob responded, "Well, did you get a nice picture of the big one, or did you get a 'Rich Tate picture'?"

I knew what he meant and had to admit, "I got a 'Rich Tate picture.' The picture is kind of fuzzy, and the trout is folded down in the net so deeply that you can't tell how big he is."

I tried to excuse myself for taking the bad photo by telling Bob that it was nearly dark and I was in an awkward spot to take the picture.

Bob was having none of it. "I know you get a few decent pictures of trout," he chuckled. "But, you take an awful lot of pictures where the fish is blurred or where you don't even have the whole fish in the photo. I guess even these pictures are better than the ones you don't get when you leave the camera at home."

Sadly this is all true. When I was young and began to do a little outdoor writing, a couple of magazine editors told me that I needed to get a good camera and learn how to use it. "Good photos will sell more articles than good writing will," more than one told me.

I bought a bulky 35-millimeter camera. It took fine pictures but was a pain to carry with me when on the stream. Later, I bought a convenient pocket camera, and it served for a while; but then digital photography came along.

I bought an early digital camera and couldn't even figure out how to use it. I gave it to Donna, who learned to use it effectively. However, she often could not accompany me to the stream.

Finally, I came up with a series of small, easy-to-use digital cameras. However, I sometimes hit the wrong button on my present camera and get a short video of a fish. And, as Bob suggested, I often don't even remember to take it with me.

However, these are only minor problems compared to those I experience when trying to get hunting photos.

 

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