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IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO RECEIVE THIS PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE
BOTTOM & HIT UNSUBSCRIBE!! Thank you.
Contents:
“Looking Out My Back Door” &
“On The Road Again”
Upcoming Tour Info for 2010
PART I
After cancelling my foreign photo tours for
this year---for obvious reasons-- (newsletter #84), but unable to calm my
‘wanderlust-nature’, Tad & I headed out west with Big Sky, Montana
the final destination. The plan was to take two weeks to drive only the
back roads in the motor-home, towing my jeep, which we would use to
explore and photograph along the way. Then we would store both vehicles,
fly home for six weeks so we could go back to work to pay the
‘gi-normous’ gas bill accumulated by the 35 foot gas-guzzler (jeep was
very good on gas :) )!! After six weeks home, on Sept. 10th we will fly
back to Montana and head home to Florida continuing the adventure by
going other routes and back roads so I can continue my “Recon Mission”
for other US tour destinations.
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I’ve spent the last twelve or so years
leading photo tours to wonderful areas of this world…Africa, Madagascar, Ecuador,
Brazil, Galapagos etc. etc. I’ve driven the entire East Coast & West
Coast of the USA. After a three year ‘hitch’ in California, I drove home
through Texas where the tumbleweed was bigger than my Volkswagen ‘Bug’
and ventured through all those Southern States including most all of
Florida. Even after all that, I was still totally unprepared for what lay
ahead as we drove toward and through the real Heartland of America.
I was, and am, blown away by the vastness, and sheer beauty of this grand
country of ours….and I haven’t even touched the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
Early on in the trip it became obvious that Katherine Lee Bates, who
wrote the poem “ America the Beautiful” around 1895, knew what she was
writing about. (It was a poem before it was a song—I looked it up).
As we leisurely drove through thousands and thousands of acres of
farmlands growing rice, wheat, corn, and soy beans the words, “oh
beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain….” kept ringing in
my head. How true!! As the prairie winds gently blow, the corn &
wheat stalks sway & undulate just like ocean waves….it is mesmerizing
and beautiful. (For Tad’s sake, at no time did I break out into song!!) I
now know and appreciate more than ever before why we can, and should,
and are, feeding the world, and why we & the rest of the world owe
the farmers of this country our gratitude.
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The roads are long and straight through the
heartland of America, with views that go farther than the eye can
possibly see. My mind & imagination kept reverting back to the
pioneers of yesteryear who crossed this land in covered wagons with all
kinds of unknown dangers, hardships, and inconveniences. It was awesome
to be traveling their same path, but also very humbling as we traveled the
same route in our air conditioned, metal covered wagon, with
toilet, shower, stocked refrigerator, generator, television, stereo, and
instead of six mules pulling us, we were pulling my V-8 jeep!! One can
only imagine their determination and strength as they plodded along at a
mules’ pace for weeks and even months. There were no paved roads….just
rocks, sage, dirt and every other obstacle one can think of. Occasionally
there would be a small hill or rise in the road breaking up the vast
vistas and I’d become more alert waiting to see what lay on the other
side of the hill. Heading west into So. Dakota, we crested this one hill
and my breath was taken almost completely away as we viewed this wall of
what looked like sand castles that ran for miles to the North and South
of our road and rose who-knew how high into the air. Looming before
us---miles & miles away---lay the Badlands National Park.
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The Badlands are very aptly named as there
is no way a covered wagon was going to ever be able to cross them!
Imagine having spent weeks and weeks traveling in a covered wagon only to
be stopped dead in your tracks by mountains of sand and erosion for as
far as the eye can see or more!! Bet there was a profane word used here
and there!! For me, the Badlands are a beautiful work of art, especially
in the twilight hours. My analogy is that our creator and friends got
together with a huge pail of sand and water (and maybe a keg of beer) and
spent a good amount of time making fabulous ‘sand drippings’ that we did
as kids at the beach! (Only we didn’t have the keg of beer!). My images
in this newsletter don’t even begin to depict the magnitude and beauty of
the Badlands. However, this is where “the buffalo roam and the
deer and antelope (Pronghorn) play”, as well as fun prairie dog towns.
You’ll never be grumpy, bored or sad while sitting in front of a prairie
dog town! They are as comical as the Rockhopper Penguins of the Falkland
Islands, or all the species of Boobies of the Galapagos Islands that I’ve
written about.
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Traveling back roads, avoiding major
highways, expressways, gas stations or fast food stops, allows you to see
the real America, the real backbone of this country, the real people who
make up the solid foundation we often forget about, not to leave out
scenics ordinarily missed. Often the road leads you onto another path not
anticipated and new fun adventures. Keep in mind, though, that often
there is no cell tower or communication, and not a gas station nearby or
even far away!! However, one observation I have is the many little
chapels & churches the dot the countryside along the way. A few
peaked my curiosity and we would stop. Their doors were always open and
the interior well maintained, usually with a guest registration book to
sign. Coincidentally, at this one little chapel the person who signed the
book just before me was named Joanne Williams from somewhere I’ve
forgotten. Gives you goose bumps.
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One would be most remiss to get to that part
of the country and not visit the impressive Mt. Rushmore. Not only is it
beautiful and ‘soul stirring’, it is an incredible feat of human
ingenuity. Just think, it only took 6 ½ years of on and off work
(remember the winters in So. Dakota), 90% of the 450,000 tons of granite
removed was taken from the mountain with dynamite and not one of the 400
men it took to create this masterpiece was killed or even badly injured
in the process! The visitors’ center is a wealth of information,
statistics and wonderful memorabilia. The scenic drive through South
Dakota is a fabulous opportunity for photography. Be careful of the
challenges making U-turns on back roads and steep mountain curves to go
back and shoot a vista you had just zoomed by, especially if you are in a
35 foot motor home towing another twelve or so feet of equipment!!
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“On the road again” heading toward Wyoming
and the Grand Tetons is awesome and to me quite spiritual. The views and
experience will alter your inflated ego (if you have one) into the
realization of how miniscule you are in the whole scheme of things! Vast,
Big, Gigantic, Beautiful are adjectives that barely describe the Grand
Tetons. The aromatic & pretty silvery grey-green of the sagebrush
flats covers the valley’s floor providing food and shelter for many
little critters. In the late 1800s, five Mormon families settled in the
area. Wandering around photographing their abandoned barns, outhouse,
tool sheds & fences etc. with the Grand Tetons as a backdrop was
artistically inspiring. What struck me more than the crystal blue sky
behind these gigantic jagged peaks of rock called The Cathedrals was the
deafening silence. Only occasionally would the silence be broken by a
scream from a hawk, common raven, American Magpie or American Kestral.
The famous community of Jackson Hole is a summer playground and winter
skiing resort. It is quaint, holding onto its history of the Wild West,
and unique with such sites as the arches of antlers. We stayed at the
famous old historic hotel, The Wort, as a break from our covered wagon.
Jackson Hole is also a shoppers’ paradise, especially of unique artwork.
The well-known nature photographer, Tom Mangelsen, has a beautiful gallery
on the main drag (with beautiful prices for his beautiful works of art).
The Western outfits are fabulous, as well as all the Indian jewelry etc.
I must and will return!
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After three days in Jackson Hole, it was time
to head for Big Sky, Montana, our final destination and where I was to
perform magic with my camera shooting the art of fly-fishing. Our host
and hostess, Skip & Annie, are accomplished at fly-fishing, as well
as every other outdoor activity! We arrived in Big Sky in plenty of time
to put the motor home in storage for its six weeks stay, keeping the jeep
for explorations around Big Sky. We had barely arrived at their
beautiful, palatial log cabin home located on a mountain nestled in with
fragrant pine trees when I hear someone urgently calling my name and
telling me to grab my camera, which fortunately was all charged with a
empty CF card and ready to go. I heard them saying there’s a black bear
right nearby in the woods, which there was and well within shooting
distance of my short lens. I was told it wasn’t a particularly big bear,
but at 400 to 500 lbs of black fur, it was plenty large enough for me,
especially being my first black bear ever!!
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A handsome male moose in full velvet granted
me an audience while he slurped & drank & drooled from a
stream—another first! I added scenics of people rafting and more group
fly-fishing for my agencies’ portfolios of my work, which was colorful
& fun. Capturing images of fly-fishing isn’t easy, and I need to
develop a better technique. I’ll have a second chance on my return. While
there, I have arrangements made to meet with a couple of guides in order
to do more “recon work” in that area thus expanding my locations of the
world for future Joanne Williams Photo Tours.
UPCOMING TOURS FOR
2010:
Just a head’s up that plans are presently in
the making for my two-week tours to Pantanal, Brazil in June, the
Galapagos Islands for end of September/October (dates not secure as of
this moment), Kenya, Africa and Namibia, Africa. Should any of these
tours be of interest to you, please feel free to let me know and I’ll put
you on the list (no deposits necessary at this time).
I would like to remind all of my readers,
tour participants and friends that you do not need to be a photographer
to join me on my tours—just have to be an avid nature & wildlife
lover-- (amateur, professional, point & shooter or tinker-arounders
are all welcome.)
PART II COMING
SOON!!
Keep Your Aperture Your Priority & Happy
Shooting!!
If you are interested in any of my tours, click on
their corresponding link below:
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Photo Researchers, Editors, and Publishers:
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As stated in previous newsletters, at no
obligation to you, send me a “want list” of images you are looking for
that may coincide with a trip I’m about to take, or have recently taken,
and I’ll do my very best to seek out that subject and shoot it with your
request in mind. This may save you some expense, give me a specific
mission and possibly a sale of that image. It’s a ‘win, win situation’!
A quick reminder that my library of 35mm
original slides houses approximately 75,000 images, and my digital
library presently holds over 100,000 (and growing-hourly)!
My website holds an in-depth Stock Shop for your quick review: www.joannewilliamsphoto.com
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