June 2011 Archives - Outdoor Writers Association of America

Salt Lake City: Updated and close to everything

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 17:28:15 +0000

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BY SHAWN STINSON
If you haven’t been to Salt Lake City in the past few years, you’re in for an eyeopening ride — whether it’s on the nearby ski slopes or the sleek light rail transit system. Since hosting the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, this city of more than 183,000 has gone from good to great. With more than $1.5 billion of construction projects in final stages in the central business district alone, and the slated 2012 completion of “Downtown Rising,” an ambitious mixed-use development on two blocks in the heart of downtown, Salt Lake City stands ready to join the ranks of the major metropolitan centers of the West.
Spurred on by its hosting role in the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, Salt Lake began reinventing itself during the past decade. It started with improved infrastructure: rebuilt freeways, airport and convention center expansions, and a major light-rail system. All of those features made the city more accessible and desirable. A new light rail line from Salt Lake City International Airport is planned for completion in 2013, making it easier than ever to whisk into Salt Lake’s vibrant downtown in minutes. One of 16 “silver-level” bicycle friendly communities across the country, according to the League of American Bicyclists, Salt Lake now sports a new bicycle transit center, replete with showers and lockers, in the Intermodal Hub which ties together all train, light rail and bus systems downtown.
In addition to its easy accessibility from anywhere in the country, Salt Lake has established itself as a major outdoor destination in a cosmopolitan setting. Salt Lake’s world-class ski resorts — Alta, Brighton, Snowbird and Solitude — are all within 30 minutes of such amenities as the AAA Five Diamond Grand America Hotel and its posh spa, or the Hotel Monaco. Entertainment options abound, too. Salt Lake is home to professional opera and symphony companies and hosts numerous Broadway Across America musicals, not to mention professional sports teams.
The city and its nearby canyons tempt diners with an appetizing selection of restaurants, populated by world-traveled chefs cooking local and regional ingredients and serving them with award-winning wine lists. From Rocky Mountain cuisine to superb sushi, it’s all here.
Shawn Stinson is the Director of Communications at the Salt Lake City Convention & Visitors Bureau.
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Ethanol provides false hope for drivers

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 17:20:20 +0000

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BY RICH PATTERSON
Members are encouraged to write about issues and topics. Views expressed do not represent the opinion or endorsement of OWAA, its staff, officers, directors or members. Opposing views are encouraged, as OWAA desires to create a forum for the exchange of ideas. Send commentary to editor@owaa.org.
There’s a 600-acre farm in central Iowa well known to several OWAA members. From time to time I’d get a call from a member asking if I’d take him pheasant hunting. My farmer friend was cooperative, and his land crawled with birds.
The farm’s still there but pheasants have departed. They are not scarce; they are gone! The Iowa Department of Natural Resources attributes the drop in the annual rooster harvest, of about 1.5 million to 300,000 birds, to the weather. No doubt there’s truth to that. The past few winters have been among the snowiest on record and they were followed by rainy springs that drowned chicks.
But there’s more to it than snow. Drive across vast stretches of the world’s richest soil in winter and the landscape is a vast featureless pancake. Brushy fence lines of a few years ago are gone. So are patches of trees and grassy waterways. There’s hardly cover for a chickadee.
Although wildlife habitat has been in decline for years, record corn and soybean prices are pushing farmers to put every square inch of land into production.
Look at it from a farmer’s viewpoint. In 2000, the average bushel of corn sold for $1.77. In 2010, it had risen to $4.44. As of March 11, 2011, a bushel of corn fetched $6.69. It’s little wonder that farmers view trees, fence lines and wetlands as lost income.
The grain price explosion is fueled by several factors, including poor 2010 weather that resulted in a slightly lower harvest than the United States Department of Agriculture predicted. Rapidly increasing exports to China and other developing countries probably has a greater impact on price. So does ethanol.
Touted as a sustainable and renewable “wonderfuel,” ethanol plants sprouted across the Corn Belt in the past decade and now consume upwards of a third of the crop. The industry thrives on subsidies at various levels. Ethanol producers get a tax credit of 45 cents per gallon. Farmers receive a host of subsidies. And Iowa, among other states, taxes ethanol blends less than straight gas at the pump.
The credit alone costs taxpayers $6 billion a year but is a sacred cow among Corn Belt politicians. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley and Gov. Terry Branstad claim to oppose subsidies and earmarks, but fall all over themselves defending ethanol subsidies.
The 10 percent ethanol normally mixed with 90 percent gasoline is the same stuff that gives booze its punch. A gallon of ethanol contains 34 percent less energy than a gallon of gas. Ethanol blended fuel reduces miles per gallon by about 3 percent in most vehicles. Although it might sell for 1 or 2 percent less per gallon than pure gas, it is actually the more expensive product in terms of miles it will propel a vehicle.
Rising corn demand is doing more than destroying pheasant habitat. It’s also reducing the land’s ability to absorb precipitation. In the wake of disastrous 2008 flooding, most Iowans agreed that that reducing future floods is best achieved by increasing watershed health through wetland restoration and the creation of vegetated buffers along streams and rivers. The reverse is happening as every scrap of land is put into production and Conservation Reserve Program land fades to a remnant.
Whether we’re nearing the point where humanity must decide whether it wants to burn or eat grain is a matter of opinion. Farmers are confident that this cruel decision will be unnecessary. Historically, corn yields have risen 2 percent a year due to better genetics and more efficient husbandry. Also, more land is coming into corn production. New hybrids enable corn to be grown in cold and arid soil – the Corn Belt is pushing into the Wheat Belt.
Ethanol proponents tout the promise of cellulosic ethanol – that made from crop residue rather than grain. In essence, this lets people eat the grain and burn ethanol made from cornstalks and leaves. Cellulosic ethanol is a laboratory product too expensive to apply on commercial scale, but that could change if the process becomes more efficient. Scan an Iowa winter cornfield and you notice a blanket of crop debris covering the dirt. It reduces erosion and enables some topsoil regeneration as it decomposes. Remove crop debris to make alcohol and more topsoil will head for the Gulf as sediment.
It is hard to imagine that ethanol holds much promise to significantly reduce oil demand. We’re now using an enormous amount of potential food to stretch gas by 10 percent. Energy efficiency is far more effective and cheaper.
Although ethanol is poor energy, environmental and farm policy it makes for great politics because it sounds so good.
A member since 1983, Rich Patterson is director of Indian Creek Nature Center. He also contributes material to Iowa Game & Fish Magazine and Cedar Rapids Gazette. Contact him at rpatterson@indian creeknaturecenter.org.
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Road trip marketing

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 17:12:18 +0000

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BY TIM CHRISTIE
Since beginning my solo freelance photography business 30 years ago, I learned that more time spent in the office meant more sales. Yet, that is the antithesis of why I got into photography. So I had to figure out how to spend time afield and still survive financially. Here are some tricks to minimize lost sales when on extended road trips: Stay connected to your clients, use technology to your advantage, and have a fully functional website.
Last year, an Alaskan photo trip took me out of my office for more than a month. Fortunately, the trip had little impact on my photo sales. Pre-trip planning for the extended absence was critical. I keep a calendar that tracks what times of the year my major clients typically look for images, along with a record of what they’ve purchased in the past. Two months before departing on my trip, I phoned each of my major clients. I told them what was happening and asked them if they might forecast their needs for upcoming issues or projects. Long-standing relationships with each client facilitated the request; most happily obliged. In the ensuing weeks I prepared submissions for each client based on their projected needs. Two clients prepared detailed lists, simplifying my work. Others gave me some general ideas, but enough to prepare solid photo packages.
Once on the road I tried to attend to any client needs. Finding cell coverage was easier than finding Internet access while traveling to and in Alaska. A smartphone with Internet browsing capability proved handy for frequently checking emails. After receiving an image request, I sought out a reliable Internet connection, which often proved challenging. Once found (commonly at restaurants or commercial campgrounds), I spent the time needed to process the request. When traveling I carry a two-terabyte hard drive containing all of my digital photo files. Using a cloud storage service, such as YouSendIt (www.yousendit.com), one can upload high-resolution files or folders to a client’s computer. This eliminates the extra time and cost associated with having to burn images to media and then mail them.
My major clients knew that I’d be off the grid sometimes for up to a week at a time, so they took care to ensure their requests didn’t require immediate attention. On the trip I received several requests from new clients, some of whom seemed miffed that I was not immediately responsive to their emails even though I’d posted an email reply message that I was on the road. One sent eight emails in two days, finally asking, “Where in the Hell are you?” Truly those eight messages are a testament to what digital technology has done to the levels of people’s expectations of instant gratification.
Having someone pick up office phone messages, or having the capacity to pick up messages on the road is equally critical. Some clients avoid emails, instead preferring a phone call. Not responding to a client’s missives for a month strains their faith in your work ethic.
My website serves several purposes while I’m on trips. First, it allows clients to search and select images when they need them. Instead of general requests for “a big whitetail buck,” clients now send requests for specific photos chosen from my website.
Secondly, it allows me to create a password-protected private Web gallery. Knowing that a client might be looking for some images like those I’ve just shot, I email them a password and tell them what’s in the gallery. Three photos taken on the trip were sold before I got home — something never possible in the “era of film.”
When I’m on a photo shoot it’s a given that there’s a potential to lose sales. But my sanity and the need to add new and fresh images to my stock files require that I regularly go afield to photograph. The digital world and all its technology allows one to pull off some amazing tricks. It’s just a matter of staying connected; and with some planning and technology, it’s easier than ever.
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the April 2011 online edition of Outdoors Unlimited. For more business tips, visit www.owaa.org/ou.
Tim Christie, a fulltime freelance writer and nature photographer residing in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has photographed throughout North America. He has been a member of OWAA since 1985. You can view or purchase his images by visiting his website www.timchristiephoto.com.
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Citizen journalists in OWAA

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:54:47 +0000

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BY PETER SCHROEDER
Members are encouraged to write about issues and topics. Views expressed do not represent the opinion or endorsement of OWAA, its staff, officers, directors or members. Opposing views are encouraged, as OWAA desires to create a forum for the exchange of ideas. Send commentary to editor@ owaa.org.
When my kids went away to college, I regularly mailed them letters, the hand-written kind. However, it wasn’t long before they told me to email them instead, because they would receive the correspondence instantly. So I learned how to send emails and everything was fine — at least for a while.
Then they asked me to IM (instant message) them instead, so we could correspond back and forth in real time. So I had to learn how to send IMs. But then they said it would be better to get a cell phone, and we could call each other whenever we wanted for minimal cost, since there would be no long-distance charges. So I got a cell phone.
But shortly after that, they said it would be better if I text messaged them from my cell phone. That way, their phone wouldn’t ring if they were in class and we could text each other even while they were taking notes during lectures. Once I got the hang of moving my thumbs across the small keypad and learned the abbreviated texting jargon, things went pretty well. But this, too, was short-lived. Next they said I should upgrade from my cell phone to a smartphone, which had a regular keypad, so it would be easier to text. Also, this way I could pick up emails. So I bought an iPhone.
By this time they were in graduate school. Now they told me I could just write on their Facebook wall (whatever that meant) or, if the message was short, I could tweet (yet another new frontier). In the evening when they were back in their dorms we could Skype, so we could talk and also see each other. (Wait — I have to comb my hair to talk to my kids on the phone?) And instead of mailing them photos, I should just post them on Snapfish or Picasa (for which I had to open a Google account).
This was all coming pretty fast, but eventually I got a Facebook account, signed on to Twitter, joined LinkedIn, learned how to Skype, posted photos on Picasa, and am now braced for the next techno-upgrade.
In the meantime, while I’ve been trying to figure out the online version of Outdoors Unlimited, my kids have built their own websites, produced YouTube videos, signed onto online forums, created podcasts and joined the blogosphere. By commenting on numerous subjects, many of which are the purview of traditional journalism, they have become “citizen journalists,” followed by thousands of people with whom they share a common interest.
If it hadn’t been for my kids dragging me reluctantly into the digital media era, I’d still be back in the Gutenberg age banging out copy on my old IBM Selectric. (Didn’t the font ball seem like a great leap forward?)
The point: The world of mass communication is moving fast into new directions and unless we as traditional journalists want to face extinction like the dinosaurs, we’d better learn these tools of new media and adapt accordingly.
An even bigger challenge to OWAA is figuring out how to integrate these so-called citizen journalists into our organization.

Blogs, tweets, podcasts, YouTube videos — today, many “citizen journalists” use online social media to comment about the outdoors. The impact and credibility of these individuals can be significant — many are followed by thousands of people with whom they share their interests. Outdoor enthusiasts no longer depend exclusively on newspaper columnists, magazine writers or TV anchor people. The advice of the expert authority has been replaced by the collective wisdom of the crowd.
OWAA faces a challenge: how do we integrate citizen journalists into our organization? At the moment we do not have a membership category that fits these people working in the new media.
Here are some ideas that have been adopted by other writers groups facing this same issue. OWAA could establish a citizen journalist membership category that requires applicants to meet any four of the following five benchmarks:
1. Minimum one year of blogging, posting videos (on YouTube, Vimeo or a similar platform) online reporting, etc. on a social media website that allows response and feedback.
2. Income from a source other than PR firms, advertising agencies or commercial organizations.
3. Minimum two online written, audio, or visual updates per month (in season) that are editorial, not advertorial; redistribution of press releases does not qualify.
4. Minimum 500 page-views/hits per month, and must allow response feedback on the site.
5. Applicant must be responsible only for editorial content of a website and may not be involved in the selling of advertising.
Are these criteria broad enough, too restrictive, or incomplete?
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared as a two-part series in the April and May 2011 issues of Outdoors Unlimited. To read the rest of those publications, visit www.owaa.org/ou.
Peter Schroeder is a freelance writer and photographer. He specializes in recreational boating, cruising under sail, scuba diving, snow skiing, and worldwide adventure travel. Contact him at ptrschrdr@ aol.com.
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Getting on an editor's good side

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:38:42 +0000

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BY PJ DelHOMME
As hunting editor at Bugle magazine with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, I’ve learned a few tricks that help me out in the freelance world — namely, reading the mind of an editor. Here are 10 tips that I provide our potential writers hoping to publish a story in Bugle. Maybe they can help you.
1. READ THE MAGAZINE
This is the best thing you can do. Don’t send me a story identical to the one we published last issue. To get an idea of what kinds of stories are published, read a full year’s worth of the magazine. See how your story might fit.
2. HAVE AN ANGLE
I’m sure you had a great time on your hunt, but ask yourself, why am I writing this story? All good ones have a point. Possible angles can be used to fit departments in the magazine. Naming which department tells me you read the magazine.
3. KEEP A JOURNAL
You think you will remember all the details of a hunt, but chances are you won’t. It’s unlikely you’ll forget about the 6×6 bull you killed, but what about the branch you stepped on that almost blew it? How about that feeling in your stomach when you thought you missed? These details help give life to the story. Write them down.
4. INCLUDE YOUR CONTACT INFO
In school, leaving your name off a test got you an ‘F.’ Most times it will just get your submission deleted. Tell me who wrote the story.
5. BE PATIENT
I receive hundreds of submissions every year. We publish around 10 percent of those. I will read your story, but it may take me up to a year to make a decision.
6. CONSIDER HUMILITY
If an editor rejects your piece, asks you for an extended query or to see a piece on spec, don’t act insulted and tell them how many decades it’s been since you’ve been rejected or wrote a piece on spec.
7. ANTICIPATE OUR NEEDS
We’re creatures of habit. Every year, we have a bowhunting special section, along with numerous special sections. Keep an eye out in the Call for Stories box in our letters to the editor section. That’s where we offer writing prompts and ideas for potential special sections.
8. FORGET THE HOW-TO ARTICLE
When we run the occasional how-to piece, it’s typically very specific and done by our editors in-house. Always send us a query if you think you have a how-to story idea we will want.
9. LABEL FICTION
The vast majority of submissions I receive are considered non-fiction. If you have an amalgamation of events that occurred over a lifetime and make them into one hunt, I consider that fiction. Please label it. Be honest.
10. JUST ASK
In a timely fashion, I respond to every phone call and email that comes to me. If you have a question, just ask it.
PJ DelHomme is the Bugle magazine hunting editor.
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Liven up your writing: Listen to local voices

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:26:40 +0000

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BY DAN SMALL
The best way to liven up a magazine or newspaper feature is to integrate local color into your narrative. If you write about hunting snowshoe hares in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, let your readers feel the lung-searing bite of a below-zero morning. If your article subject is spey fishing for steelhead on the Deschutes River, let them smell the spawn-laced fog that hangs over an Oregon river in March. If you’re covering an attempt at a world record for the fastest time canoeing the Rhine from its headwaters in the Swiss Alps to its mouth at the North Sea in the Netherlands, let them hear the confusion of a German water-police officer as he tries to understand what two crazy Americans are doing in their wireless-equipped Winona emblazoned from bow to stern with sponsor decals.
The best local color often spills right from the mouths of, well, locals themselves. Listen to the way people talk about their jobs, their recreation and their surroundings. If they use a colloquial expression, put it in your story.
In many parts of the Northeast, for instance, ruffed grouse are “pa’tridge.” If your pack-trip elk guide is also a cowboy poet, record some of his doggerel verse and slip it into your account of an evening around the campfire. If a steelhead guide hands you a fly you’ve never seen, ask him its name and how he came up with it.
A small dose of local color goes a long way, so don’t overdo it. If you don’t have Faulkner’s ear for a Southern dialect, don’t sprinkle too many y’alls and yes’ms into your dialogue or it will sound awkward at best. Just try to capture a phrase or two that hints at the bigger picture.
Last July, while covering the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster and 80 years of habitat degradation in the Mississippi River Delta, I spent two days touring marshes and bayous with fishing guides Ryan Lambert and Brittin Eustis.
Lambert has guided there for 30 years. In his GPS unit, he had an old map chip that showed dry land where now there is nothing but water. As we motored across miles of open water near Buras, La., Lambert called out the names of bays and bayous we were traversing, places that still exist on his outdated map but are now lost forever to the saltwater.
It sounded like a list of fallen soldiers: “Grand Liard Bayou, Bay Jacques, Scofield Bay, English Bayou.”
When I asked why he didn’t replace the chip with one that depicted today’s land and water features, he simply said, “Then I couldn’t tell my story.”
I spent the next day with 26-yearold Eustis. Our shirts clung to our backs and sweat ran down our faces as we idled down The Jump, a several-mile channel that connects the port of Venice, La., to the Mississippi River.
When Eustis finally brought his 24-foot bay boat up on plane, the warm breeze was a welcome relief from the stifling heat.
He smiled broadly and said, “We call this ‘coon-ass air-conditioning,”
And right there I knew I had the lead for my story.
Editor’s note: This article originally apeared in the April 2011 online edition of Outdoors Unlimited. For more craft improvement articles, visit www.owaa.org/ou.

Dan Small hosts Outdoor Wisconsin on public TV stations and Outdoors Radio on commercial stations in Wisconsin. He also writes for Outdoor News publications and anyone else who will run his stuff. He says he is too busy to think about retiring. His latest project is a line of food products under the Dan Small’s Fish & Game Gourmet label. Contact him at dansmalloutdoors@gmail.com.
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Cutting through the clutter

OWAA staff — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:12:39 +0000

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BY CHANDLER VAN VOORHIS
We live in an over-communicated world. Each day, the average person is exposed to 18,000 marketing messages. Whether that message is a commercial, a branded segment, a billboard or commentary, everything is a message.
A great radio coach and messaging genius, Nick Michaels (www.nickmichaels.com), once told me that all messages move through a triangle. The top of the triangle is information, the bottom left point is entertainment and the bottom right is relevancy.
Many of us in radio spend our time trying to dispense info to our listeners like a general talking to a subordinate, or we spend time trying to be 100 percent entertaining. We all have fallen into one of these roles in one way or another. “Listen to WXXX, because we are the station that rocks” or “Trust in KXXX.” Does the audience really need to be commanded to listen or instructed to trust?
However, good radio focuses on being relevant.
Every day, we make decisions about what is relevant and what is noise. We all have internal spam filters. Crafting your message to focus on the deepest hopes, wants and fears of your audience will enable two things. First, it creates a customize vehicle to deliver information. Second, it forces one to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the audience. Not the traditional general-talking-to-the-private scenario.
Nick Michaels did a radio billboard for KFI in Los Angeles after 9/11 that said: “Cindy is afraid. Every day Cindy drops her kid off at school, looks into her eyes and wants to know what’s next? That is why Cindy listens to KFI.”
This was brilliant. After 9/11, everyone was afraid. The message tapped into the fear everyone was feeling. The audience wanted to know how they could benefit from Cindy’s fear: “Wow, Cindy listens to KFI.”
This is a perfect example of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the audience, cutting through the clutter and delivering a message that is personal.
With every radio commercial, billboard, bit, interview or commentary, ask yourself this one question: “How do I make this relevant to my audience?”
When you start with that one question, you are on the path to great radio.
A member since 2003, Chandler van Voorhis is a manager of C2I, LLC and a founding member of Tender Biomass Supply, LLC. He was also co-host of GreenWave radio and recipient of the Chevron Texaco Conservation Award. Contact him at chandler@c2invest.net.
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Are you ready for a personal Independence Day?

OWAA staff — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:24:03 +0000

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BY COLLEEN MINIUK-SPERRY
This article is the first installment of a three-part series about leaving an office job for a freelance career. The second article will list the top things to do before you leave. And in part three, the author will talk about how to thrive in the freelance life and avoid returning to Corporate America.
Though not recognized as a bank holiday, Feb. 28 is my personal Independence Day. On that glorious day in 2007, after two years of meticulously planning my escape, I left the safe but life-draining gray cubicles of Corporate America and opened the door to a full-time freelance career in outdoor photography and writing.
When I share my story with others, I most often hear, “That took guts! How did you do it?” This three-part series will address that question.
There are things to consider before you resign from your current living and ways to ensure you don’t return to your drab windowless office. But first, how do you know you are ready to pursue a full-time position in your own business? If the following rings true, it may be time to plan your own Independence Day.
Working at the circus sounds more appealing than staying at your current job. You feel like you work with a bunch of clowns now, which makes you so crazy that it seems like running off to join the circus would be a step up in your career. And that’s a good perspective to have because as soon as you become a freelancing communicator, you become a one-person show in a many-ringed circus. Are you ready to simultaneously juggle the tasks of marketing, finance, human relations, manufacturing and training? If multitasking isn’t your forte, do you know who to contact to either perform these tasks or help you develop these skills?
If freelancing doesn’t work out, your backup plan is not returning to your existing occupation, but rather serving hamburgers at a fast food restaurant. Indifference is not a big enough motivator, but an intense dislike of your current situation can serve as excellent inspiration to change. When the worst case scenario seems better than where you are at today, perhaps it is time to stop wasting your talents and energy on things you honestly hate to do.
A burning passion to inform, educate and inspire others lives in your soul. Making a choice to become self-employed should stem from an excitement and commitment to your desired area of focus, not because you lack other employment options or because you saw an idealistic notion of what a National Geographic photographer does from the novel and movie, “The Bridges of Madison County.”
You have run out of “dead” relatives. No one believes your great aunt has passed away six times since February. Or maybe you have called in sick so frequently, you’ve earned the reputation of being “the one who has some highly contagious unpronounceable disease.” Whatever your excuse, you have run out of your allocated vacation and sick days to support freelance opportunities during work hours — and it’s only June.
A taste of the “good” life has left you hungry for more. Working as a freelancer in conjunction with your present 40-hour work week can sometimes make you feel like you have two full-time jobs. However, trying out your new life in the figurative circus above a safety net and finding enough work to independently generate income now and in the foreseeable future can set you on a profitable self-employed course.
Family and friends support you beyond, “Wow, that’s a pretty picture, George. You could totally sell that!” The people in your moral support network are willing to buy your photographic prints for the holidays, spend hours editing your articles, and cook you dinner when you’re so focused on a deadline you forget to eat.
You are self-disciplined, independent and highly motivated. Being self-employed, no manager stands over your shoulder telling you what, when and how to do your work. No one will provide direction when the path gets foggy. To be successful, you must be comfortable charting your own course and following your own compass.
Having complete control and accountability for your work excites you. As el Presidente of your own business, when things go right, you’re to blame. When things go wrong, you’re to blame.
Your financial obligations are low. Because you’ll be transitioning from a stable income to a fluctuating one, it is best not to be in serious debt when starting a freelancing career. You might have to fund your own trips for developing story ideas to build a portfolio, and query new outlets before they are willing to give you regular assignments. Are you willing to put off purchasing that expensive new lens you really don’t need?
If these points resonate with you, don’t jump ship yet! In the next issue of OU, we’ll explore the critical steps to take before you ditch the clowns, to ensure you are set up for success once you celebrate your own Independence Day.
Residing in Chandler, Ariz., Colleen Miniuk-Sperry is an award-winning and internationally published outdoor photographer and writer. While focused on delivering phototext packages for various editorial outlets, working on three books, teaching photography workshops, and chairing the OWAA Education Committee, she frequently forgets to eat. Contact her at cms@cms-photo.com.
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An experiment in our future

OWAA staff — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:11:03 +0000

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BY JASON JENKINS
OWAA now has an official presence on the University of Missouri campus
On college campuses these days, there’s seemingly a club for every interest. At the University of Missouri, for example, there are more than 500 student groups. From academic organizations and professional societies to sports clubs and community service groups, if you name it, they probably have it.
That is, with one noted exception — outdoor communications. Yes, a student can join the bass fishing club, the forestry club or the magazine club, but why not fill the void and give students a group that combines their love of the outdoors and their desire to communicate about it? Why not give them OWAA?
Last fall, I posed this question to Bill Allen, a former science reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who now teaches science journalism at Ol’ Mizzou. He responded that not only was there a cadre of students who would jump at the opportunity to join such a group, but he also knew a student who could spearhead its creation.
At the winter OWAA Board of Directors meeting, I presented a plan for a pilot project to give OWAA a presence at the University of Missouri. Fast-forward a handful of months to a rainy Thursday in late April, inside a nondescript classroom on the Mizzou campus. Here, a small contingent of like-minded students came together for the inaugural meeting of the Mizzou Chapter of OWAA, the first official university student chapter to be sanctioned by our organization.
Why would OWAA get involved on a college campus? Well, it’s no secret that our ranks have steadily decreased in recent years. If our organization is to be relevant and vibrant in the future, we need to cultivate new members. As our mission states, we need to mentor the next generation of professional outdoor communicators. Without them, there will be no OWAA.
We need young communicators in our organization like John McLaughlin, a senior from Grain Valley, Mo., who is studying agricultural journalism with an emphasis in conservation and environmental sciences.
It was McLaughlin who stepped up and took on the task of getting the student chapter organized and officially recognized by the university. This latter step ensures that even after he graduates and moves on to his career, the chapter will be able to continue on with the next crop of students.
“I cannot thank OWAA enough for affording us this chance at future success,” said McLaughlin, who was elected president of the chapter for the 2011-2012 academic year.
“I have great expectations of increasing our student membership and furthering activity in our beloved outdoors. Our chapter looks forward to working with national OWAA members to further outdoor communication and strengthen our still budding knowledge of the natural world.”
For many years, OWAA has had a student membership category, but we’ve had relatively few takers. Why? I don’t think it’s from lack of interest. Instead, I think it’s because it’s difficult for anyone — especially college students — to connect to an organization on any meaningful level without some social interaction.
College life is predicated on the social experience: dorm life, classes, football games, frat parties. By having a presence on campus, OWAA will be able to interact with students in more meaningful ways. By interconnecting OWAA with the college experience, there’s a strong likelihood the relationship will continue into a student’s professional career and ensure that our ranks continue to be filled.
It will require more than just lending a name for this pilot project to succeed. OWAA members will need to be engaged with the student chapter, serving as mentors for these young communicators. Fortunately, many OWAA members in Missouri live close to the university, including three past presidents. OWAA members could serve as special guest speakers on local environmental and outdoor issues, participate in chapter activities such as field trips and outdoor recreation opportunities and provide other assistance to the chapter as needed.
If we’re successful, what we learn in Missouri during the next few months can be used to start OWAA chapters at colleges and universities around the country. The Mizzou Chapter of OWAA has elected its student leadership for the upcoming 2011-2012 academic year, and its activities will begin in earnest in the fall when classes resume. We hope to have a few members join us at the annual conference at Snowbird in July and also at the Goldenrod Workshop in Missoula later this summer.
An OWAA member since 2004, Jason Jenkins lives in Holts Summit, Mo., and is managing editor of Rural Missouri magazine. He can be reached at jasnic@mchsi.com.
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Where the wild things are

OWAA staff — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 18:04:50 +0000

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BY LISA DENSMORE
My parents spend winters in Florida and summers at my childhood home in the Adirondacks. At the end of April, my 76-year-old dad planned to drive their car north, playing golf along the way. Worried about my dad on the road by himself, my mother recruited me to accompany him on the multi-day road trip. There was only one problem: I’m not a golfer. I would much rather take photos of a tiny black mole than finesse a white ball into a small numbered hole.
Any top wildlife photographer will tell you that in order to get publishable images, you have to study your subject. If you know its habitat and its habits, you can get in position at the ideal moment to capture the photograph you want. You might also need a blind or another way to camouflage yourself depending on the species. I agree, but I don’t always have that luxury nor do I need it.
On the trip with my dad, I had no idea where we would be stopping along the way and thus no clue what animals I might see through my lens. I also had little control over the time of day I would be able to take pictures. At that point, most pros would put their cameras away, but I considered it a valuable opportunity to photograph a few creatures that I would normally never see.
But where to find the wild things?
Go to water, any water. All birds and animals need water to survive. They live in it, above it, and beside it; or they visit it.
The species I see on my unplanned visits to a body of water might not be exotic or rare. They might be undesirable invasive species like European starlings or house sparrows, but they all have a place in my stock file. Once in awhile, I snap the shutter on something unusual. In truth, the invasives and common creatures sell better.
On my trip north with my father, our first stop during daylight hours was golf mecca Myrtle Beach, N.C. On the map, I noticed a sizable public green space called Huntington Beach State Park on the southern end of the 50-mile Grand Strand beach resorts. A quick Google search revealed the state park was a well-known birding spot. Bingo!
Huntington Beach State Park was a photographer’s bonanza. I found boardwalks into a classic saltwater marsh, a series of nature trails through lush coastal woodlands, and a swath of wild dunes along a sandy beach — three different habitats in one spot.
Though my dad’s golf schedule allowed only an hour there at high noon, I was able to take nice images of several American alligators (which I desperately needed because I get requests for alligator photos at least twice per year). I also photographed great egrets; male and female boat-tailed grackles, which only exist along the southeastern Atlantic coast and the Gulf of Mexico; a painted bunting; and a black-faced tern diving for its lunch.
The next day, while my dad made shots toward colored pins in the middle of manicured greens, I shot impromptu images of turtles beside a greenish pond behind our hotel.
I’ve had similar experiences in other parts of the country. Last summer, while my sweetheart was on an assignment near the Upper Henry’s Fork River in Idaho, I took our canoe and floated a stretch of it. The river was filled with tourists on rafts, but I still got some impressive photos of gulls, a couple of duck species, a beaver, osprey nesting and in flight, and cormorants drying themselves, flying and on the water. A cormorant image is now on a calendar, I sold some of the osprey shots to two magazines, and both birds provided fodder for my blog on AudubonGuides.com.
One March, during a spur-of-the-moment drive into Yellowstone National Park, I stopped by the Lamar River. Large patches of snow covered the rocky banks and exposed sections of riverbed, but a flight of mountain bluebirds merrily hopped across the snow and on the smooth rocks. Totally unplanned, I got my favorite bluebird shot that day. It has since appeared in the photo issue of Colorado Outdoors and on a calendar.
On a canal near my parent’s condo in Florida, I’ve shot ibis, huge iguanas, tiny lizards, invasive starlings, and baby ducklings. I’ve sold each of their photos at one time or another.
Last summer in the Adirondacks, while canoe-camping with my family, I discovered a loon with two newborn chicks near our campsite.
What luck! Not really. I knew there would be wildlife because of the water. Water is where the wild things are.
OWAA board member and photo section chair Lisa Densmore is an award-winning photographer from Hanover, N.H., who contributes words and images to more than 30 publications each year. See more wildlife images at www.Densmore Designs.com and read her blog at www.AudubonGuides.com.
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