Bert Gildart: Writer and Photographer

Bert Gildart: Daylight comes early when you’re in a photo contest. At least that’s the way it was in Montana’s Flathead Valley last year, site then for the Northwest Outdoor Writer’s Association’s annual “Shootout.” Each of the contestants had been given five rolls of film, told to strike out, take photos and then return by day’s end with their film. Film was then taken to Photo Video Plus in Kalispell (just south of Glacier National Park) for development.

Next day each person had several hours to assemble what they considered their ten best photographs from their take. Judges then evaluate the pictures and winning pictures were shown several nights later at the annual banquet. Obviously, shooting time was limited, requiring the person conduct much preplanning.

BOOTS & BEAR (Placed High): This year will offer the same opportunities with the exception that the Shootout will be held in Kennewick, Washington, which is the city hosting this year’s annual convention. Like last year, there will be five different categories, though this year the Shootout won’t include a wildlife category. Instead, the contest will focus on those categories for which the host city best provides and so it will include: People, Family Fun, Youth sports, Golf, and River and Water sports.

Last year, judges awarded my work the Grand Prize. That doesn’t mean I placed first in each and all categories, though it did mean that more of my work rated first or second in each category than did the work of my competitors. It also meant that one of my photographs was considered to be the very best of those submitted.

FAMILY CAMPING: As in all outdoor photography knowing something about the area is a distinct advantage, and I must admit the knowledge helped, for the Flathead is my home. Nevertheless, I still conducted much preplanning and selected the very best model I could find. That, of course, was Janie, who worked hard with me to achieve our goal of winning. We believed that with all various stories I’ve authored and the books that Janie and I have authored together, that we should know something about the valley’s best “shooting” locations.

Though the contest area covered almost 100 miles—meaning that we could photograph subjects from the Moeise Bison Range to Glacier National Park—we concluded that my time would best be spent making pictures rather than driving. As a result, I confined our locations to a region of about 30 miles, which I began with a “wildlife” subject in my own back yard (see above). After that, we scurried to Glacier, where we took photographs of bicycling and family camping.

DEER: Then, as luck would have it, we stumbled across a small herd of deer. My luck held, for the herd moved down to the shores of Lake McDonald where they began drinking water.

Last but not least, we unloaded our kayaks, and then “my model” did her very best at positioning her kayak so that the tip of mine would form some complementary lines with her kayak, all of which would then point toward the distant mountains. And here I want to take a little credit, for the image was not one I lucked onto by some fluke of the lake’s currents, rather it was one I had pre-visualized.

KAYAK AND MY GOOD MODEL AWARDED BEST PHOTO: Prize for the best portfolio was a weekend at Grouse Mountain Lodge—one of the valley’s most luxurious inns—as well as a weekend of skiing at Big Mountain.

Unfortunately, because of extensive travels, we were unable to cash in on the prize. Still, the intangible rewards were substantial, for the competition was keen, and several of the competitors were very, very talented. Shown here, then, are four of the ten that received a top award.

This year, the competition will again be keen, and for me the challenge will be one of area familiarization, for we’ve never spent time in Kennewick. As a result, I’ll be talking with as many locals as I can prior to arrival.

The other difference is that we’ll all be shooting digital rather than film. Because Janie and I have spent most of this year on the road posting blogs from our digital images that will not pose a problem.

The problem will be knowledge of the area, and because I’ll at least want to place, it means we’ll have to arrive several days ahead of schedule—and that my model and I will also be arising very, very early.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 8th, 2007 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.