ICY TREES….BARBED WIRE FENCES…AND QUAIL HUNTING

   Photo by D.M.

Never do I see a good icy, snowy tree photo without my
remembering one that I took nearly a half century
ago, during my photo-competition days. That one was
about as icy and snowy and difficult-to-shoot--- as they
come.

C.R., a fellow musician and I had been on the east
side of the state, to present a music clinic.   We 
were headed back to Albuquerque. It had snowed the
night before and the roads were still somewhat icy.
It was a COLD DAY!

We were driving north toward Clines Corners from
Encino and about ten miles south of C.C. on my
left was the most beautiful ice-coated tree I'd ever
It was about twenty feet tall, and round and bushy,
but leafless.  Among the many species of trees, it
stood out BIG TIME and got my attention.

I pulled of the road, careful not to get into the 
ditch, told C.R. to sit tight, grabbed my Rollei
camera, and made it across the road---to the
barbed wire fence. Snow was all over the ground
under that fence.

There was something I hadn't counted on---
something every farm boy, rural person, or
quail-hunter encountered now and then.

Whoever put up this fence along the highway
knew what he was doing. It was the tightest,
sturdiest four-wire fence I had ever encountered.

Usually out quail hunting in West Texas, fences
had three wires, sagging and stretched from 
years of neglect and inattention, ...you could 
hold down the bottom wire and make a space to
crawl through. Posts were often wobbly.

Not so that morning south of C.C. I had to work for this 
tree photo  on that freezing-cold day. I lay down on my 
back and wiggled through (barely) underneath scooping
up snow that went down my collar! Good thing I was
skinny then.

Fifty yards out I saw the tree and headed for it, slipping 
and sliding. It looked like a painting even before I shot 
the picture! (It looked ever better after I developed
it.)

I took several exposures, varying the apertures---
they call it bracketing. There is an old saw among
veteran magazine and newspaper PRO photographers: 
"When you get to the place where there's a great 
photo in front of you---shoot plenty--film is the 
cheapest thing you've got.!"

As soon as we got to Albuquerque, I delivered 
C.R. to his home and couldn't wait to get into
my darkroom and develop the 120 B@W roll.

In those days I was using Acufine to develop my
film--I bracketed anyway, and I didn't like working
with thin negatives.

Later, after the film dried, I ran some test strips,
chose the best photo and printed a 16X20. It 
was a beaut!

Used to entering photos in competition, I mounted
it with a thin black border on a heavy white photo 
display board.

The picture won a number of awards and I had 
request for copies. So much work went into making
copies that I never went that route, much.

I can't show you the photo---it is stored somewhere
in my garage.

After that day, I quail-hunted many times, but never
again did I encounter such a difficult and stubborn
barbed wire fence---anywhere.

But neither did I ever crawl through or under a barbed 
wire fence...that I didn't think of that cold day, south 
of Clines Corners, when I got all that snow down my
collar...and remember the best-icy-tree-photo I ever took.

(Epilogue---Through the years, passing by that same 
place (I thought), south of Clines Corners--- and looking
for my tree...I was NEVER able to spot it again. Maybe
I needed some ice and snow. Ah, but does LIFE ever...
stay the same?)

I FOUND IT!!

********************
BY MIL
3-06-15