Photo club gathers Saturday to celebrate 20th

WALLOWA LAKE — The Wallowa Valley Photo Club will host a gathering of former and current members at Wallowa Lake State Park Saturday to celebrate 20 years of photography.

Current and former club members will bring pictures to share with one another, and to reminisce.

The club came into being Oct. 8, 1988, at a meeting among nine people who had an interest in photography and a wish to band together to help one another to grow in their knowledge of photography. Some of the original nine still live in the area and some have been continuously active with photography, such as Linda Eytchison. She took advantage of the photography classes that Doris Wompner offered from a small business inside the Art Angle in Joseph to learn the art and science of photography.

Adele Buttolph had put aside her early interest in photography beginning in her high school days and then picked it up again when she moved to Enterprise and joined the Wallowa Valley Photo Club in 2006.

Buttolph’s “Winter on Wallowa Lake’’ won first prize at the Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts in 2008.

She explained the steps from photograph to art this way:  “First, I got a pretty good picture, but it had distracting elements in it, like a house in the background. So I got rid of those. It was a color picture, but the dark winter day made it look almost like a black and white, though there was some color. I selectively desaturated some colors and left a hint of blue. I played with the histogram a little and sharpened it to make it look more 3-D.”

She used computer software, the language for which may at first sound a bit alien. But one of the strengths of the Wallowa Valley Photo Club, members say, is that a novice can be directed to the basics, receive some gentle feedback at meetings and be encouraged to exhibit their work. Members say it helps that club President David Bridges has a background in physics, a life-long passion for photography and years of being a teacher.

Another original member of the club, Janie Tippett, has a passion for the early rural history of the region. It comes naturally, as she has been a Wallowa County ranch woman for more than 40 years. She is especially keen to capture the people and the stories of a passing era.

Her 1988 picture portrays the late Dr. Fred Bornstedt in his office. He was a local Wallowa County boy who came home to practice veterinary medicine. He worked from his home and made “house calls” to far-flung ranches. He was also a singer, songwriter and poet whose work celebrated cowboy life. By all accounts he was an all-around character who lived a life as wild and free as any of his free-ranging, four-legged patients out on the open grassland.

Wallowa Valley Photo Club has always been involved in community service. Linda Bauck and Eytchison brought an idea to the club for raising money for regional non-profit musical groups by creating a DVD of their performances. It was agreed that Bauck and Eytchison would coordinate the production work. Henry Kinsley, owner of Song Catcher Studio in Joseph, recorded the performances. Harold Black and Linda Cassidy created video, and the rest of the club members provided photographs typical of the regions — Southeastern Washington and Eastern Oregon — served by the musical groups. 

The result was “Splendor,’’ a 50-minute DVD featuring performances by the Inland Northwest Musicians and their ensembles, and Wallowa Valley Chorale. It was produced by L&L Backroads LLC in 2008. It is for sale at a number of retail outlets, through the Wallowa Valley Photo Club website and at musical performances by the organization with the receipts being donated to the various non-profit groups.

Anyone with an interest in photography, whether novice or experienced, is welcome to join and participate in the club.

The club meets upstairs in the Professional Building in Enterprise on the first and third Tuesday of the month, 7 to 9 p.m. from September through May. People interested in learning more about the club can visit a meeting or check out www.wallowavalleyphotoclub.com.