The camera does not make the photographer

I attended an excellent insect photography workshop a couple of years ago and the attendees included everything from poor students to wealthy retired people. It was interesting to note that several of the older people had the finest expensive camera equipment and thought themselves above using anything less than the best. The other school of thought was exemplified by the graduate students who had point and shoot cameras for the most part, and lots of imagination. The workshop reminded me that the camera does not make the photographer. If you don't believe me then check out The Bug Geek's photos taken with a point and shoot camera. Her blog is here. 

I have some fairly expensive camera equipment, mostly because there are times when I need it on the job. However, I know full well that the equipment does not make the photo, the photographer does. (Or in my case sometimes I get lucky and get a good photo.) I have a Canon 5D MkIII at work and you might think I used it to take this photo of sorghum at sunrise. No, this is an iPhone shot straight off the camera.

I rest my case; certainly not about being a good photographer, but about getting lucky occasionally. And about the camera not making the photographer. 

Local vs. online shopping

We have a real camera store in Lubbock, the only real camera store between Dallas, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is not a Big Box store with inexperienced, rotating 20-somethings trying to sell cameras, computers and refrigerators to customers, it is a real store staffed by people who are expert photographers and who are devoted to photography and customer service; they want their customers to take great photos. I visit the store frequently and listen to the staff help walk-in people with camera problems, make honest recommendations on new equipment, and provide photographic advice. This is what is quaintly known these days as "full service" and it costs money to have experts on staff six days a week. 

The store sells cameras, lenses and accessories for suggested retail price. The inventory is easily worth $250,000 just so that customers can buy what they need when they enter the store. My local store is in competition with online retailers and Big Box stores who, with lower prices and often no real inventory, offer no support or expertise and just sell cameras and lenses (and good luck if you have a problem with them). Why the price difference? The first factor is volume; it is cheaper to sell to thousands than it is to sell to tens. The second is service; local experts willing to help. The third is sales tax which is 8.25% here. 

I do buy clothes online from retailers like LL Bean and Orvis because it is impossible to get quality cotton field clothes locally. However, I make every effort to buy local items from local merchants; if I can get it locally I buy it locally. The people in our small local stores provide excellent service at fair prices, and that is something I value. During my time at the local camera store I have seen people walk in and take an hour or more of the staff time to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of particular cameras, and then demand a discount equivalent to the price on some online store that provides no service and has no sales tax. You can imagine what I think about this behavior. (And how will my local store pay the man or woman who spent the hour answering your questions and providing you unbiased, honest advice?)  The fact of the matter is that local is quality, local is service, and local is good for all of us. Buy local when you can, it matters. 

Who owns this country?

The government shutdown is still in full swing and National Parks and National Monuments are closed. The news media are reporting that WWII veterans were not allowed to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C. until Congress intervened. In fact our West Texas Senator, Randy Neugebauer, was in the news for disagreeing with a Park Service employee who refused to let the veterans visit the memorial. Good for him; the WWII veterans earned the right to visit the memorial that honors their service to the nation. Period.

However, this episode and the shutdown of parks and monuments has made me wonder who owns them and, by extension, who owns this country. I would suggest that many of the open spaces that have been shut down should be open to all citizens, even if the rest of the government is shut down. In theory these open spaces belong to us. Recall the recent Public Broadcasting Service television ad that showed many wild places in national parks and said, "This belongs to you". Well, maybe not anymore? (I am strictly writing of the parks and forests and monuments; the lands and treasures in our nation that we hold in common as citizens, and I am not making any inference about buildings, services and agencies.) I think, at least for this writer, there is a difference between my country and my government; the latter does not own the former. The shutdown has forced me to reckon with this issue and I think it is wrong to close access to the land and the monuments; they are owned by the people of the nation and not the government. The government's role is one of a caretaker to hold them in trust across generations, but we, the citizens, own the National Parks, Forests and Monuments. And I hope we still own this country. 

Non-partisan thoughts on the government shutdown (October 2013)

Will Rogers (http://www.cmgww.com/historic/rogers/index.html) is my favorite American Philosopher. He was born in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) and grew up as a working cowboy. By the time of his death in 1935 he was the most famous humorist in the country. His humor was actually built on keen observations of contemporary American life. Almost all of his statements about politicians are completely relevant today. So for your enjoyment and reflection in this time of Federal Government gridlock and shutdown, I bring you the words of Will Rogers. These non-partisan comments from Will would seem to apply no matter which side you are on.

From Will Rogers:

This country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Ancient Rome declined because it had a Senate, now what's going to happen to us with both a House and a Senate?

Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.

If Stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?

If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.

The more you observe politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other. 

Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.

There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

We are the Sons of Martha (July 2013)

Rudyard Kipling published a poem in 1907 that has been wisely adopted by engineers and others who toil with things of the earth. When was the last time you thought about the people who built the roads and bridges on which you drive every day? Or the men and women who worked to put the gasoline in the car you used to drive on those roads? Or the men and women who built the office building in which you work, or who generate the electricity that powers the lights and the air conditioning? It would also seem that this poem applies to many of us in agriculture who work long hours in the heat and the dust. The work done by farmers, ranchers and others often goes unnoticed by people who lack nothing when they visit the grocery store. These, the grocery store people, would seem to be the sons of Mary, and it is easy to forget the sons of Martha who made it possible. We, the sons of Martha, are destined to be forgotten when it comes time to recall promises made.  

This poem is based on the biblical story presented in Luke 10:38-42. The story is essentially that Jesus visited the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and Mary sat and listened to Jesus' teachings while Martha worked to make sure he was comfortable while their guest. Eventually Martha asked that Mary help with the work and Jesus remonstrated her by saying that Mary had chosen "what was better". Of course I am sure this is true. However, if we were all to do what was better then it would seem we would eventually not have what was necessary; someone must attend to the needs. I think Kipling was trying to tell us about these people who are easy to forget in a nation that has plenty. 

The Sons of Martha is posted here: http://www.online-literature.com/donne/920/ . 

The Sons Of Martha
Rudyard Kipling, 1907

The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and the troubled heart. And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest. 

It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land and main. 

They say to mountains ``Be ye removed.'' They say to the lesser floods ``Be dry.''
Under their rods are the rocks reproved---they are not afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit---then is the bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware. 

They finger Death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
And hale him forth like a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall. 

To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matters hidden---under the earthline their altars are---
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city's drouth. 

They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the nuts work loose.
They do not preach that His Pity allows them to drop their job when they damn-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand,
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's ways may be long in the land. 

Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat;
Lo, it is black already with the blood some Son of Martha spilled for that!
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need. 

And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed---they know the Angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the feet---they hear the Word---they see how truly the Promise runs.
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and---the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons!

On technology and lazy thinking (April 2013)

Things have changed since I started using computers. In the old days (1970s) we would punch data cards, run them through a card reader and then walk across campus to get our dot matrix printout on that wide paper with the holes punched in the sides. (Younger people reading this have no idea what I am talking about.) Today everything is instant; instant information and instant answers. However, instant does not mean better, and it certainly does not mean good, accurate, reasoned or fair. Last week a local TV station had an "investigative report" on the supposed allergenic danger posed by transgenic (genetically modified) crops. I was shocked to listen to the ignorance and misinformation presented as fact. Almost nothing in the report was accurate and the young reporter did not know enough about the subject to even question the credibility of her "sources", which included a web-captured misleading and factually false video from an anti-GM group.

It seems that this world of "instant" has led to a lot of lazy thinking. I don't know whether schools have stopped teaching critical thinking but my experience with recent college students leads me to believe that they have. On average, college students can't think and can't write. Of course there are exceptions, and these students are an increasingly valuable commodity. As to the media, perhaps the professionals out there think they can get away with garbage reporting because their audience won't know the difference between good work and shoddy work. Or perhaps the media professionals don't know the difference themselves. Either way the acknowledgement of these possibilities make me profoundly worried for the future of the nation.

Why we need transgenic crops (April 2013)

My job is to provide pest control options for everyone, be they organic, conventional or transgenic growers. A recent exchange of opinions on one of the social media sites made it clear to me that there is a lot of misunderstanding about transgenic crops. I have worked with them for 23 years and, as an agricultural entomologist and agronomist, my perspective comes from the trenches.

First of all, we will soon have 9 billion people in the world and will have to feed them on less land and with less water. Although it is counter-intuitive, population growth goes down when food supplies are adequate and stable, and population growth goes up when the reverse is true. (This is documented fact but we know it anyway: think of population growth in Europe vs. India or China before the One Child policy.) Organic agriculture has lower yields and higher risk of crop failure than either conventional (chemical) agriculture or transgenic crop agriculture. There is no way organic agriculture can feed the world. However, I’m glad we live in a wealthy nation where we have the option of buying more expensive organic food but, then again, we spend only about 9.8 percent of our incomes on food.

Now think about many of the poorer nations in the world where people spend 30 - 40 percent of their incomes on food (http://wsm.wsu.edu/researcher/WSMaug11_billions.pdf). If food production declines or supply can't meet increasing demand then world food prices will go up. We in the wealthy nations will not stop buying the more expensive food on the world market. We will pay more and the people in the poor countries will have less and it will cost them more. We need to grow more food on less land, else the poorer nations in the world will suffer disproportionate deprivation. (We saw this a few years ago when lower U.S. corn production and the ethanol mandate in the U.S. created a world shortage of corn. Corn went from $2.50/bushel to $8.50 and we barely noticed in the U.S. Our farmers then shifted production to corn by reducing the acres planted to wheat and soybeans; less of these commodities were produced and their prices skyrocketed on the world market. Developing nations could no longer afford to buy wheat, soybeans or corn.)

Given this, there are really no other options than to use transgenic technology – or vastly increase the use of crop protectant chemicals that are expensive and often dangerous to apply without the proper technology and protective equipment. We have transgenic crops that grow more yield on less water and fertilizer, produce more yield due to less insect damage and loss to disease, and some contain far more nutrients than conventional crops.

Transgenic crops are expensive to develop and seed companies must invest large amounts of money in research, testing, seed production and in meeting regulatory requirements. No one is forced to buy transgenic seed; farmers do it because these crops increase their yields and/or save money through reduced input costs. Yes, many farmers, because of the cost, hold their noses when they buy seed, but they understand that transgenics reduce the risk of farming and often result in higher net farm income even after paying the higher price for transgenic seed than for conventional seed.

Do I wish we could feed the world without using chemicals or transgenics? Yes. Can we? No, not even close. I work with transgenic crops because I believe they are the only way to feed the world in the future. Transgenic crops are relatively new and we have never done this before. There will be stumbles, like insects becoming resistant to some of the technology or like herbicide tolerant weeds. Part of my job is to help determine where things went wrong and help avoid making other mistakes in the future. Seed companies want to avoid these mistakes because they would reduce the value of their technology, and also because they know that transgenic crops are the best hope of feeding an increasing world population. I will also say that I know many people that work for seed companies and they are people just like us. Their motivation is not world market dominance or monopoly, it is creating crops that can feed people. I’m not going to get in to Mitt Romney’s statement that corporations are people, but I am going to say that there are many fine and well meaning people working for Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta and Pioneer. The truth is that the world needs them and their technology.

Pumping Air (August 2013)

It is late June on the Southern High Plains of Texas and we are in the third year of a major drought. There are three irrigation wells that supply the water needed on the Experiment Station and they are dropping off at a precipitous rate. The north well, the one with the highest capacity, is already pumping air at times. I do research on corn, a crop that is considered to be "high water use" as compared to cotton and sorghum, and it is looking more and more like I won't have the water needed to complete my research for this year. We are at the southern tip of the Ogallala Aquifer and irrigation and urban use are depleting this resource at an alarming rate. 


All of this has me thinking back to the Dust Bowl, a time when farmers expanded crop production on marginal land and prayed that the necessary rain would come, which of course it did not. Things are different now, to some degree, thanks to irrigation systems like center pivots and subsurface drip. But things are the same as well; we are all ultimately dependent on rainfall and farmers are always praying for rain (without hail). The Ogallala is declining and won't be able to provide our irrigation water for much longer. Of course we are working on research into drought tolerant crops and production systems that maximize water use efficiency, but in the end it is all about the water we pump from the ground, for a time, and the rain that falls from the sky. I listen to the national news and hear about debates in Washington and rulings by the Supreme Court. Of course these things matter on a larger scale, but we who live by nature's rules are totally dependent on what happens on a very small scale.