Welcome to Kenmare

Feature Stories (Vol. 109 No. 18--5/02/2007)

Chet Nelson publishes
collection of wildlife photos

By Caroline Downs

Kenmare native Chet Nelson has photographed the waterfowl, big game, songbirds and varmints of North Dakota for more than 40 years. In March, he self-published a collection of his pictures in the book North Dakota Wildlife Photos: Prairie Excitement both to satisfy requests for his pictures and to inspire other people interested in photography.

"I’m a straight out amateur photographer," he said. "I have no formal training and I’ve never taken a class. This book gives the amateur photographer an idea of what’s possible."

Nelson labeled the location of each picture in the book, with more than half the photos taken in the vicinity of Kenmare. "I suspect people here know what’s here," he said. "This lets people around the state and other places know what you have up here."
(Photo by Karen Mund. Ron Rauschenberger, left, Kenmare native and an assistant of Governor Hoeven, waits to have his copy of North Dakota Wildlife Photos sign by author and photographer Chet Nelson during a book signing held at the State Capitol in Bismarck.)

He shot a number of the pictures on the Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge. "The road system [on the refuge] takes you right into the area where the wildlife are," he said, adding that wildlife on the refuge tolerate the presence of humans to a degree. "Here in the summer, they’re willing to accommodate people viewing them."

Nelson, who divides his time among homes in Kenmare, Bismarck and Tempe, AZ, admitted he thought about publishing a collection of his photos for years, but the cost of the endeavor stopped him. Recent changes in the technology of photography and printing made the project possible, and last fall he pursued the opportunity with Blurb, Inc., as recommended by members of a camera club in the Greater Phoenix area.

"I had seen copies of books from this company," Nelson said. "Quite a few photographers from the Greater Phoenix area used them. The company made the software available without cost. I had to download the software and put in the pictures."

Nelson was responsible for virtually every aspect of the book’s photos and text. "Editing and everything is up to me," he said, adding that typographical errors and accurate bird identification challenged him as he prepared the book. "If there’s a mistake, that’s it!"

After choosing photos and writing captions, he sent the book via computer to a printer in Seattle and waited with a bit of apprehension for the finished copies to be shipped to his winter home in Tempe. Fortunately, he was happy with the final result. "I was very impressed with the quality of the printing," he said. "It enhances the work."

He originally had 400 copies printed, with several pre-orders from friends and relatives. "That’s not a lot of copies," he said, then grinned. "Then again, the decision isn’t final, of course!"

With literally thousands of photographs in his collection, Nelson selected the ones he considered to be most representative of his work. "I wanted to make sure there was a good variety of birds and animals," he said, "and also something very unique, like the whooping cranes. I’ve talked to people who’ve lived in the rural environment all their lives and they’ve never seen something similar to that picture."

In fact, Nelson almost used one of the whooping crane photos, which were taken southwest of Kenmare last October, for the book’s cover. In the end he chose his picture of a coyote and badger face-off, taken in 1989 at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

"I think I made the right decision," he said. "The coyote-badger picture is so unique. The background was right, the exposure was right, the composition was right. A lot of people recognize it."

One of Nelson’s intended audiences for the book is other amateur photographers. "It takes time to get there," he said, "but if a person is interested there are a lot of sources where one can learn how to take pictures."

For Nelson, those sources included other photographers, many of whom he mentioned in the book’s introduction. "What I tried to do was find people who really knew how to do it, and get to know them," he said. "I’m a better listener than I am a reader."

He studied painting and learned to apply those principles of composition and color to his photography. He advised other photographers to review all kinds of pictures as they develop their skills, and to be willing to receive objective criticism of their own work. "Sometimes, that’s hard," he said, with a smile.

Nelson explained he once heard the purpose of a book was to get people started telling their own stories. He believes his own book serves that role.

"Most everyone, after looking at two or three pictures, starts telling stories of their own," he said. "There’ve been weasel stories, a number of moose stories. And it invariably brings up the once or twice someone has seen a whooping crane."

The majority of animals featured in the book are frequently seen on the northern plains: mallard ducks, whitetail deer, jackrabbits, red-winged blackbirds, coyotes and more. These common animals are some of Nelson’s favorite subjects. "We see these things, but we don’t really get a good look at them," he said.

(Digital photo of mallard drake by Chet Nelson, taken April 30th, on the Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge at Kenmare.)

The book also appeals to a broad range of ages, including children. "If a book like that would have been available to me when I was in school, I would have immediately checked it out," he said.

Nelson started at 10
Nelson started taking pictures as a 10-year-old in 1949. "I went to Taylor Drug and talked to Romaine Taylor," he said. "After looking at the Baby Brownie Kodak camera he had there for a year or two, I bought it."

He carried the camera everywhere and snapped everything, including classmates at the Kandiyohi Township School he attended. "I had taken pictures of the other kids," he said. "Ruby Christensen wanted either the pictures or the negatives. That was the first big camera question I had to answer. At ten years old, it was hard for me to decide. I talked to other people about it, and I think I gave her the negatives."

He also hauled the camera along on a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park that year. "I took all our pictures," he said. "I took a lot of them." Yellowstone was where Nelson captured his first wildlife images on film, taking photos of bears and moose to his heart’s content.

In the 1960s, an uncle gave Nelson his used 35mm camera equipment, which included a short telephoto lens, and Nelson dove into photography as an art. A few years later, he could afford to upgrade his lenses, and he enhanced a 300mm lens with doublers and triplers for a number of years. In fact, that’s how he took the jackrabbit photograph on page 14 of his book. "That’s an inexpensive way to get long-range photography," he said. "And it’s still out there."

Nelson continued studying camera equipment and moved into Canon telephoto lenses in the early 1970s. By 1975, he purchased his first 800mm Canon lens. "That was a prime lens," he said.

He joined the Bismarck Camera Club as a way to keep learning about his art. "The members there were not what they considered professional level, but they were awfully close to it," he said.

Several people there influenced his work, particularly Al Chaffee, a former vice-president at the First National Bank in Bismarck. "I was on banking business there one day, but our conversation drifted off into photography," Nelson said. "I knew he had a secret I didn’t know about."

That secret involved the internegative process, where a slide was made into a 4" x 5" internegative from which an enlargement could be developed. "That opened up a whole new world of photography to me," Nelson claimed.

He eventually moved into Nikon lenses, and then into digital photography. He converted his old slides and prints to digital form and taught himself to use the Adobe Photoshop 5.0 software. Now, he makes all the adjustments to his pictures before sending them to a processor for printing. "It’s truly your own work," he said about the software’s impact on his photos. "I don’t know how to do all the things Photoshop makes possible, but I’m learning."

Nelson’s interest in camera equipment is matched by his passion for pictures themselves. "I just have a natural inclination to like to look at things," he said. "I spend a lot of time looking at other people’s work. You have to want to see pictures and you have to want to create them."

He collects historical photographs. He takes portrait photos and has provided five cover photos for Trap & Field magazine, a national publication dedicated to trap shooting. "But I like the outdoors and I’ve always been fascinated by wildlife, so that’s kind of my special interest," he said.

Surprised by interest
Somewhat to Nelson’s surprise, North Dakota Wildlife Photos: Prairie Excitement has generated a great deal of interest. He initially mentioned the book to friends through e-mails. "The reception is much more than I anticipated," he said. "Well over 200 copies are spoken for."

Individuals ordered copies directly from Nelson. The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame bought copies to sell. On March 29th, Nelson held a book signing at the State Capitol in Bismarck, where he worked as the Legislative Budget Analyst and Auditor from 1965 to 2000. "There were people there who saw the book for the first time and asked for it," he said.

Nelson has planned a book signing event in Kenmare for May 4th from 2 to 4 pm at Kenmare Drug. "I’m looking forward to Friday," he said. "I hope people come by to visit and enjoy looking at the book. That will also be an opportunity for those who placed orders to come pick up their books."

When he first published the book, he underestimated the significance of talking directly with his readers until he met one particular man. Nelson explained how the man read about the Bismarck book signing in the Minot Daily News and went to the event at the State Capitol where he bought a copy of Nelson’s book. "He said, ‘I have never been to a book signing in my life, and now I’ve been to one,’" Nelson recalled. "This was touching to me."

Nelson has also sold copies in unexpected ways. At the annual convention of the North Dakota Library Association, the book was discussed, and a number of libraries around the state contacted Nelson with orders. Schools in the Bottineau and Fargo districts bought the book for their libraries.

And just last Saturday, a worker with one of the area oil crews saw Nelson with the book and asked if he could buy one. "When people I’ve never met before want it, I want to know why," Nelson said.

Nelson has filled several roles in his life, including his 35-year stint in state government until he retired in 2000, a trap shooter at regional, state and national levels, and a historian. Currently, he serves as the secretary of the North Dakota State Historical Board, and was just reappointed to the board by Governor Hoeven for a term through 2010.

His experiences in trap shooting have developed into his next project, a book devoted to his nearly four decades of participation in the sport around the state. "I have the photos in digital form. The text will mainly be captions for the pictures," he said. "It’s really in its infancy."

Nelson described the difficulties he has encountered in compiling such a history, including identifying fellow trap shooters and seeking permission to use those photos. Compared to the wildlife book, the task appears impossible at times.

However, Nelson remains determined. "I’ve got thousands of pictures of it all," he said. "Something should be done to make them available."

Even with the demands of the new project, and with his wildlife book completed, Nelson continues to photograph North Dakota animals, including those he sees around Kenmare.

"I got some good pictures over the weekend," he said. "Those were of mallard ducks. And I took a picture of a fox on the way into town this morning."