A friend recently asked me how I got started with photography, what caught my interest. Wow, I had to really go back to come up with an answer. It’s funny, though, how it transpired, from backing into the hobby so long ago to what I do with my camera and wiseshotz.com today. Walter Wise here and I think my name and my chosen tool give a touch of insight into the name of my website.

   I live in Fairhope, Alabama which is the inspiration for a huge portion of my photos. Fairhope is a picturesque little town on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, which spills into the Gulf of Mexico. We are blessed in this little spot on the map with our fair share of gorgeous sunsets, all sorts of waterfowl and awe-inspiring scenes of our beaches, piers, and the bay. I get out with my camera religiously as I never know what new inspiration will present and I know that the same scenes never look the same. Once the moment is gone, I can never get it back and I hate to miss out!

   In addition to my photography, I like to hike, often, with my camera in tow. Of late, I’ve been visiting some of our National Parks, including the Smokey Mountains, Yellowstone and Glacier National, all last year and all during the winter months. Coming up, I have a trip planned in September and will be visiting both Yellowstone and Glacier to see what I missed out on due to snow and ice. I can’t wait to capture more of the raw beauty that is always on display in our parks.

   So, these photos I take, I like to share and do so by posting some of them on Facebook, most often on What’s Happening in Fairhope and Fairhope Now, two local pages with great followers. I also offer them for sale on wiseshotz.com. Prints are available in different sizes and mediums. They also may be ordered framed and matted as well as canvas wraps. If you’ve visited wiseshotz.com before, you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you visit again. Recently, I drastically reduced print prices to make them more affordable. Take another look and find something you like!

   Back to my friend’s question about what got me started, what caught my interest in photography. Many years ago, I stopped by a friend’s apartment in Tuscaloosa, AL where I was playing at getting an education. Prior to then, my only experience with photography was being around when the folks snapped away with the Instamatic. Turns out this guy had taken some B&W photos for the school paper and was just beginning to go into his own darkroom and develop a roll. He invited me in and that’s where it started. As I said, funny, in that I was mesmerized by the chemistry, threading the film on the spool in the dark, anticipation while the negatives developed then dried and finally working with the enlarger and learning to do what Lightroom does today. The initial draw for me was the end result, bringing someone else’s creative vision to life on paper. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized that I have a creative vision of my own – through the lens of a camera. But, that story will have to wait for the next post. Hope you catch it!