70 Nebraskaland • June 2021
THE LAST STOP
By Jeff Kurrus
ONE MEMORABLE PHOTOSHOOT
I've never seen a group of
photographers more excited. While
the rest of the crowd was awaiting
the peregrine falcon release at the
Nebraska Capitol in Lincoln from
ground level, a group of us were being
allowed to photograph the release
from atop the building.
To access this area, we were led by
the Capitol's security staff through a
series of Hogwarts-like passageways
not open to the general public. The
group, loaded down with video and
still cameras, happily conversed as we
followed Elaine Bachel, a volunteer
from Raptor Recovery, and the bird she
carefully held in her hands.
When we arrived at the 14th fl oor
deck, each of the photographers —
including Alex Wiles who is now a
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
videographer and then was covering
the release for Fontenelle — aligned
ourselves on both sides of Elaine, still
discussing our positioning in an eff ort
to fi t everyone in while staying out
of the background of each other's
images.
The next part happened so suddenly
that none of us quite knew what to
do. Elaine turned left and right, said,
"You ready?" but never waited for a
response.
She suddenly released the bird, and
all of its beauty, as we frantically laid
on our shutter buttons in an attempt to
capture what we could.
The peregrine disappeared into the
sky above Lincoln, and we were left
frozen and dumbfounded by what had
just happened.
Silent and defeated, not a single
person peeked at their images on the
walk back down to the ground fl oor.
We all knew how bad they were.
The mood reminded me of fl ights
home from Las Vegas, where everyone
had gone with hopes of hitting the
jackpot only to end up getting gut-
punched.
We probably should have worked
out a plan with Elaine on our way up.
Yea, that would have been a good idea.
However, that's why it's one of my
most memorable photoshoots ever.
Elaine Bachel releases the peregrine falcon from the 14th fl oor of the state capitol
building while I got an image of its behind. JEFF KURRUS, NEBRASKALAND
My position provided a slightly diff erent angle of the release. While not much better,
at least we aren't looking directly at its back end. ALEX WILES, NGPC VIDEOGRAPHER
Alex Wiles
Jeff Kurrus
