24 NEBRASKAland • AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2015
A
nother early story
I attempted was
photographing
cranes on the Platte River.
But I didn't want sunset
shots of birds in the
distance; I wanted to get
close. So I went to a place
in west Lincoln that had
an assortment of defective
plastic fertilizer tanks that
were for sale, bought one
shaped like a pop can for 20
bucks, and had Tim Reigert,
longtime art director for the
magazine, use a sawzall to cut it lengthwise in half
with openings on both ends so it was just the right
length for me to lay down in and shoot from the edge
of a sandbar. I figured it would be impenetrable to
heavy snow, impossible to be shredded by winds and
impervious to cows. What I didn't realize was that
I spent parts of three years photographing the
natural history of swift foxes in Buffalo Gap
National Grassland in South Dakota. My blind
of choice there was a sturdy but packable one-
person tent, the Slumberjack predator bivy,
sold by Cabela's. It was a camo tent, had two
entrances and was easy to sleep in. I would
place additional camo netting over the top to
cut down on any shine from the windows and
fabric.
