60 Nebraskaland • June 2026
Staff members also set up a coop made of nylon netting
in the studio to photograph birds in f light, including
h u m m i n g b i rd s a n d g a m e b i rd s. T h e h u m m i n g b i rd s,
photographed by Jack Curran, appeared in Birds of
Nebraska in January 1985.
Hornbeck and Ell also got creative with fishing photos,
creating images to make it appear trout, bass and pike
were jumping out of the water. No one recalls exactly how
they did it, if the fish were real or mounts, or if they were
pulled out of the water or held above it while someone
tossed something below them to make a splash, but the
results were life-like enough that five made the cover. Ell
added another touch when creating the April 1966 cover,
having a bass leaping toward a dragonfly perched on some
cattails. Other fish were tethered with monofilament line
and photographed in streams. And Hornbeck made an
image look as though one was peering up through a hole
in the ice at a woman angler.
Ell staged wildlife photos outside as well. The March
1962 cover photo used off-camera flash to illuminate a
coyote that was likely a pet. The November cover that
same year featured a turkey that was likely a captive
bird or a mount with a hunter in the background aiming
to shoot.
Between 1958 and 1978, there were at least 23 of these
staged photos of fish, mammals and birds, real or mounted,
featured on the cover, and many more inside.
Jon Farrar was another photographer who had a
basement studio. He built an elaborate set for a least weasel
he kept in his basement for about a year, allegedly leaving a
window open during a snowstorm to give the set a different
look. His daughter, Tasha, said he harvested a deer during
rifle season to feed that weasel for the year or so he kept
it. Farrar photographed other wildlife in the basement, as
well, and Tasha was told that when she was just a baby, a
rattlesnake he kept escaped into their home.
Fish were also photographed in the studio, primarily by
long-time staffer Ken Bouc. Collected by fisheries biologists
from waters around the state, they were set loose in a
variety of fish tanks wrapped in black fabric and lit with
Lou Ell staged several jumping fish photos, including this one for the April 1966 cover. Current AI technology was used to remove the color
shift from the old transparency and sharpen the photo.
Jack Curran photographed a hummingbird within a net enclosure
in the studio.
