GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?
J. L. “Woody” Wooden
- Murie Audubon Annual Banquet And Fundraiser – February 9, 2013 – Parkway Plaza
- Traditional Plated Turkey Dinner
- Consider making a donation for the silent Auction or a raffle item.
Karen Anfang, Banquet Chair, 472-0278
J. L. “Woody” Wooden to Speak at Murie’s 2013 Annual Banquet
The Murie Audubon Annual Banquet, scheduled for February 9, 2013, at the Parkway Plaza, will feature guest speaker J. L. “Woody” Wooden. An article in a spring issue of the Casper Star Tribune entitled “Still Life,” reflected on the career of a Powell, WY, photographer who retired last spring from his faculty position at Northwest College.
I was intrigued by the story of Wooden – a photographer, teacher, Vietnam veteran, the shooter of lightning, world leaders, war, wildlife, and of course, “birds.” Woody’s image of a “coyote and grizzly in Yellowstone National Park” appeared in the April 2012 of Wyoming Wildlife.
Health problems that Wooden traces back to Vietnam have pressured him to retire, but if you ask him, he’ll reply “there’s life as a photographer after teaching.”
Wooden’s award-winning career began as a combat medic in the U.S. Marine Corps. His war exhibit collection now resides at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
After the Vietnam War, Wooden found himself in a promising cinematography career documenting forest fires for Walter Cronkite’s CBS news program. Wooden’s war injuries impeded his ability to carry around heavy motion picture equipment, so he turned to still cameras and his skills took him across the United States in a pattern that was unpredictable and all-encompassing.
Wooden’s vocational history includes years as a forensic photographer for both the Tucson Police and Pima County Sheriff Departments. He also continued work in commercial and advertising photography. While living in Santa Barbara, CA, Wooden was commissioned to photograph then President Ronald Reagan for an American Cancer Society fundraiser. It was on this assignment that Wooden says he made one of the biggest mistakes of his career —trying to move past a secret service agent by telling him he needed to get a better angle “to shoot the President.”
While living in Nevada, Wooden was commissioned by MGM Entertainment to do a promotional portrait of Tommy Tune. Ansel Adams invited Wooden into his home to “talk shop.”
One of Wooden’s long standing passions has been capturing lightning on film, becoming one of the nation’s leading experts on lightning photography. He has also published a two volume thesis on the subject. To view on line go to: http://www.jlwoodywooden.com/ and http://jlwoodywooden.smugmug.com/
Through all his multi-faceted career, Wooden has taught photography. In addition to NWC, he’s been on faculty rosters at colleges in Texas, California, Alabama and Nevada.
“Woody’s” photographic images can be found in many private celebrity collections and have been exhibited in museums across North America, from the Guggenheim in California to the Canadian National Exhibition. Overseas, his work has been hung in Europe and China. The images on exhibit documented his travels – from a photo safari in Tanzania to trips across China, Greece, Cambodia and Vietnam.
I invite you to peruse “Woody’s” websites and to mark your calendar, reserve the evening and share “A Retrospective – Images by J. L. “Woody” Wooden,” a man whose camera has captured the world.
Karen Anfang—2013 Banquet Chair
