Buck's BUSTED!

“Or, should I say "Storm Shooter?"...LOL...Got my 2006 February issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine Saturday and, what do I see on the last page? A photo of a very familiar kayak on Mono Lake and our intrepid hero...boy, with all the fantastic pictures he took of this trip, I am surprised they chose the one they did...I have always been partial to the one of his tent in the lake, myself..by the way, the short article mentions that little detail...nice one, Buckmeister....and, congratulations...at least they had a real picture of you....
backpacker.com article about me had a lurid drawing of me as a brunette wearing hiphuggers, an artfully shredded red top and carrying a purse!
last edited: 1/02/06 12:08:45 PM”

“I have to get me a copy of that....I knew it was coming though, and well deserved recognition.
Buck's Post on HST”

“Just saw it, back page, congrats Buck!”

“Wow, that's a fantastic pic of the kayak, the lake and mountains, congratulations Buck!!!”

“I shoulda written backpacker rag rather than backpacker.com above...my bad....”

“Ha! Thanks! Funny thing is I haven't even seen the magazine yet! I don't even know which "headshot" they used of me either. Someone on another forum mentioned the image didn't come out very well, which I'm guessing is because they had to make a vertical out of a cropped horizontal. I just sent them the slide so I don't know what methods they use to scan or if they do any Photoshopping to the scan, or what. I'm curious to see it. They requested the image from me so I'm just very honored. And I must say, working with the two assistant editors that I talked with over the course of a couple weeks was a fantastic experience! There's some really great people working for National Geographic Adventure magazine. I hope to do more with them in the future, which means I GOTSTA REMEMBER TO TAKE MORE VERTICAL FORMAT IMAGES! Gracias senors, senoras, and senoritas. The WILDERNESS RULES!!!”

“Congrats buc, the crop they used didn't do your picture justice, but it's still damn good.”

“I worked with Jim Gorman, Buck...I still wonder if he was having me on when he asked me what "LOL" meant...he said he saw it online all the time but didn't know what it meant...to which I can only add, LOL...I like the picture of you..it's one with you wearing a baseball cap, khaki green, backwards, looking half your age...”

“Congrats, Buck.”

“Congratulations Buck.... I always knew you'd make a name for yourself with your photography.”

“National Geographic, wow. So when do you get assigned to Africa and take pictures of buck-naked pygmies?
last edited: 1/02/06 7:21:19 PM”

“Good job, Buck! (and Buck was on the lam asking us how to contact magazines!?!?!?? LOL)”

“Congrats Buck. I would prolly start a fight saying I'm one of your biggest Fans.”

“My issue hasn't gotten here yet. Either that or one of my neighbors stole it because of that photo on the back page....”

“so who broke buck? come on, fess up!”

“Hey, I saw that movie yesterday: Broke Buck Mountain!”

“My issue finally arrived, and I am astounded!!

"...at the base of the 14,500-foot peaks of the Sierra..."

See? This is what happens when you go backpacking as much as Buck does. You find peaks that most people won't find. Now, about 20 years ago, I did stand on the top of a peak in the Sierra and, because my hiking boots add a little extra height, the tip top of my head was probably at 14,500, but where are the other 14,500-foot peaks?!!

And near Mono Lake?! Man, I thought most of the peaks around there only went 12 or 13 thousand. Come on, Buck, where are you hiding all those 14.5ers??”

“Well...try white mountians...its not in the sierra range but it's close enough :)”

“White Mountain - true, higher than 12/13, but still not 14½!! Where are these peaks?!”

“I got my issue yesterday..boy did he look bad in that picture. Looks like his wife beat him up...lol

great shot BTW”

“Ha! Thanks everyone! I still haven't seen it yet. I don't know what the text says, but there was no mention of 14teeners in what I told them. I know Mt. Dana is one of the highest peaks that towers over the area but it's barely a 13teener. I think it may be a bit of the east coast (they're based in NY City) not intimately knowing the Sierra. I submitted the information requested and they totally rewrote it, but that's what editors do I guess. But they sent me back a few edited versions and I corrected a few things (on one they mentioned something about fish freezing in the lake, but Mono Lake has no fish). I don't mind them saying whatever they want, but when they put it in quotations as if I said it, that's when I wanna make sure it's accurate. They want to be accurate as well, no doubt, so not reading the text I'm not sure what it says. But if it mentions 14,500' peaks, well, then it's certainly not accurate. Not even Mt. Whitney, the highest spot in the lower 48 and still a couple hours drive south of Mono Lake, is quite that high.

One thing I have found out in my very limited dealings with publications is to make sure I have large file drum scans of my slides and have them already edited for final output, because just giving them an original slide makes you too reliant upon their scanning and editing. Plus it's easier and quicker for the publications too. The editors I worked with personally verified the information I submitted with my pic and they seemed careful to get all details correct, so I'm surprised a reference to 14,500' peaks in the Mono Lake area would make it through the verification process. But all in all I am very honored they wanted my photo and I had a fun time with the phone calls and emails going back and forth with them. I thought a publication like National Geographic would have perhaps a snootiness about them, like I'm lucky they're even talking to me, when in fact they were very nice and thankful and complimentary. I just wish I had a vertical composition of this image for them so it would've looked better. Next time I will!”

“Dang! I thought there were actually some 14.5ers around - I was already packing up to go check them out....”

“I love the photo credit Buck!

Photo by Michael Hansen

Thanks...you shouldn't have 8)”

“Ha ha! No prob, Michael! Since you ghost shoot for me anyway, it's the least I could do!

I actually tracked down a copy today and saw it for the first time. The trouble with cropping into a vertical is that you lose the balance and feel of the shot, and my favorite parts were left out, like the mist hovering at the base of the 14,500' tall mountains. ha ha! I have no idear where they got the 14,500' from, but I'm gonna give a couple the editors a good, fun ribbing over it! It's pretty cool that the cover photo for this issue is the Na Pali Coast because that's high on my list to do this year. - Brian Ernst, aka Buck Forester, aka Storm Shooter.

"I see 14,500' peaks"”

“Maybe the "-foot" was just added by mistake. Are there 14,500 peaks of varying heights in the Sierras? I bet there's at least 14,000....”

“Okay, I contacted one of the editors I worked with from Nat'l Geo and she said they were using a broader sense of the term "Sierras" to include them all when using the elevation 14,500'. She said they could change it on their online edition if I wanted but I said it wasn't really a big deal to me and it was up to them. Since no Sierran peak quite reaches 14,500, using the 14-five generalization doesn't work to well. That's sorta like saying, "I'm here at basecamp climbing Mt. Everest, surrounded by 30,000' peaks". But, so. Adventurers are known to exaggerate here and there. ha ha! It's all gooOOOood.”

“Cool. Then, I think I'll use the broader sense of 'mountains' to include the Himalayas.

Like: "I'm going to do a little XC skiing and winter camping this weekend in the mountains, surrounded by 30,000-foot peaks."”

“Hey Buck, I was thinking it might be a good thing if you wrote an "official" letter to the editor regarding the peak height issue. It gives you credibility and ensures that some people won't just write your page off. I bet they receive letters regarding this very issue. Of course they control what they print, but it would look best if they printed one from you.”

“Congrats Buck. I saw the pick the other night when breezing the mag. It seems that tons of us subscribe. We should all drop a line to NatGeo to give Buck a plug for great work, keep it up.”

“I'm busted too, and payday was Friday!”

“http://www.webshots.com/search?new=1&source=viewauthorgallery&queryAuthor=Buck%20Forester&querySource=gallery&tab=photos

Hope no one has beaten me to this!”

“Wow, the one of McWay Falls looks like an absolute paradise.”

“It was nice to see some of those photos again...and I agree that the one of McWay Falls shows a scene is as close to paradise as any I've ever had in my imagination...”