By LISA BRITTON

Baker City Herald

Walter Klages keeps an eye glued to his camera viewfinder as he swings the lens back and forth, searching for the perfect shot.

Then he stands back, looking a bit disgusted with the clouds that just stole his sunshine.

Klages lives in Enterprise, and on a recent sunny morning he set up his tripod in the parking lot of Styles R Us to capture a photograph featuring the Elkhorns, Baker Tower and Baker City Hall.

andquot;I really like this shot,andquot; he said. andquot;I definitely want this perspective.andquot;

If only the sun, clouds and traffic would cooperate.

andquot;There’s always a problem with the streets and cars,andquot; he said.

Not to mention the stoplight at Auburn and Main.

andquot;That stoplight really eats everything up as small as it is, it destroys everything,andquot; he said. andquot;And waiting for it, it seems to go on forever.

andquot;Scenic photography can really try your patience.andquot;

Klages, 75, began his photography career in 1962. His time is mostly taken with studio portraits, but on occasion he hits the Continued from Page 1

road in search of landscape shots that will eventually grace the postcards he sells in truck stops and restaurants.

He calls them andquot;Keep Scapes.andquot;

andquot;I refuse to call them postcards,andquot; he said with a grin.

Klages graduated from Oregon State University in 1955 with a degree in vocational agriculture and engineering.

Then he joined the military and was assigned to a photography unit.

andquot;Everybody was trying to get into photography,andquot; he said.

The mission of his group five officers and 35 personnel was to document the military’s work along the East Coast. They used both still photography and 35 mm motion pictures.

He got hooked, and made photography his career.

At first it was all black and white with large-format cameras.

Then color came along, though no one thought those images would last more than a few years.

andquot;Thank the Lord that they were wrong,andquot; Klages said.

And he still uses film, even though he admits digital cameras are convenient.

The digital era, he said, has fostered a new kind of photographer mentality the belief that you’ll end up with a decent shot if you push the button enough times.

andquot;If you shoot and shoot and shoot, you’ll get something good, eventually,andquot; he said.

Klages is more picky, and said his background with a large format, 4-by-5 camera helps him choose his shots.

andquot;You did three exposures and that was it,andquot; he said of those cameras. andquot;I learned I better do it right the first time. I still have that mentality.andquot;

Even after 40 years of camera work, Klages admits photography involves the luck of being in the right place at the right time.

As an example, he points to a postcard of Wallowa Lake framed with snowy mountains, wispy clouds and purple lupine wildflowers.

andquot;Even I can’t duplicate it,andquot; he said of the shot.

For the Keep Scapes, he publishes 7,000 copies of one image. He was also, he said, one of the first to put a andquot;ghostandquot; image on the postcard back.

His years of experience could never be summed up succinctly, but he offers this bit of advice: pay attention to the time of day.

Noon, for example, isn’t an ideal time to photograph a scene because the sunlight is too harsh.

andquot;There’s nothing there,andquot; he said.

Daylight and dusk are the best times to catch shadows and depth.

andquot;You come back during the low-light hours and it’s beautiful,andquot; he said.

And he can’t help but notice how the sun’s rays can highlight a face, or make a landscape come alive with color.

andquot;It just makes you so aware of everything around you,andquot; he said.

His cards are printed under the name andquot;Futuristic Photographyandquot; and can be found at local truck stops and restaurants.