Morton says he doesn’t take photos, he takes stories

Photographer Ken Morton, of Plano, said he doesn’t just use his photographs to show people the places he’s been or the scenes he’s seen.

He uses them to tell a story.

Last year, he took a trip to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado to look for wildlife, his favorite subject to photograph, he said.

He came across a mountain goat and her 1-year-old kid. He followed them until they both sat on the edge of a cliff 12,000 feet high and looked out at the horizon. He snapped a picture of the moment and titled it “Like Mother, Like Son.”

“They just happened to be looking the same way together and I got a shot of them,” Morton said. “It showed how they stay together, how the mother watches over the young. It shows that any life form, what they can do and what they can’t do (for their young) before it gets out on its own.”

Morton’s collection of photographs goes on display from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday at the McKinney Performing Arts Center.

Morton, a Kansas native, said he’s always had an interest in photography, but he didn’t always play around with cameras.

“I’ve always kind of had an interest for photography since I was a kid, but I never really pursued it until 20 to 25 years ago when I got my first real 35 mm camera, a Canon, and then I went off and on for awhile,” Morton said. “Then about 14 or 15 years ago, I got back into taking pictures and stuff and doing different things.”

He bought a camera and some accessories from a friend and started shooting wildlife photos. Then he joined a local photography club and began to expand his horizons.

“I was mainly into wildlife and the outdoors until four years ago when I got together with the Plano Photo Club,” he said. “They have a lot of different activities and the membership has a wide diversity of styles they do … It’s broadened my horizons and showed me there’s more than just shooting animals.”

Recently, he’s started shooting models, smaller wildlife and architecture scenes. He said each present their own unique challenges.

“The big thing with shooting people or when you’re doing model photography is you can pretty much set everything up and make it exactly the way you want it, whereas shooting animals, you only have a certain amount of control over the area,” he said. “You take what comes but in order to get some of the better shots, you have to learn a little about the animal and their habits: where they eat, where they like to drink water. Some think animals just like to go down to a creek and drink water, but that’s not necessarily true. When it’s wet like now, they’ll drink anywhere.”

Photographs of insects, what he calls “smaller world” photos, require a special lens and a special touch. He said these challenges of capturing such delicate life is what keeps him at it.

“The challenge is, one, learning to use the equipment and the other big thing is there are some people who actually capture the bugs and kill them, but preserve them and shoot them in still life,” he said. “I still do it the hard way. I use a macro-lens and it allows you to focus at a close distance.”

Contact Danny Gallagher at dgallagher@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.

Current Rating: 0 of 0 votes!

Rate File: Select Rating: * ** *** ****

 Plano Apartments
 Plano Attorneys
 Plano Auto Dealers
 Plano Auto Parts
 Plano Auto Repair
 Plano Beauty Salons
 Plano Car Rental
 Plano Dentists
 Plano Doctors
 Plano Flowers
 Plano Hotels
 Plano Insurance
 Plano Loans
 Plano Mortgages
 Plano Movers
 Plano Pizza
 Plano Realtors
 Plano Restaurants
 Plano Storage
 Plano Tax Preparation
 Plano Travel
 Featured
 More...