WHERE IS THAT GREAT PICTURE YOU PROMISED US? - by guest Stephen M. Kohler

Today, I would like to turn my post over to a friend and fellow researcher who had some good words and advice. I couldn't say it better than he did. So enjoy some words of wisdom from Stephen.

I wasn't always a soldier. Before I made a later in life choice to enter the military I was a certified teacher, artist, photographer, journalist, and the editor of two local periodicals. I was a guide for waterfowlers and my Miranda Sensorex 35mm Film SLR Camera always slung around my neck. I wasn't the average avid outdoorsman, I was the real McCoy! In the ten years slogging salt water marshes and patrolling around deep forested ponds I took thousands of photographs. Canned shots took time to set up, but always looked canned. The number of great catches didn't exceed five or six photographs. Why, so few great shots... ...here's why -

 1 It's Been Done Before.

 2 Photo Opportunities Are Rare.

 3 No Control Over The Subject.

 4 Wildlife Is Unpredictable And Dangerous.

 5 Long Times Away, Alone.

 6 Preparedness.

 7 Difficult To Make A Living

   (The real thing you do  for a living gets in the way)

 8 Equipment Cost.

 9 Travel Cost.

10. The Risk To Life And Limb.

Now apply this to the great shot of the Grizzly Bear playing with her young, or the Bobcat pouncing on a Tom Turkey, or Bigfoot relaxing by a brook.

So for those of you wondering why great photos are so few and far between, there's another perspective on it, from one who's been there.  Makes me even sadder when we frenzy over a photo, tearing at it like wild dogs. But then, that was a different post. LOL

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

RANT the first

(Did a lot of soul searching before writing this post. It is one of the most difficult I have done.  But I can stay silent no longer. So here it is - My Rant.)


A common cry : "Why are there no clear videos or photos of bigfoot?"


Yeah, I get that. We are all tired of the Shadowsquatch, the Blobsquatch, the Stumpsquatch, the Brushsquatch, the Groupsquatch. Somedays it can just make us scream with frustration. We enlarge, we enhance, we manipulate and we squint in despair at many of these photos and videos before shaking our heads and moving on.


So why no clear shots?


I tell you there are.


Where?  you ask?


Mostly not where you're looking.


They're not being shown on TV, talked about on radio shows, or printed in newspapers and magazines, posted on the internet, shared on Facebook, praised in bigfoot/sasquatch/cryptid groups.


Why not? you ask?


Let me tell you why not.


Just as the blotchy, shadowy, blurry, fuzzy photos are picked apart and ridiculed, so are the good shots.


Just as they dismiss the bad photos as hoaxes, the clear shots are labeled with the same tags.


They decry the bad pictures and call them bad hoaxes. And then give the clear shots the same name.


I'm not saying we should not be skeptical. Heck, Skeptic is my middle name.


"I want to believe your story, but you must give me enough to believe in."


Yeah, I said that. I still say it. Cause I still live by it.  I could give you a list of people that have experienced me looking at their evidence and hearing their stories. But, being a person of her word, I promised not to reveal them to anyone else. So, no list.  No validation that I do not endorse what I do not see. Sorry.


If I don't see what you're claiming, I ain't gonna blow smoke up .................. well, you know where.


A very good friend spent over 6 months showing me his 4+ years worth of evidence he had gathered. I poked and pried, I questioned, I studied it all.  I asked everything but his underwear size. And in the end, I was shown more than enough to realize that he has the "real deal".


And he finally decided to share this with the "community". And with his permission, so did I.


There are many who are in awe, loving to see this evidence, asking intelligent questions. Rejoicing in the discoveries made by a fellow researcher. And to all of you, I say, "Thank you."


There are some skeptics. And there is no problem with that. Patience and follow up to answer all their questions to clarify matters is on-going. And to all of them, I also offer a "Thank you".


Then there are the rude bodies. Insults, name-calling, blatant disrespect. Calling us out on our skills, accusations of not being real researchers, labeling it all a hoax.


A hoax.


Don't misunderstand me. We are all entitled to our opinions. But there is a right way and there is a wrong way to go about it. You can simply state that you do not see the evidence that is being presented. You can say that in your opinion, you do not believe the photo to represent the claims. Or you can stay silent and move along.  Or you can be the spoiled little researchers that are popping up.


I find some members of this community to be petty, jealous tyrants. If the discovery is not theirs, then it can only be a hoax. It must be fake.


Let me explain something to you. That is not being a skeptic. It's being a green-eyed, jealous, ego-driven, petty, little person.


Shameful.


And you wonder why our field of research will not be taken seriously. You wonder why discoveries are not being shared publicly. You wonder why researchers hug their work so close to themselves, trusting no one, telling no one, taking their secrets to their graves.


Oh yes, those who share out their lousy photography, their hopeful shots of brush piles and shadowed woods, claiming bigfoot are there can damage our credibility. And so do those who intentionally create false stories, create hoaxes, fake their research and evidence.


But the petty, little, ego-driven, green-eyed Sasquatch Tyrants need to take their share of the blame.


Shameful.


Nancy


"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

WRITE A BLOG, THEY SAID. IT'S EASY, THEY SAID.

Well, it's not.


Easy, that is. Fun, yes. Inspiration to research, yes. But easy, nope. No. Not a chance.




photo by Nancy Marietta

At least, it can feel that way as one sits basking in the (finally) sunshine staring at the computer screen, leafing through notes, checking the files, grabbing one idea, then another, discarding them all, and resorting to changing one's stare from the screen to the window. Looking at the trees and grass, and blue sky, and mentally in those trees, walking and ................

Well, it is a sort of disease, I guess. Wanting to be outside and perhaps experiencing something wonderful, life changing, exciting yet scary...............

Yeah, we've probably all been there.

But back to writing a blog.

I don't know about others, but I feel a responsibility to go with it. To write something worth reading, something that gives another some knowledge, or confirmation, something that makes someone, somewhere, sit back and say "Wow", or at least, "Never thought of it that way."

And I continue to learn I have to have a thick skin, to let certain comments, taunts, insults, misunderstandings, negativity roll off me. Not to let it stick. Because those are the ones I am NOT writing a blog for. But on the other hand, even those negative types are reading the posts.  I suppose, in a way, it fulfills a need in them. Gives them something to disagree with or dislike for the day.

So, thanks for caring enough to read my thoughts. I'll hit the publish button and share this a couple places and then go back to my research. Hopefully, I'll find something that might interest more people.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."

5 FUN THINGS TO DO WITH SASQUATCH AS A NEW NEIGHBOR

Here are my top 5 fun things to do with sasquatch if he should become my new neighbor.

1) Let your kid take him along to boy scouts to show them the proper way to make those teepee structures.

2) Make sure you let him know about any Highland Games in the area so he can enter the Caber Toss. (sure win bet. LOL)

3. Ask him to be Cheerleading coach. WHOO-OOOOP !  WHOOO-OOOOP! Grrrr!   Grrrr! GRRRRR !

4) Help him get a job at the local day care center. Will keep them busy all day trying to find him when playing hide and seek.

5) Sign him up for your photography class at the local Y.

 

 

Thanks for having a chuckle with me today.

Nancy

"I'll spark the thought; what you do with it is up to you."