The Jeweler's Tale
continued
"I
would look for pretty scenes, or people working in the rice paddies, and
I would take the pictures and send them home," says Thompson. "And
when we had trouble or got hit, I would take pictures, but keep them with
me. I didn't want them to arrive home before I did.
"I found that I enjoyed taking pictures, but I knew nothing about photography or composition. If I had only known, I could have published a book. I probably took a thousand slides while I was over there."
When Thompson finished his tour of duty and returned home, he showed his family and friends the slides he hadn't sent home then put his camera up in a closet and forgot about photography.
It would be years later before Thompson would take up photography again. A photography class taught by Dick Gross at Motlow revived his interest. Gross specialized in nature photography, and it had a profound influence on Thompson.
At about the same time, John Netherton, a well-known nature photographer held a workshop in the Everglades. Thompson attended the program, and it turned his world around.
"I credit those two people with the hobby that has meant so much to me," says Thompson."I tell people - and not too jokingly - that it has kept me out of the hospital and jail house, because when I take the camera out into the field, that becomes the only world that exists - the one I am photographing, I don't think about the store and I don't think about the world's situation."
Shutting out the rest of the world can sometimes be dangerous. Ever since the Netherton workshop, Thompson has made a yearly pilgrimage to the Everglades. During one of the trips, he was engrossed in capturing the image of a caterpillar busily munching on a plant, when he heard the voice of a young boy calling out to him, "Hey, mister!"
"He yelled two or three times to get my attention. I heard him say, 'There is an alligator coming up behind you.' Without turing around, I said, 'Yeah, yeah. Okay' and kept on working. " continued > > >