Roger Lanksbury ’74 uses Traveling Wildcats Program to develop his photography skills
Editor's note: This story by Tim Schrag '12 was prepared for K-Stater magazine. Members of the K-State Alumni Association can read more exclusive content like this in each issue.
After graduating from K-State, Roger Lanksbury ’74 bought a camera. It had interchangeable lenses, and, of course, film. He started taking photos and trying to learn the craft.
But then life got in the way.
His first child was born, and he needed to focus on his family and his career.
However, after retiring in 2012, Lanksbury decided to pick the camera back up.
“I bought a camera and started trying to get back into it,” he said. “Of course, it was digital now. The general concept of taking photos, composition and finding nice things to shoot is still there. That doesn't change. But how you process the photos and what you do is different.”
Lanksbury has dabbled in landscape photography, taking photos of K-State landmarks including Anderson Hall, the K-State Alumni Center and Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and astro photography, including photos of the Flint Hills at night. He’s even taken classes from legendary National Geographic photographer Jim Richardson ’93.
One of the lessons Lanksbury took from Richardson is if you want to be a better photographer, start by standing in front of better stuff. So, he heeded that advice and started traveling.
Lanksbury has been to all seven continents and more than 60 countries. Many of his travels have been through the Alumni Association’s Traveling Wildcats program. Lanksbury and his wife, Kathy Harrington Lanksbury ’81, have traveled with the program more than 10 times.
“They're always well done,” he said of the Traveling Wildcats trips. “Everything's put together. We like meeting people. A lot of times we know at least somebody from the trip, and then we will end up meeting new people we didn't know, and then they are now friends that we have and continue to see or communicate with. Everything's laid out well. I mean, you know what you're going to do and there's a convenience factor there.”
Lanksbury often travels with several cameras for different occasions, but mentioned that the best camera you can have is the one you have on you.
“I have one regular digital camera,” he said. “I have a small point and shoot because sometimes, like for instance, if you go on a hot air balloon, they won't let you take a big lens. Then I have a waterproof camera that I've used when I go scuba diving or snorkeling or something where I'm going to be in in the water.
“Sometimes I've had situations where the only thing I had was my cell phone, and I see an opportunity to take a photo. I use my phone more for sometimes, if it’s a place I can go back to, and I don't have my camera with me, I'll take some photos just to give me some ideas and kind of see what things would look like, and then I have those to look back at.”
Lanksbury agreed to share some of the photos he’s taken on several Traveling Wildcats trips with the K-Stater. Here they are with captions in his own words.
These are the red roofs of Tallinn, Estonia’s old town.
This was in Cambodia as part of the trip to Vietnam. We had stopped on a bus on our
way to the next city at a rest area by a lake and saw these boats in the water. I
liked the overall colors of the boats and the water in the photo.
This was a view from our hotel in Cairo. As the sun was going down, I asked our guide
if I could take a picture of the pyramids from his top floor hotel room. We couldn’t
get the window open far enough and the hotel had to send a maintenance guy to open
the window. I liked the setting of this photo because the haziness of the smog in
Egypt. The smog gave it an interesting look that silhouettes the pyramids.
This is the Luxor Temple in Luxor, Egypt, at sunset. They have it nicely lit up and
it was a nice setting with the colors in the sky and the temple itself.
This is the Parthenon in Greece at sunset. We were sitting in a restaurant on a mountain
a ways away. It was just a great opportunity to get a big picture of the Parthenon
and the other ruins.
We were on a boat going along the coast looking for polar bears. This male polar bear
was snarling at a cub and its mother. We’d followed the mother and the cub for several
miles before they met. Eventually the male bear let the mother and cub share some
of the beached whale that had washed ashore.
This was taken on a tour called Polar Bears and Beluga Whales in Winnipeg, Canada.
I always think the bear thinks I look delicious. I took this from an underwater tunnel
at the Winnipeg zoo.
This was an early trip in Africa nearly a decade ago. I title it “I got your back.”
I like how the zebras are looking either way. One of the first animals we saw when
we arrived were zebras and we were so excited, but by the end we had less enthusiasm
as we kept seeing them.
This was taken on the same trip. I’ve titled this one “A mother’s love.”
This is a Maasai warrior who lives in the Serengeti. This gentleman spoke a bit of
English and used the name of Andrew. What you see on his ear is the equivalent of
a marriage ring. I asked him when he has to run, what does he do with his ear. He
told me he takes the loop and tucked it behind the top of his ear.
Lanksbury keeps a photo blog at https://roger-lanksbury.pixels.com/. View more of his work there.