Wilsonville Spokesman Online

Local photographer's stunning work grabs a grand prize

Dennis Frates won the 'Popular Photography' 2010 reader contest

• By: Josh Kulla  
• Published: 1/26/2010 2:02:34 PM

Photo By: Dennis FratesGrand prize
Dennis Frates of Wilsonville combined patience with a bit of luck to capture this beach scene at the Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor near Brookings on the southern Oregon coast.

Some people try to avoid or mask emotion.
 
Others embrace it and seek out the deepest reservoirs of the human spirit.

Wilsonville photographer Dennis Frates counts himself in the latter group. And his stunning images of wildlife, landscapes and the outdoors are able to convey feelings he otherwise would not be able to express.

“Nature is my first love,” Frates said last week. “It always has been. It is definitely a rush – it’s a legal habit. It’s very much like fishing. You cast and you cast and you cast, and then  you hook an 18-inch trout and its like, ‘That just made my day.’”

Working out of his Wilsonville studio the past five years, Frates has continued to build on an impressive body of work compiled over the past 25 years. His portfolio includes numerous appearances in National Geographic, Audubon Society and other prestigious publications.

Frates judges success not by awards, which he considers most useful in a promotional role, but by the impact of his work on others. Nonetheless, he appreciates the recognition from fellow professionals.

“It’s humbling, actually,” he said.

Most recently, it was his photo composite of a beach scene at the Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor near Brookings on the south Oregon coast that caught the eyes of judges in charge of the 2010 Popular Photography Magazine’s reader photo contest.

The image, taken at sunset and displaying wave-lashed tide pools and volcanic rocks, earned Frates this year’s grand prize. It was selected in favor of more than 4,400 other submissions for the honor.

Utilizing a tripod-mounted Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III with a Canon 24–105mm f/4l IS lens and polarizing filter, Frates snapped the winning photo – actually three photos merged into a single image using Photoshop – with an exposure of 1 second at f/16. The photos were shot at low tide near sunset to allow for ideal lighting of the background rocks and tide pools.

“I was with Larry Geddis (a Portland-based professional photographer), he took me down there,” Frates recounted. “It was low tide, we were shooting together, and nothing was happening.”Geddis started walked down the beach in search of another angle when the sun broke through the clouds momentarily.
“He had given up,” Frates said. “And I then I was whistling at him to get back here.”

Late bloomer
A photography career came later in life for Frates, now 62, than most. But it came on the heels of a lifelong passion for photography. 

Growing up around Sacramento and later Lake Tahoe, Frates was immersed in the outdoors almost from birth and did not fail to appreciate the scenery.

“I poured over photograph after photograph in the National Geographic, Sierra Club, Audubon, and others, almost forgetting to breathe,” he writes on his Web page. “I thought this kind of photography was unattainable for the average photographer.”

He purchased his first camera at age 14 for $100 and was disappointed when his early work looked nothing like the sharp, glossy images he found in various publications.

“I was so disappointed with these early photographs,” he said. “If I couldn’t dazzle people with my pictures like National Geographic, then it wasn’t worth the effort.”

He went on to college, earning a master’s degree in the fields of ecology and landscapes. He became a teacher and moved to Oregon at age 25, and slowly began to take up his first love once again. He was encouraged by the feedback he got, and continued to work.

“I was a teacher, and it gave me a lot of time in the summers to photograph,” he said. “And from day one, I knew I’d eventually turn this into a business.”

In 1985, Frates went trout fishing on Montana’s Madison River. There, he had his ‘Eureka’ moment and decided to take the next step and create a full-fledged business.

“I’m a fly fisherman, and I love to be outdoors,” he said. “This was a way to get into the outdoors and pay for it, and it’s kind of blossomed from there.”

Now, his work has appeared in many of the publications he used to view with envy as a boy. His bread and butter is stock photography, where images are sold for individual or commercial use.

The latter can be quite lucrative, with clients ranging from small firms up to National Geographic and the Hallmark card company. 

“I can’t say ‘I’ve arrived,’” he said. “But I can tell you I feel an immense satisfaction that my work touches the lives of others.”

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