MISSOURI: SOUTHEAST MISSOURI CAPTURES NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE

Top left: Bollinger Mill State Historic Site.

Above: Mustard blooms in Bollinger County.

Left: Lily pad at Otter Slough in Stoddard County.

The eroded limestone of Tower Rock, uncovered during the 1988 drought, captivated nature photographer Charles Gurche, who selected the scene for the cover of his book: "Missouri: Images of Nature."

Tower Rock, in the Mississippi River at Perry County, leads the collection of 103 color photographs of Missouri. Approximately one-third of the photographs that Gurche selected feature scenes from Southeast Missouri.

"Southeast Missouri has more photographs than any other part of the state," said Gurche, a native of Missouri. "I just sort of gravitated toward some of the places and spent more time there.

"There is such diversity down that way," he said. "It seems I always wanted to be at Elephant Rocks, Tower Rock or Otter Slough. These areas just seemed really unique."

He said Tower Rock reminds him of the sea stacks on the Washington coast where he now lives. Four shots of Tower Rock are included in the book.

Other local sites include Bollinger Mill, the Mark Twain National Forest and the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, which stretch through southern Missouri.

Hawn State Park near Ste. Genevieve and Pickle Creek, which flows through the park, also captured his attention. He photographed Mingo National Wildlife Refuge in Wayne County, Elephant Rocks and Johnson Shut-ins in Iron County, the Current River and Jacks Fork River.

Photographs show mustard blooming in Bollinger County and a field of buttercups in Ripley County at sunset. He photographed the gnarled branches of a 140-foot bur oak in Big Oak Tree State Park in Mississippi County and the bald cypress and water tupelo trees at Otter Slough in Stoddard County.

Gurche grew up on the outer edge of Kansas City. At 18, he left Missouri for college in the West. Gurche now lives in Spokane, Wash.

"Despite the grand scale and beauty of this new landscape, I never forgot the special power of Missouri's lands," he said.

He made eight trips to Missouri over a two-year period, photographing for the book. He visited the state during each season.

"Missouri has nice, strong seasons," Gurche said. "I wanted to show each season. But I had difficulty getting some strong winter pictures; the first trip in January was about 60 degrees."

The next year his father watched weather forecasts. "He spotted a big cold front, which was expected to drop snow, so he called me and I flew out at the last minute," he said. "That was a year ago in December when I got the snow pictures."

The book is organized in sections dealing with color, form, moment, place, microcosm and light.

"I really try to concentrate on composing the picture," he said. "I try to have really strong form in picture and I work on capturing light, doing something special with the light.

"When I look through the book, I notice a lot of pictures at sunrise and sunset when light is doing something. Most of the days I spent scouting instead of shooting."

Gurche camped in a tent during all but his winter trips to the state.

"It's good to be really close to where you want to be shooting," he said. "Plus I enjoy camping.

"But it was kind of hard finding access to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers," he said. "There is a lot of private land and poison ivy."

The book is Gurche's first.

"I sought a publisher I really liked. They were beginning to work on books in the East and Midwest," Gurche said. "I thought Missouri would make a really great project."

His parents live near Kansas City. "I would return (to their home) and take off all over the state."

Gurche did weeks of research before taking photographs. "I was looking for good places to photograph."

He studied information from Missouri's Conservation Department and Department of Natural Resources. "I looked at Forest Service maps and a book called `Geological Wonders and Curiosities of Missouri.'

"And I did a lot of letter writing. I had to get information about what time dogwood trees would be blooming so I could schedule trips accordingly."

Gurche was trained as an elementary school teacher. "I did that for a while, then I decided to make a go of this six years ago."

He began taking photos at age 11 or 12. "I kept studying books and pictures I liked, trying to figure out why I liked them."

Gurche primarily does stock photography. He has a collection of nature photographs, mostly from the West. His photos have appeared on National Geographic and Audubon Society calendars.

The photographs in the book were made with a Calumet 4x5 view camera on Fujichrome 50 and Ektachrome 64, 100 Plus and 200 films.

The hard-cover large-format book sells for $25.

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