SILOAM SPRINGS — Some of you may have been wondering about the big stick I carried to the Gentry football game on Friday night, so perhaps I owe a brief explanation.

Yes, I did have a tilting fluid-head camera mount fastened to the top of a big walking stick - something which seemed a bit surprising to other photographers with their telescoping aluminum monopods. But why would I make such a concoction and then show up with it at a football game? My answer is quite simple.

Some years ago, I spent a good amount of money on a tripod with that same tilting fluid head. It worked great - until the one plastic piece connecting the head to the tripod broke. Being a conservativetype fellow who doesn’t just throw worthless junk away when there might be a possible use for it down the road, I saved the pieces and parts, trying to figure out how to repair it and avoid spending more good money to buy another good tripod.

Well, it occurred to me how often I used that tripod as a walking stick when hiking to a rugged location to photograph deer or other natural scenes. In fact, when it broke and I quit carrying it, I missed it and picked up a sturdy Arkansas walking stick at a Game and Fish Commission museum.

Then the thought came to me. I could use the walking stick as a monopod to help steady my camera when shooting longer exposures or with a telephoto lens. For 27 cents, I bought the bolt to combine the tilting fluid-head camera mount with my native Arkansas walking stick, and the end result was pleasing - at least after I cut down the stick to bring my camera to eye level. The monopod was sturdier than most store-bought varieties and absorbed vibration rather than amplifying it like aluminum monopods tend to do. And the best part was that it didn’t cost me much.

Yes, I carried it to the football game because I was using a manual Nikon telephoto lens on a Konica-Minolta digital camera - something else I was able to do by ordering an inexpensive part all the way from China.

And my walking stick worked well as a monopod. I was indeed pleased with my concoction. It worked so well at the football game that I’m anxious to try it afield with one or more of my old film cameras.

When I put the two parts together in the garage last week, Mrs. Griz asked me if I was going to engrave my name on my new monopod.

I told her, “What for? No one else has one like this!”

In addition to aiding me when hiking in the woods or taking photographs, my new monopod, I suppose, could have a political purpose as well - one steeped in American history.

Teddy Roosevelt, a lover of the outdoors and the president credited with the establishment of numerous national parks and monuments, once said, “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

Yes, I prefer not to raise my voice and I do hope to go far with my walking-stick monopod, even if it does look a bit unusual to those not as conservatively minded as I.

- Randy Moll is editor of the Gentry Courier-journal.

Opinion, Pages 4 on 11/04/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.