By Keith Robinson
Dave Ficke keeps his cameras close by and ready for action – especially when he travels to far-flung and exotic wilderness locations.
As an award-winning photographer, who has been selected as a finalist in the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) contest this year, his fame is traveling faster and further than even he can. His spectacular photographic art prints are displayed and on sale in local galleries.
For nearly 35 years he was a college prep biology, physics and field biology teacher at a high school in Upland. For twenty-seven years he led field trips to Yosemite National Park and other special natural locations for his classes. His teaching moxie and in-the-field experience made him the natural choice to be selected as the statewide developer for the California Blueprint for Environmental Education. For more than six years he has also been a sports writer and photographer for the Mountain News here in Lake Arrowhead.
And no, it is not true that he dresses in a phone booth.
While Ficke is now in the midst of a second career in photography, his love of nature and the outdoors began with a degree in biology and then a decades long, celebrated tenure teaching students and changing lives. Those who know his story wish he had been their teacher.
“Ever since I started teaching high school biology back in the late 1970’s I wanted to share with my students my love and passion for the out of doors,” he said. “ My fall semester’s curriculum included the identification of birds. It was really gratifying when a, student would come to class, excited about seeing an egret, for example, after a visit to San Diego over the weekend with their parents.”
These days, Ficke can be found out in the wilds, sleeping in his trailer for weeks at a time. However, this is not really new. He has always believed in getting out of the classroom and getting sweaty or dirty in order to really learn about and experience nature. Textbooks and PowerPoint presentations were never enough. “During spring semester my students did plant projects where they collected, pressed and dried the local chaparral of our area,” continued Ficke. “It was because of these projects that the school asked if I would teach an ecology class.” True to form, Ficke suggested field biology, which meant more outdoor work for his students. After he created and wrote the curriculum, “it opened the door for me to create field trips to enhance the students’ experiential learning,” he added.
To his credit, he organized three-day canoeing trips down the Colorado River in search of migratory birds. He led trips to places like Joshua Tree National Park, Catalina Island, and Southern California beaches to explore tide pools and watch whales.
Other trips seem almost too good to be true. “I took students to Yosemite National Park the end of March when the students had the opportunity to snowshoe down into the Giant Sequoia Grove and learn about sequoia ecology. On another trip they would cross-country ski into Crane Flat Meadows and learn about the ecology of plants and animals and how they survive in the winter months,” he explained.
For a few years Ficke’s students had an opportunity to do multi-day cross-county ski trips from Badger Pass to Glacier Point. “My experience of getting up early and watching the sun rise over half Dome while the kids were still snuggled in their sleeping bags is a memory that I will always cherish,” he said. “There are few other biology teachers who get the opportunity to experience that.”
“Not that I can explain in words, but to see high school students have their own building of self-confidence while learning in an outdoor environment is more powerful than any class curriculum delivered inside four walls,” he boasted. Who could argue with that?
Ficke’s dedication to his students and the natural world seems almost unprecedented. His field biology classes took part in long-term projects like stream macro invertebrates to indicate water quality in the Mount Baldy water shed. Later, in Yosemite, his students compared the water quality of upper and lower Illiouett stream. “There were some 20 National Park Service personal observing my students as they did the comparison study,” said Ficke. “When they finished, my students were complimented for the thoroughness of their work and the accuracy of the study.” As a result, the horse bridge crossing the stream was determined to be the cause of the pollution and the Yosemite Park Biologist had the horse bridge removed.
During this time, Ficke was not just teaching students, but other teachers too. As coordinator for the California Regional Environmental Education Network and the teacher ambassador for Cal Recycle, he presented professional development curriculum for educators throughout California. His teaching resume is impressive and vast.
In retirement, Ficke is no longer reporting to duty everyday at a high school or district office, but is still reporting to the natural world on a schedule that suits him.
Ficke and his wife travel throughout the West visiting state and national parks and wilderness areas. “I have been lucky to have backpacked in our local mountains and stayed the night on top of the peaks of Ontario, Cucamonga and Mt. San Gorgonio. I have backpacked into Mt. Lyle, the Clark Range areas of the Sierras and the Wind River Range in Wyoming and hiked in several of the National Parks in Utah,” said Ficke. His goal for traveling with his wife is two-fold. “These trips are for pleasure as well as to photograph competitively. My upcoming Northern California trip it is to photograph migratory birds in their environment displaying their unique behavior in the wild.” While he admits that taking photos is a passion, “The other part is for my wife and I to go out and see new places. We have been to the Greater Yellowstone-Tetons ecosystem several times where we’ve had amazing experiences on a month-long trip.”
Dave Ficke says his first camera was a 35mm film format Nikon with a 50mm lens. He remembers it was about $350 back then. Today, he packs around a few camera bodies and lenses, which, in total, could be, valued the same as an average automobile. “For my landscape and wildlife photography I use a Nikon D850 at 46 megapixel. I use several different lenses for landscape and nature photography that range from super wide angle (14mm) to a 400mm telephoto for wildlife. For sports photography I use a Nikon Z6II at 24 megapixel that shoots at 14 frames per second.”
As most photographers of nature know, part of the ability to get good image is waiting for the right moment. It could be hours before the light, the angle, or the positioning allows for a great shot. It also means hiking to remote places or sitting in the cold waiting for the sunrise. “I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten up before the sun, driven to a location and hiked in with a headlamp while sitting in the cold with my camera on a tripod, waiting for the first rays of light to peak up over the horizon,” said Ficke. “Most of the time the photographic experience is a bust. But, it doesn’t matter, the attempt at the great sunrise or sunset photo comes with a lot of great times just sitting out and watching a new day begin, or a great day turn into night.”
Still, great landscape or wildlife photographs are far more than a great camera, or knowing where to go. Great photographs are a result of skill and suffering and perseverance. “The photograph of a burrowing owl flying (see photo) took me three days, at four hours a day, to finally get this shot,” Ficke lamented. “I was still very lucky.”
Recently, some of Ficke’s photos have been selected as finalists in the annual NANPA contest. “As intimidating as it is to be competing with some of the top photographers from around the world, I feel humbled that one of my images made the top 250 and four others that made the semifinals, he added. “Yet the quest goes on as I study other photographers and strive to improve my skills.”
Besides the work and stamina it takes to get a good photograph, by using the equipment he uses, Ficke is able to provide incredible works of art suitable in any size, to be displayed in homes and businesses. “I strive for quality and detail and the larger megapixels gives me that ability for large prints with tiny details,” Ficke explained. “When we look at a landscape we do not see with blinders on either side of our head– we see the breadth of the whole landscape. So I tend to shoot landscape panoramas.”
Ficke explains that anytime one spends as much time teaching, studying, and living in nature as he has it is impossible to not worry about its future. “Unfortunately it is discouraging to see our home, planet earth, being abused, trashed and assaulted from so many directions,” he said. “I have been around long enough to have seen the changes in the western United States, where 30 years ago you could look out and see some of the most iconic vistas which, have disappeared due to air pollution. My other major worries are habitat loss, water pollution, and species extinction; just to name a few in the litany of concerns.” Ficke conceded that he “understands that I, as well as everyone else, benefits from cars, electricity and all the other comforts of living in today’s world, but there must come a time where the true cost for the degradation to our environment will come due.”
For now, Ficke wants to spend as much time with his wife and two dogs going out and about, experiencing the western United States. “However,” he says, “I am quickly approaching a mature 72 years young, so I want to spend it honing my photographic skills to share the wild places with as many people as I can.”
Most photographers have location goals and Ficke is no exception. His bucket list is long and perhaps wishful thinking, but it includes photographing penguins in Antarctica, looking through his lenses at the great landscapes of Patagonia, shooting on the ice fields of Iceland, and perhaps photographing polar bears in Alaska. There is always a back up plan too. “I would love to do a conservation photography project on the San Bernardino Mountains,” he said.
While Dave Ficke may not be superman, he has by most standards lived a super life, which has not only enriched his own world, but the world of so many others.
Ficke’s photography can be seen and purchased at the Mountain Arts Gallery in the Lake Arrowhead Village and on his website: www.davidfickephotography.com
Left Coast Footprints 