Louthan’s love for travel, photography yields stunning results

As a young man, Michael Louthan’s love for the outdoors and adventurous spirit led him to explore places far from home with little more than a backpack and a cheap camera in hand.

Not much has changed over the years except the increasingly stunning images he captures around the globe and along the backroads of Kingfisher County.

Louthan has always been interested in photography and paired with his backpacking and mountaineering he has had the opportunity to not only see unique and far-away places, but to bring a little bit home through his photos.

Although he may carry better equipment than he did in the 1970s, he said getting the right shot is often about being at the right place at the right time.

“The key to photography is good lighting,” Louthan said.

As a photographer you learn to get up early and stay out late, because that’s the best lighting of the day, he added.

After retirement, Louthan began to travel around the world on photography tours, making friends along the way with those who share the same interests.

Having experienced the glaciers of Iceland, glowing northern lights of Canada, scenes of Italy, Costa Rica, Africa, Patagonia, Nova Scotia and places in between, Louthan said he looks for interesting and natural beauty to photograph.

Louthan’s years of climbing and mountaineering adventures led him to the top of most of America’s Cascade mountain peaks where he developed much of his high altitude landscape photography expertise.

Other scenic areas of the United States Louthan has photographed include Death Valley, the many canyons of Utah and Nevada, starfilled night skies and cascading waterfalls of the Palouse in Washington, Wyoming’s Teton mountain range as well as many other places.

On a recent nine-day tour of Iceland, with almost 23 hours of sunlight there in June, Louthan said he was able take advantage of the golden hour, the beautiful colors near sunrise and sunset, for four hours each day, capturing thousands of images.

“Our group would leave the hotel around 7 p.m., shoot until 3 a.m., come back, go to bed, then do it all over again the next day,” he said.

“We were able to capture the beautiful sunset golden light for hours.”

Traveling with a diverse group of friends, Louthan said, is fun and has also increased his knowledge and photography skills.

Without the same enthusiasm for venturing out at 3 a.m. and trekking through difficult terrain to achieve the perfect picture, his wife, Patricia, usually chooses to remain in Kingfisher, but is also very supportive of his ventures and they travel together at other times, he said.

Married for 39 years, he and Patricia have lived in Kingfisher their entire marriage and both are now retired.

Louthan previously worked in the audio and acoustics industry and Patricia was employed with Baker, Logsdon, Schulte and Gibson law firm for many years.

Whether globally or locally, Louthan said his favorite scenes to photograph are landscapes, but he has also taken photographs of tropical birds in Costa Rica, wildlife of Africa, people around the world, abstract objects and whatever interesting scenes catch his eye.

Even with all the international places Louthan’s traveled to and photographed, he said he still loves “all things Kingfisher and Oklahoma.”

Often traveling the backroads of Kingfisher County, Louthan spends hours searching for abandoned farm houses, country schools, old churches and other interesting pieces of history.

“There’s a lot of beauty out there in dusty Oklahoma,” Louthan said.

Having photographed many local scenes of yesteryear, he said it’s always interesting to hear the stories of the people who lived there before bringing the scene to life.

With a love for history, Louthan also serves as vice president on the Chisholm Trail Museum board. Featured as part of the Land Run exhibit, is Louthan’s 8-feet by 15-feet photographic mural of western Oklahoma’s prairie.

“He’s a great board member and one of the first to volunteer when work needs to be done,” said Chisholm Trail Museum Director Jason Harris.

While preparing the Land Run exhibit, Harris said he asked Louthan if he could provide a photograph of the sweeping Oklahoma prairie as it would have been during the late 1800s.

“He probably spent an entire day taking hundreds of photos in western Oklahoma,” Harris said. “It turned out to be quite a challenge to find an Oklahoma expanse without any hints of modern civilization.”

Louthan has also displayed his works in downtown Kingfisher, a local coffee shop and most recently his work is featured at the new Kingfisher Visitors Center and Chamber of Commerce office.

Included in a selection of Louthan’s photos welcoming visitors to Kingfisher are an expansive patriotic flag displayed from Kingfisher Fire Department’s ladder truck, a combine during annual wheat harvest, a windmill offset by the Oklahoma blue sky and other scenes encompassing the local culture.

“He not only has a love for photography, but a keen eye to capture award-winning angles and uncanny insight for us to appreciate,” Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Shauna Rupp said.

“Many of the pictures he shares are things my eyes will never get to see.”

Rupp added: It was a pleasure working with Louthan and having his photos on display at the chamber office are a grand statement of all things Kingfisher.

Louthan’s work has been featured in various galleries throughout the region, Oklahoma Today magazine and Light and Landscape magazine as well as other honors throughout the years.

“I’ve been fortunate to have people helping me along the way,” he said.

Preparation, practice and observing other photographers’ works, Louthan said, are big steps to learning and improving an individual’s photography skills.

Recognizing something that would make an interesting photo, determining the best position to shoot, the location of the sun as it rises or sets and then returning at the right time to get the best photo is part of the preparation Louthan uses when scouting scenes, particularly in landscape photography.

“Often what makes a good photo is finding a subject you can come back to at 4 or 5 a.m. and wait for the light to develop, hoping the skies and color are good…sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” he said.

Always learning, Louthan encourages aspiring photographers to learn the mechanics, ask questions, experiment and learn by doing.

A popular site for photos, Louthan said, is the Mesa Arch in the Moab desert where it took several visits for him to get the photo he wanted to capture.

“The arch opening through which you want to shoot your picture is only about 10-feet wide,” he said. “If you arrive much past 3:30 or 4 a.m., it is stacked with people and if you don’t get a good position, you won’t get a good picture.”

With many favorite places and photographs, Louthan said he not only enjoys taking photos, but the places, people and experiences he is able to be a part of.

Mentioning a portion of a quote he likes, “standing in front of beautiful things…” he likens to being in Patagonia standing in front of the Cerro Torre, a mountain in the ice fields of South America.

“It’s pretty hard not to take a stunning picture while you’re there,” he said.

Although he does sell his photos, Louthan said it’s not about the profits, but just the enjoyment photography brings.

“I’ve always enjoyed photography and now that I’m retired, I’ve got the time,” he said.

“I’ve been very fortunate.”-Michael Louthan.