Roger Richters has a unique opportunity to share his love of Nebraska with music lovers everywhere.
Tim McCarty of Dorothy’s Dishes, a band out of Lincoln, saw some of Richters’ photographs on Facebook and asked him about sharing some of them for a music video for their song “Road Trippin’ Nebraska,” which dropped two weeks ago.
Richters said yes.
“I’m all about promoting Seward County and Nebraska and the beauty we have here,” Richters said.
McCarty sent him the audio track so he could choose pictures that fit what the song was saying. Richters picked some photos and sent them off. Twelve were accepted for the video, including 10 from Seward County.
The first two pictures in the video are his and appear under the words “do you love” and “where you live.”
Others from him are pictures of hay bales in the snow and a barn by Garland.
Richters is a self-taught photographer and a full-time farmer. He said he got started thanks to a photo contest for the Independent in 2010. He also took some photos that were used on a Thrivent calendar, and others have been published in NebraskaLAND Magazine and Nebraska Life.
When he takes his camera for photos, he said he tries to be as efficient as possible. He goes out five to 10 times per year and looks for times when the atmosphere is changing – especially if a cold front is coming through. That’s when the clouds are the most interesting, he said.
That’s when he took the photo of his neighbor’s white horse, which was one of them selected for the video.
“I chose what is near and dear to me,” he said. “Some have a surreal look to them. I’m all about mking beautiful photos.”
He said the most productive times for him to take pictures are right before the sun comes up and as it sets. One of his favorite locations is Lincoln Creek.
“You only have seconds to get it done,” he said.
He started using professional gear in 2018 and chose to go with Nikon. When photographer Michael Forsberg visited his church in Utica, Richters asked him what he used. He also learned that National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore uses a Nikon camera.
He usually spends a couple hours taking pictures and finishes with 250-500 exposures.
He shoots at a lower exposure because he doesn’t want to “blow out” the details. Once he gets back to his computer, he uses Lightroom to work on the pictures.
“Half of photography is good editing,” he said.
Richters said he’ll spend eight to 10 hours working on a photo and bringing out the details.
Landscapes don’t get as much work, he said, because he wants to keep what he saw. Sometimes, though, there are details he didn’t see through the camera lens.
When it comes to taking those photos, Richters said he knows where he needs to go and then tries every angle.
Richters has tried all kinds of photography with the exception of portraits. People have asked him to take family or wedding or other event photos, but that’s not his forte.
“I was always good at art,” he said. “I have a knack for landscapes.”
Photography is a good way to keep the mind active, Richters said, and while he didn’t learn it overnight, it has been a fun journey.
Richters has shared many of his photos on the Facebook page Nebraska Through the Lens and said he has gotten compliments from people in other states. Some have even said his photos encouraged them to move back to Nebraska because they’d forgotten how beautiful it is.
Others have said he takes pictures of the ordinary and makes them extraordinary.
“It’s been a wild ride, and that makes it exciting,” Richters said. “The key is to take a lot of photos.”
