John Lawrence
Active member
Well I'm back here in Pittsburgh after my whirlwind weekend in Cleveland. Isn't it one of those things that happens when you spend so much time preparing and waiting for something that it just screams by like a Locomotive and you are left wondering how did that all happen so fast?
I promised to take photos and I did but while I was driving up to the show on Friday morning a thought occurred to me. Frequently we read in a description of the show about the art of decoys and the part they played and still play in waterfowling history. And while I agree with all of that for the most part what I truly believe makes Westlake different is that it not really about decoys. Westlake is about the people who make and appreciate the unique North American Art form of the decoy. It's about the men and women who carry on a two century old tradition by gladly passing on the knowledge that they have learned to others. Those relationships go much farther and deeper than I can describe in words. Until you have been there to experience this you just can't understand.
Now for all I can do with my hands photography seems to be one thing that eludes me, as I've proven many times on this forum. So what I decided to do was try and capture some images of the people in the settings you don't normally see in show posts. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos at the Saturday night Auction as I got caught up in the bidding on about six items as I remember. I didn't get any of those as the prices went too high for my budget but I did take my shot at a Geoff Vine redhead hen and several other items. I hope somebody else can help us out with auction photos because the Westlake "family" responded like no other year that I've ever seen with donations and bids to ensure that the club is in very good shape for the future. I also didn't take any photos of the duckboats.net get together on Saturday evening because I spent the whole time discussing painting. By my estimate I think that there was between fifteen and twenty of us. Not bad for a first time.
So here we go. First up is a photo of forum member Jeff Galat with his absolutely beautiful hooded merganser. If you don't know Jeff he is a very modest fellow who greatly underestimates his own talent. He entered this decoy in the Swim and Sell on Friday evening and it was the first bird chosen. I talked to at least six other guys who wanted that decoy but didn't get the chance to buy it. Like I told you at the show Jeff make some more of them.
View attachment P3160298.jpg.
These next couple of photos are of the Friday night antique decoy seminar that was conducted by Ky Kraus on the Butler decoy collection from Youngstown. This collection has not been seen in public in about 35 years and we got to see only a small portion of the total.
View attachment P3160302.jpg.
View attachment P3160303.jpg.
View attachment P3160305.jpg.
And this is Ky presenting the collection.
View attachment P3160301.jpg].
I promised to take photos and I did but while I was driving up to the show on Friday morning a thought occurred to me. Frequently we read in a description of the show about the art of decoys and the part they played and still play in waterfowling history. And while I agree with all of that for the most part what I truly believe makes Westlake different is that it not really about decoys. Westlake is about the people who make and appreciate the unique North American Art form of the decoy. It's about the men and women who carry on a two century old tradition by gladly passing on the knowledge that they have learned to others. Those relationships go much farther and deeper than I can describe in words. Until you have been there to experience this you just can't understand.
Now for all I can do with my hands photography seems to be one thing that eludes me, as I've proven many times on this forum. So what I decided to do was try and capture some images of the people in the settings you don't normally see in show posts. Unfortunately I forgot to take some photos at the Saturday night Auction as I got caught up in the bidding on about six items as I remember. I didn't get any of those as the prices went too high for my budget but I did take my shot at a Geoff Vine redhead hen and several other items. I hope somebody else can help us out with auction photos because the Westlake "family" responded like no other year that I've ever seen with donations and bids to ensure that the club is in very good shape for the future. I also didn't take any photos of the duckboats.net get together on Saturday evening because I spent the whole time discussing painting. By my estimate I think that there was between fifteen and twenty of us. Not bad for a first time.
So here we go. First up is a photo of forum member Jeff Galat with his absolutely beautiful hooded merganser. If you don't know Jeff he is a very modest fellow who greatly underestimates his own talent. He entered this decoy in the Swim and Sell on Friday evening and it was the first bird chosen. I talked to at least six other guys who wanted that decoy but didn't get the chance to buy it. Like I told you at the show Jeff make some more of them.
View attachment P3160298.jpg.
These next couple of photos are of the Friday night antique decoy seminar that was conducted by Ky Kraus on the Butler decoy collection from Youngstown. This collection has not been seen in public in about 35 years and we got to see only a small portion of the total.
View attachment P3160302.jpg.
View attachment P3160303.jpg.
View attachment P3160305.jpg.
And this is Ky presenting the collection.
View attachment P3160301.jpg].
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