Michael Wallis, author & actor

”Anyone can take pictures. And that certainly seems to be the case today, given the increasing numbers of high definition and smart phone cameras that seem to be everywhere we go or look.

 Many of those images turn out just fine, in fact quite a few are really very good. Seldom, however, are the photographs great.

 In order to get great photos, what is needed? Simply put, a great photographer. But then that begs the question, what makes someone into a truly great photographer?

 Is it their high tech equipment and expensive cameras? Is it their vast repertoire of work? Is it that they trek to exotic places to take their pictures?

 It is none of those things. Anyone can acquire the equipment, take lots of photos, and travel the world and in the end they return with sometimes good but usually never great images.

 Throughout my career as a journalist and an author of books, I have had the pleasure of meeting and sometimes working with some incredibly talented photographers. A few of them are even great.

 Some of them are what I would call technical photographers, all about preciseness and equipment and formulas. Others are more concerned with the subject and are keenly aware of the person, place, or thing they are shooting. They know everything they can possible learn about the subject and the surroundings.

 And there are those photographers who are artists, capable of seeing the opportunity for creating an image without knowing anything about the subject but realizing that they about to make an important connection.

 For that my friends is what really good, really great photographs do, they bridge gaps that separate people, cultures, geography, and generations. Through their work we gain the ability to remember, and that is such a powerful gift.

 Once in a while, a photographer happens by that is blessed with the skills and talent of all three; technical, subject, and artistic photographer.

 Kelly consistently uses his God-given talent, brains, taste, technique, and experience to give us the stunning and poignant images that now grace these walls.

 This son of Oklahoma, who first came to learn about photography here in Stillwater and on this campus, possesses not only a keen sense of observation but also a sense of humor and thankfully a true sense of place.