When he was a child, Carl Shortt Jr. remembers taking long trips with his family. His father would hand the camera off to him and his siblings, Mark and Linda, giving each a roll of film.

Ever since, he has made it a point to snag photographs while traveling.

“There’s always something to take a picture of,” Shortt said, who has been fortunate enough to photograph places around the world, including Egypt, France, Italy and Spain.

On Friday, his photography exhibit, “As I See It,” will open at the In Your Eye Studio & Gallery. Shortt, formerly a senior vice president at Bank of Oklahoma, now allows his creative side to emerge through photography and woodworking.

right, “A Hard Life”

After taking an early retirement in 2007, he felt compelled to keep his brain active through art.

“I have the desire to create things. At my job, I mostly managed people and that’s a task that’s never complete,” Shortt said. “With photography and woodworking, I’m able to see my completed tasks and feed my creative need.”

In watching others around him as they hit retirement, he realized that the ones who thrived were those who continued to learn.

“You need a reason to get up every morning,” said Shortt.

While doing volunteer work with the nonprofit organization Leadership Oklahoma City, he found himself on floor 36 of downtown’s Chase Tower, in The Petroleum Club of Oklahoma City. When he looked out the window, he saw a breathtaking sunset over the city. Lucky enough to have his camera on hand, he began to snap away.

As a result, Shortt captured what he said is a rare occurrence for Oklahoma: a cityscape with what photographers refer to as “slit light,” which is when a single slit of light is showing in a photograph.

He had only a few minutes
to capture the perfect shot before the sun was gone. Sure, he could
have perfected the image after the fact with the help of computer
software, but Shortt is a purist when it comes to his photography. He
uses as little image altering as possible.

right, “A Beautiful Sight”

“I want my photographs to be faithful to how I saw them,” said Shortt.

Hence
the exhibit’s title, “As I See It,” which features several styles of
his photography. The fact that Shortt believes there is always something
to take a picture of means he has quite the assortment of images to
display.

“If you want a pretty picture, stand in front of a pretty place,” he said.

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