Eye-catching photography featured at Daniel Webster College

MICHAELINE DELLA FERA, Telegraph Correspondent

“Resting” will be included in an exhibit of photos by Greta Jaklitsch at Daniel Webster College from Oct. 1-Nov. 1.

Greta Jaklitsch began taking photos when her son was young.

“I wanted to document his life,” she said.

What started out as a hobby and a favorite pastime is gradually turning Jaklitsch into an award-winning photographer.

Jaklitsch will exhibit 41 of her favorite photos at the Eaton-Richmond Gallery on the campus of Daniel Webster College from Oct. 1-Nov. 1. While Jaklitsch’s main love is nature, especially trees and animals, she photographs “whatever catches my eye,” she said.

Jaklitsch’s favorite photo in her Daniel Webster exhibit is titled “Resting.” She was walking in the park near her home and spotted a turtle resting on a rock in the middle of a pond.

“I just hoped the turtle wouldn’t move,” she said.

Jaklitsch had only one photo left on her roll. She thought the resting turtle reminds all of us to stop, rest and look around to appreciate the serenity of nature.

Also included in the exhibit will be three photos involving flight, all taken while she was on an airplane. Jaklitsch calls the trio “Propulsion’s Immortal Energies.” The first is a shot of a propeller taken while she was flying to an island for a vacation.

“I hate propeller planes,” she said.

“I got the biggest bang out of it,” she said, smiling.

Also in the exhibit will be a photo of the New York skyline. It was only afterward that Jaklitsch realized her shot included the Twin Towers – probably one of the last photos taken of them.

Jaklitsch also said, “I hope people like snow,” because she’s bringing several shots of snow in New York to the exhibit.

“I go out in any weather,” she said. “If you don’t catch the moment when the opportunity is there, there is no going back.”

She adds there’s no guarantee that the setting will ever be the same. She’s known for shouting, “Stop the car!” when she sees the perfect photo opportunity. Nothing is safe when Jaklitsch and her camera are around. She uses point-and-shoot cameras.

“I use these because I take so many pictures, I wear them out quickly,” she said.

Jaklitsch immigrated to the United States in 1959 as a teenager when her parents realized there wasn’t a future for them in Austria. It was a difficult time for the 13-year-old to leave her friends and country.

“My whole class came to the train station to say goodbye to me,” she reminisced.

In 2002, Jaklitsch began to take her photography seriously and to a new level. She began exhibiting because her family and friends told her constantly that her photos were extraordinary and had captured “that certain something.”

After 30 years of photographing, Jaklitsch has just started taking classes.

“I do everything backwards,” she says.

But Jaklitsch is taking classes “to improve my photos,” she said. “It’s important to always get better.”

She considers herself “just lucky” when it comes to her photos.

This exhibit is Jaklitsch’s first outside New York.

“I’m excited about coming to New Hampshire,” she said.

She has been to New Hampshire three times and has yet to capture a shot of the elusive moose.

For more information about Greta Jaklitsch’s exhibit, call Annette Kurman, director of public relations at Daniel Webster College, at 577-6625.

A reception, which is open to the public, will be from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Eaton-Richmond Gallery.