Featured Member

 

Our winter Featured Member is John Loo. John joined OWAC in 2006 and spends his days worrying about the Internet, social networking, and what it means to outdoor journalism.

He conquers writer's block by

  1. Typing out spontaneous thoughts on the topic
  2. Doing something else for a while (could be writing about something else, but usually involves something visual)
  3. Coming back, reviewing/reorganizing (1), then trying again
  4. Repeating 1-3 as needed.

John's favorite words? arcane, visceral

"I often fish offshore by myself in my 18’ skiff, usually launching at night. When people tell me I’m foolish, I tell them this story:

When I was 8, my Dad took a year’s leave of absence from corporate America to work with the UN. We were stationed in Iraq, in a little agricultural town call Abu Ghraib. There was no prison back in 1963, but we did manage to witness the coup d’etat that put the Baath party in power. Who knew they had so many guns at a US Embassy?

At the end of the year, Dad decided it would be fun to drive from Baghdad to Paris before we came home. Dad packed Mom, my sister (11), me (8), and my brother (6) into our ’62 Corvair (see Ralph Nader’s book “Unsafe at Any Speed”), and we took off for the City of Lights.

We passed through Jordan (where Dad was nearly shot for taking pictures of the Israeli side of the Jerusalem Wall), Lebanon, Turkey (where border guards took Mom and Dad away at gunpoint for questioning), and Greece (where the car broke down in the backcountry). We took a ferry from Athens to Rome (where we nearly had a head-on collision near the Forum); then made our way up the Italian peninsula through Switzerland and into France.

Foolish? Maybe, but it’s not my fault - I get it from my Dad."


You can find his work at: 

Beyond The Breakwater

Ocean Skiff Journal

 Eligibility

Regular membership in OWAC is reserved for professional communicators who produce outdoors-related content.

"Outdoors-related" can mean many different things. Our members cover everything from hook-and-bullet pursuits to eco-tourism to adventure sports, off-roading to marlin-fishing to bird-watching. The common thread is that all are outdoor activities in which the natural world plays a key role.

"Professional" means simply that members must be paid for their work. Certainly, there are many skilled communicators who work for reasons aside from monetary compensation. But OWAC is a professional organization, concerned not only with the craft of communication and the promotion of outdoor recreation, but also with the business aspects of outdoor communication.

To qualify for membership, you must have done at least 12 points worth of paid work, based on the following list, in the past 12 months.

Alternatively, Active-retired membership is available to retired and semi-retired communicators who have been active in the outdoor media for at least 10 years and who have been regular members of OWAC or a similar organization for at least the 5 preceding years

Newspaper, magazine or Web site staffer or editor -- Full-time employees who regularly write and/or edit outdoor stories qualify completely.

Freelance writer or columnist (print) -- Regular columns count 1 point each. Short pieces (not regular columns) under 1,000 words count 2 points each. Features of 1,000 words or more count 3 points each.

Freelance writer and/or photographer (Web) -- Pieces of 500 words or less count 0.5 points each. Pieces of 500-1,000 words count 1 point each. Features of 1,000 words or more count 2 points each. Photos count 0.5 points each.

Radio or television host, producer or writer -- Original radio programs count 1 point each. Half-hour television shows count 4 points each.

Still photographer -- Each published photo is worth 1 point. Cover photos are worth 2 points each.

Video or motion picture producer, director, videographer or writer -- Videos over 50 minutes count 12 points each. Videos under 50 minutes count 6 points each.

Illustrator, cartoonist or artist -- Each color piece is worth 2 points, each black-and-white worth 1.

Book author -- Each 100 pages or 25,000 words is worth 12 points, to a maximum of 36 per book. Points carry over for 3 years.

Speaker, presenter or lecturer -- Each appearance is worth 0.5 points.

Communications/PR professional -- Full-time employees of outdoors-related corporations (non-profit or for-profit) or public agencies qualify completely. Examples: Fish and Game PIO, Ducks Unlimited communications employee.

Active-retired -- Over 55 and must have been active in outdoor media for past 10 years and an active member of OWAC or a similar organization for past 5 years (enter 12 points).

Any full-time information employee of a nonprofit entity or full-time information employee of an outdoor-related agency or industry (12 points).

Internet Communications - Internet writer with feature of 500 words or more (1 point). Magazine article of 2500 words (3 points). Photographs (1 point each). Full-time Internet staff employee, publisher, editor, or webmaster (12 points). Proof of compensation required.

Active-retired - Over 55 and must have been active in the outdoor media field 10 years prior and an active member of OWAC or another outdoor writers organization for 5 years preceding (12 points).

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