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PITTSBURG —
As executive director of the Professional Photographers of the Ozarks, Don Runyon is supposed to know everything that’s going on in the organization.
But the owner of Treasured Images got a big surprise while attending the group’s annual convention, held Nov. 5-8 in Eureka Springs, Ark.
“They caught me totally, totally off -guard on this,” said Runyon, recipient of the Professional Photographer of America National Award for outstanding service to photography.
The National award is offered by PPA to its state, regional, national and international affiliate organizations on a yearly basis, but it’s not always given every year. The award recognizes persons who generously contribute their time and talents to the service of their profession, their affiliate organization and their fellow photographers.
Runyon knows of only four other recipients in the Ozark group. They are Stephen Thetford, Fayetteville, Ark., who actually received the award from another group, Martha Dameron of Springfield, Mo., and Bill Wynn, Nevada, Mo., and Les Petersen, Broken Arrow, Okla.
“I knew what the convention agenda was, then Stephen Thetford came up and started talking about the National Award,” Runyon said. “That was not on the agenda, but we had so many new people there, and I thought he might just be telling them about the award.”
Then Terrell Rohrbach, Professional Photographers of the Ozarks president, began talking about the activities of the award recipient, and it gradually dawned on Runyon that something was going on.
“It was kind of a last-minute thing that I realized the award was going to me,” Runyon said. “Terrell said to me after the fact, ‘Do you know how hard it was to pull something over on you?’ The award was a board decision, and Terrell was making phone calls because he was afraid if he sent e-mails the secret would slip out.”
Runyon said getting the National Award was a humbling experience.
“I felt like I was in company I was probably not deserving of,” he said.
His wife, Linda, has a different opinion.
“It’s great, because he’s worked so hard,” she said.
Runyon is a past president of the Ozarks group, and in 2002 received the Suzanne Mertz Award, named for a longtime Pittsburg area photographer whom Runyon calls “a wonderful, inspirational individual.”
His business success and professional honors are all the more remarkable because Runyon didn’t become a professional photographer until he was approaching his more mature years.
As executive director of the Professional Photographers of the Ozarks, Don Runyon is supposed to know everything that’s going on in the organization.
But the owner of Treasured Images got a big surprise while attending the group’s annual convention, held Nov. 5-8 in Eureka Springs, Ark.
“They caught me totally, totally off -guard on this,” said Runyon, recipient of the Professional Photographer of America National Award for outstanding service to photography.
The National award is offered by PPA to its state, regional, national and international affiliate organizations on a yearly basis, but it’s not always given every year. The award recognizes persons who generously contribute their time and talents to the service of their profession, their affiliate organization and their fellow photographers.
Runyon knows of only four other recipients in the Ozark group. They are Stephen Thetford, Fayetteville, Ark., who actually received the award from another group, Martha Dameron of Springfield, Mo., and Bill Wynn, Nevada, Mo., and Les Petersen, Broken Arrow, Okla.
“I knew what the convention agenda was, then Stephen Thetford came up and started talking about the National Award,” Runyon said. “That was not on the agenda, but we had so many new people there, and I thought he might just be telling them about the award.”
Then Terrell Rohrbach, Professional Photographers of the Ozarks president, began talking about the activities of the award recipient, and it gradually dawned on Runyon that something was going on.
“It was kind of a last-minute thing that I realized the award was going to me,” Runyon said. “Terrell said to me after the fact, ‘Do you know how hard it was to pull something over on you?’ The award was a board decision, and Terrell was making phone calls because he was afraid if he sent e-mails the secret would slip out.”
Runyon said getting the National Award was a humbling experience.
“I felt like I was in company I was probably not deserving of,” he said.
His wife, Linda, has a different opinion.
“It’s great, because he’s worked so hard,” she said.
Runyon is a past president of the Ozarks group, and in 2002 received the Suzanne Mertz Award, named for a longtime Pittsburg area photographer whom Runyon calls “a wonderful, inspirational individual.”
His business success and professional honors are all the more remarkable because Runyon didn’t become a professional photographer until he was approaching his more mature years.
He and his wife lived in Texas until they purchased the Treasured Images studio in 1994 from previous owner Gayden Shell and moved to Pittsburg.
“My wife had been employed full-time as a legal secretary, and I worked full-time as a mechanical designer at Texas Instruments, in the government products division,” Runyon said. “One of the things I worked on was guidance systems for bombs. Some of the concepts we worked on, we had no idea what the final result would be.”
He did photography part-time back then.
“It really started as a hobby, but I felt a love for it, studied and went to school,” Runyon said. “In 1993, the children were grown and gone, and we were kind of at a crossroads.”
Inspired by a young couple they had met at a convention, the Runyons gave themselves a one-year time frame to get their plans settled. After a lot of prayer and consideration, they purchased Treasured Images, gave up their full-time jobs and moved to Pittsburg.
“Our family was evenly spilt about this,” Runyon said. “Half of them said, ‘This is your goal, your dream, do it,’ but the other half wasn’t so sure.”
He credits the steadfast support and help from his wife for helping make their life change successful, and added that the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce for helped them get acquainted their new community.
“When we came here I knew by sight two people,” Runyon said. “We were introduced to a young man from Pittsburg State University who took us around and introduced us at every Chamber coffee for six weeks or so.”
He has served on the Chamber board and feels the organization is a great asset to the community.
“My wife and I talk to people at similar-sized communities and tell them what we’ve got going on here, and they say that their Chambers aren’t doing anything like that,” Runyon said.
He especially enjoys his part in the “Women of Distinction” calendar produced each year by the Chamber. Treasured Images does the photos for the local women featured in the calendar.
“It’s a really rewarding project we’ve taken on through the Chamber,” Runyon said. “When Blake Benson (Chamber president) presented the idea and asked if we would help, I said yes, under three conditions. First, I don’t have to pick these people, second, I don’t have to write their biography, and third, the end result is a print job and quality project the whole community can be proud of. I think those conditions have been met.”
Strong in their faith, he and his wife give the most credit to God for guiding them as they left their home and secure jobs to strike out for Kansas and operate their own business.
“The Good Lord blessed us and sustained us,” Runyon said. “This was a great leap of faith, and we feel the Lord led us in the right direction.”
