The man in the photo

COEUR d'ALENE - The man's name is in Tamara Wischmeier's notebook, which the amateur photographer lost long ago.

After Wischmeier captured the image in 2008 on the Coeur d'Alene River near the Cataldo Mission, the North Idaho College photography student talked to the man at the center of her picture, sitting in a pontoon boat.

That's when she jotted his name down in her reporter's notebook.

"I remember he was really nice," she said.

While years have passed, and the subject's name is forgotten, the snapshot has carried on with a life of its own.

The image of the man rowing a pontoon boat on a glassy water's surface, titled Evening Fisherman, was published in Photographer Forum, best of college and high school photography in 2009, Wischmeier said, and is up for an award in the Reasons To Love Idaho photo contest, sponsored by Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Idaho.

If Wischmeier's photo wins, she'll earn an Apple iPod Touch.

But she wants to find the man to give him a print of his own - if he's anywhere out there.

"I know it doesn't show his face, but he might remember the pontoon boat," she said.

While not working as a photographer, Wischmeier still likes to shoot pictures everyday. When she spoke to the man after clicking her camera, she remembers he wished her luck with the image.

"He wanted me to go places with the photo," Wischmeier said. "I want to let him know, I am going places with this photo."

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