As mentioned previously, I am not a conventional photographer. I trained to be a documentary filmmaker and that profession uses images and language in combination to sing a song or preach a sermon. So there is always a story connected to an image, sometimes a very long story.
Chicken killer in a poultry processing plant. I was working for the USDA at the time and on a film crew in the plant. The photo does not reproduce the strangeness of the scene which was illuminated entirely in red light. The chickens become unconscious when inverted and under red light before going through the machine behind him. His job is to catch the rare bird that isn't killed by the machine.
Vietnamese Rangers waiting to board helicopters before a mission, Tuy Hoa, RVN.
Vera Williams had recently started working with me when this portrait was made...very long ago. We are still working together and she still looks at me that way.
Close order drill on the vast parade deck at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego.
Lieutenant Nelson was one of the first female students at BAC -- the legendary Basic Airborne Course at Fort Benning, Georgia
Erin showed up unexpectedly to a photo shoot of collectable women's hats worn by some very collectable women. The other models were pretty, elegant, and sophisticated but Erin was shockingly beautiful in a different way and I ended up photographing her instead of the hat.
Commander Kevin Schied. I photographed him in the helicopter hanger aboard the USCG cutter Morgenthau while on patrol in the North Pacific.
Regine Corrington
Russian air force Major Alexandr Dataolov preparing for engine start in a Su-27 Flanker, Kubinka Air Force base near Moscow.
Flight quarters, Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau, are out in the Bering Sea while conducting law enforcement operations. The nearest land is hundreds of miles away and the nearest city about one thousand. Launching and recovering the ship's helicopter is serious business.
Marine sergeant AJ Hasan.
The crew of the Coast Guard station under the Golden Gate bridge are known throughout the service as the "body snatchers" for their body recovery mission of jumpers from the bridge. The woman is dead but still warm.
Michael Kabotie was my Hopi babysitter on a project for the California Academy of Science. Mike was an amazing jeweler, graphic artist, poet...and "koshare," a Hopi clown during ritual dances. We were friends until his untimely death from flu.
BUD/S student at Naval Special Warfare headquarters, Coronado, California. A small percentage of students survive the course and become Navy SEALs...in one class, none graduated.