Photoessayist the Blog

The Vietnam War was my defining moment. I spent 4 years in the Marines and finally in December 1968 I was in Vietnam. I was only there for 5 months and didn’t see combat. What I did do was spend every possible day out in the county around DaNang, Vietnam. You can see what I accomplished here: Another Vietnam Story.

I was one of the lucky ones. I came back alive and physically unharmed.

Here is a web show of photography from the Vietnam War. It includes civilian and military photographers, including Marine Corp photographers. Also note that were the military photographer is known they are given credit for their work. This is a rarity. In fact I have never seen military photographers ever get name credit for their images.

Boston.com / Vietnam, 35 years later

Here’s an interesting project for all of us. It’s being sponsored by NPR’s BLog The Picture Show.

“100 Words” is a new series on The Picture Show, in which photographers describe their work–in their words. What makes them tick? What makes a great photo? Film or digital? Positive or negative? Find out here. Curated by Graham Letorney.

Feel free to send us 100 words on your topic of choice, and a link to an online set of work. If possible, no attachments, please. Thank you!

This is the e-mail address: PictureShow@npr.org

Go to NPR’s The Picture Show to see what has already been submitted and then YOU submit your ’100 words’ and pictures.

Have you ever been taking that really great photo and a hand sticks itself into the photo? Or you never see the street pole dead center in the photo? Or a person, uninvited, steps into the photo with one of those dam Starbuck’s cups that everyone can identify? Or in your eagerness to get that perfect photo, your decisive moment of greatness, you forget to wait for the main characters in your photo story to get into proper position?

Totally.

It’s not easy getting that many mistakes into one photo and having it in focus and with proper exposure.

That’s the problem with these new digital cameras they’re never out of focus and hardly ever under or over exposed.

But they still can’t control the human element – the photographer.

Looks like I can’t either.

Yesterday I talked about the difficulty of doing street photography in Laguna Beach and I chose the option of sitting on a bench at the boardwalk at Main Beach and photographing the people as they walked by.

Today I tried shooting people on the street from inside a restaurant. I sat in an area open to the street and just clicked away as I had my lunch. It was the first time I tried this so the results weren’t entirely to my liking but it was fun and I learned something from the experience. Keep your Guinness beer a good distance from your camera.

Next lunch I will be at one of the several restaurants that line Pacific Coast Highway.

This could get expensive.

What I do for love.

I always enjoy going to downtown Los Angeles and doing street photography. The only problem is I live in Laguna Beach. So, you say, shoot the sidewalks of Laguna Beach. Love to but they’re narrow and with the parking meter, light poles, and trees it’s dam near impossible to do. If you do take photos on the sidewalks of Laguna you would be inches away from your subjects and they tend to get nasty about that.

Solution is to go to Main Beach, sit down at one of the benches that line the Boardwalk and photograph the people as they pass you. It helps that you’re also drinking your morning Starbucks and eating a really, over the top, brownie. Who’s going to believe you’re taking pictures of them when they see that?

I could get to like this. Wait a minute I have.

You have a nice day now.