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Author
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Topic: The photographers
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KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 04-17-2007 01:36 PM
   
I am getting ready to write a short essay on the photographers on loan to NASA for Project Mercury: Dean Conger (National Geographic), Bill Taub (USAF), and Ralph Morse and others (LIFE). It'll be posted on www.scottcarpenter.com site, to introduce the Galleries.So who, to you, are the notable photographers and their most memorable spaceflight-related images? |
SpaceCat
Member Posts: 151
From: Florida, US
Registered: May 2006
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posted 04-23-2007 08:51 PM
An interesting "take" on those days now that you got me to thinking about it, Kris...
Newspapers were not running color photographs yet, and most (if not all) television was black and white as well. So most of the world saw the instantaneous reports of those missions in black and white-- vaguely unreal-- until Life hit the stands at the end of the week and made it all REAL- in color. By the time National Geographic, American Heritage, et.al. ran theirs a month or more later, it was kind of a summary of the events in greater detail.Come to think of it, that's the way we saw all major news stories then... including the Kennedy assassination. With a salute to Ralph Morse, James Whitmore, etc.--- LIFE made it all real to us. -Darron |
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 04-24-2007 09:45 AM
It was some time ago but I recall Ralph as being the only photographer to come up with great candid photos. JMO. Gary Milgrom |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
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posted 04-24-2007 03:20 PM
Ralph Morse did some of the stuff that inspired me most. I always was looking in Nat. Geo. for a new space article.
He did a great piece on how he did it in "American Photographer" in about 1982 or 83. Find that for your reference.
Jim Busby |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 04-30-2007 06:37 AM
Andrew "Pat" Patnesky is not on your list of photographers; it is my understanding he was the resident JSC staff photographer. But the majority of the classic MOCR photos taken during the Apollo era were taken by him.I was lucky enough to meet Pat in 1981; a great character and a very skilled photographer. Out of necessity he could not use flash in the MOCR. With only available light many of the photos taken were with shutter speeds of 1/4th, 1/8th or 1/15th of a second exposure time, hand held! Try that with your own cameras and you will se how difficult it is to get a sharp image...... Regards, Rick |
ColinBurgess
Member Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 04-30-2007 07:43 AM
Wasn't there an article about Pat and his photography for NASA in an old "Spaceflight News" magazine a few years back? |
Joe Holloway
Member Posts: 74
From: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Registered: Jan 2007
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posted 04-30-2007 10:03 AM
For me, Mr. Conger was the "Dean" (pun intended) of the space program photographers. Although he might not have had the up-close-and-personal shots as did Mr. Morse, Conger filled National Geographic's space articles with vivid images.If I'm not mistaken, he was onboard very early on (perhaps the mid-1950s). I think his photos illustrated the "6,000-Mile Shooting Gallery" article in National Geographic, which was published way before Mercury. (SELF CORRECTION HERE...) "Cape Canaveral's 6,000-Mile Shooting Gallery" was published in 1959. For some reason, I was thinking it came way earlier. Regardless, it was an excellent article featurning Range Rats-galore. |
KC Stoever
Member Posts: 1012
From: Denver, CO USA
Registered: Oct 2002
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posted 04-30-2007 02:00 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Joe Holloway:
For me, Mr. Conger was the "Dean" (pun intended) of the space program photographers. [snip]
I can add a little to this discussion as I piece things together. Dean Conger (pronounced with a hard 'g' I learned) was seconded to NASA by NG. If I recall correctly, it was his first major NG assignment--but NASA got his photographs, I think. I realized why Conger (and Bill Taub) took these photos and not LIFE photographers only after editing Rene Carpenter's essay on the LIFE contract -- published recently, BTW, over at http://mscottcarpenter.com/rene_life.html LIFE was contractually prevented from covering the immediate postflight stories. But NASA knew it had to document this period with photographers. Who filled the void for, e.g., MA-7? Conger and Taub. Conger was aboard the Intrepid for the Carpenter recovery operation on 24 May 1962. So that is his shot, of Navy helicopter #61, winching Carpenter aboard. Conger also got the shots of Carpenter speaking to Kennedy and Johnson on the phone aboard the Intrepid. All the Intrepid shots are Conger's. As is the unforgettable series of Glenn and Carpenter greeting each other at Grand Turk. Ralph Morse would have shot equally compelling images, but contractually at least he was prevented from documenting the recovery and debriefing period! |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 05-01-2007 10:17 AM
I remember discovering Conger's photographs in National Geographic in the early 70s. I was in geography class at school and there were stacks of National Geographics on a table in the back of the classroom. I was already interested in manned spaceflight, but I was mostly reading B&W newspaper articles. I was struck by lightning when I found the issues with the Freedom-7 and Apollo-8 articles. Especially the portrait photo of Alan Shepard, made by Conger, made an impression. I remember staring at the magazines while the lesson was in progress and the teacher snatched them from my hands and told me to pay attention. He put them back on the stack, where I later "borrowed" them.Ed Hengeveld |
Gordon Reade
Member Posts: 334
From: USA
Registered: Nov 2002
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posted 05-02-2007 01:29 PM
Pat may not have flown in space but his Leica M3 did. Here is a link to the story. |
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