Some of my time in the Marine Corps

[Kav]

While I am not an "official" photographer for the military I almost always seem to have a camera on me. And many times I end up being the de faco unit photographer. Here are a few of my photos from the last two years. I hope you enjoy them.

Some of the large format photos:

From Africa (developing with out running/hot water and not knowing what I was doing led to some interesting processing errors):

We stopped in at Lake Assal in Africa. 509 feet below sea level.

 

[ozphoto]

Very cool - I actually like the processing "errors"; gives the shots a more gritty feel and adds to the story of where and the conditions under which they were shot.

Look forward to seeing more!

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Wow. I think these are fascinating. By comparison my job and life are as boring as hell. You cannot imagine how grateful I am that you guys do what you do. If you didn't, nobody else would. And then the rest of us would all be in big trouble.

I'd like to see more, if that's possible. Can you say where in Africa?

Ken

 

[Bill Burk]

Great shots Kav!

Your helicopters shot from last year's print exchange is one of my favorites...

 

[Kav]

Wow. I think these are fascinating. By comparison my job and life are as boring as hell. You cannot imagine how grateful I am that you guys do what you do. If you didn't, nobody else would. And then the rest of us would all be in big trouble.

I'd like to see more, if that's possible. Can you say where in Africa?

Ken

Ken,

We were in Djibouti. The Navy has a small base there. I enjoy my job, and will miss it when I retire. But I am glad I can share the photos.

Very cool - I actually like the processing "errors"; gives the shots a more gritty feel and adds to the story of where and the conditions under which they were shot.

Look forward to seeing more!

The messed up photos have started to grow on me. I'm just glad they turned out at all.

The large format photos from Hurricane Sandy did not precess well at all. Most were unusable. This was the only one that came out:

Here's some 35mm ones:

Even though it's a 35mm shot, it prints up to 16x20" with great detail:

We got to go have fun too:

 

[David Grenet]

Fascinating - thanks for sharing!

 

[Kav]

Great shots Kav!

Your helicopters shot from last year's print exchange is one of my favorites...

Bill,

I'm glad you liked it so much. It was fun to get to do, I loved all the prints I got in return.

 

[Kav]

These first two are LF shots from Africa, the rest are 35mm stateside ones. Save for the elephant shot. I took some time off to visit a friend in Thailand. After spending the better part of a year deployed across the country and the world, I wanted to get far, far away from work for a few weeks.

Right before this elephant stomped me...

One of my fellow Marines got married. She wanted some photos in her dress while we were on a stateside deployment:

Toying around with night time stuff

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

Thanks for posting, Kav. Great stuff. These are from a world I never get to see.

And I do think the boots compliment the dress nicely...



Ken

 

[Bateleur]

Very interesting, and takes me back a long time to traveling in military transports...

 

[Kav]

Thanks for posting, Kav. Great stuff. These are from a world I never get to see.

And I do think the boots compliment the dress nicely...



Ken

Ken,

I told my friend to wear her boots to save her feet wile scampering across the rocks, and to take a few photos like this. Interestingly, I used Nikon's 35mm f1.8G DX (crop digital sensor) lens. When used on a full frame camera almost wide open it has a look to it that I like.

Very interesting, and takes me back a long time to traveling in military transports...

thanks! I'm glad you enjoined them. I like using my large format cameras so I can also use flashbulbs. I love the look they have.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

When you say "large format" and "flashbulbs" are we talking a 4x5 Graphic of some sort? Do the flashbulbs look like my avatar, but without the burn marks?

 

[Kav]

When you say "large format" and "flashbulbs" are we talking a 4x5 Graphic of some sort? Do the flashbulbs look like my avatar, but without the burn marks?

Ken,

Yes, I have 2 Speed Graphics (and a Sinar F2). I normally use M5B flashbulbs, but have used bigger ones. Basically whatever I can get my hands on.

 

[Ken Nadvornick]

I normally use M5B flashbulbs, but have used bigger ones. Basically whatever I can get my hands on.

The reason I mentioned it is that scrounging flashbulbs can sometimes get expensive. I have a couple hundred Sylvania Press 25s in my stash that I continually replenish and will occasionally pull out because I also like their look. That longer ramp up and down time to and from full intensity softens the edges of subjects. I like that closer-to-correct vintage look.

But at anywhere from $0.50 to $1.00 per bulb, sometimes I like to substitute an electronic flash instead. To that end, I recently purchased a brand new Sunpak 622 Super unit with a zoom head. This unit is rated by Sunpak at GN200 at ISO100, which is a near perfect match for the Press 25s. I verified this by setting up a flash meter outside after dark (no reflected light) and in actual use found the two to be virtually identical in light output—albeit both somewhat less than GN200, as would be expected. So performance-wise it's a near one-to-one substitute for the bulbs I use.

The reason this is interesting is that someone somewhere seems to have gotten their hands on a large supply of NOS 622S units and zoom heads.* Presumably this is Sunpak finally emptying their warehouse of an obsolete (to them) product line. As a result, these units can at the moment be found all over the place for pennies on the original dollars. I paid USD $179 for a new unit with a new head. At one time these professional system flashes went for something like $600-800, I believe.

In fact, I actually jumped in for two units, and set one aside as a backup for down the road. I then cobbled together a nice looking and very robust mounting interface to my 4x5 Crown Graphic that uses the original Graflex Graflite clamps. The 622S is heavier than the Graflite, but also less bulky and less expensive to operate. Last time I looked B&H was still carrying these NOS units, as were several eBay vendors.

As you (and others here) also use a Graphic, I figured I'd pass the info along before this current supply of NOS 622Ss dries up, in case you hadn't heard and might be interested.

Ken

* So far I've only seen the zoom heads (ZH-1) advertised as new. But this was the most desired option back in the day.

 

[removed account4]

hi kav
thanks for posting these, and thanks for your service !

we are richer because of it.
john

 

[benjiboy]

Hi Kav, respect and best wishes from a former Royal Marine, who served for five years in 42 commando a lifetime ago, but "once a marine always a marine" .