Mark M. Hancock / © The Beaumont Enterprise
Charles McDonald (right) celebrates an early Independence Day with his family in Beaumont on Saturday, July 2, 2005. The family also celebrated McDonald's retirement from the U.S. Air Force after almost 25 years of service.
After a tour in Iraq, the subject was a very stoic fellow. It took almost three hours to catch one break in his composure. Even then, it was a quick view. It flashed for three frames and was gone again.
However, I learned his family and friends see him as happy. People have selective memories. They fondly remember the good times and overlook the bad. It was worth the wait to show the subject the way his family and friends know him. It would have been much easier to get "a shot, any shot" and split, but it's better to get the right shot.
3 comments:
Good job on this one Mark. I know how difficult it was for you to get this. It was hard enough for me to get my :35 seconds of video for tv, but I had other things I could work with where you had to get a shot of a candid moment. But as you said you learned about him and his family and that is what I like about being a photographer is meeting and learning about interesting people I would otherwise never meet. Good job and kudos for sticking it out to get "the shot".
Thanks Justin. :-)
BTW, Justin works for a TV station in Beaumont. I see him frequently at news events. He covered this same event.
I echo Justin's comment. Patience is definitely a good tool.
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