10/13/2024
Episode #1: My Dad, Badass Photojournalist.
17 August, 1967. Wichita Eagle-Beacon
As a kid I was very interested in what my dad did. He was a photographer. My earliest memories where I was aware of this would have been around 1973 in Bowling Green, Ohio. I was 4. He worked for Bowling Green State University on the 8th floor of the Administration Building (now demolished). His office walls were covered with large B/W prints of his best work. There was a studio and best of all, a rocking darkroom. This fascinated me.
If dad were a plumber, a lawyer or a farmer, I would have been just as enamored with him and would very likely be in the same profession today.
Our homes had boxes full of mounted and unmounted prints. When you're a bored kid it's mandatory that you explore every drawer, closet and box in the home. I found these collections of prints very interesting. I studied them. There was a 20x24 dry mounted set of photos matching what you see here. It was very common back then for newspaper and magazine photographers to make presentation layouts of work they had done. Sometimes for contest submissions, other times for portfolios to use when job hunting.
Dad was a Nikon man. Still is. He had cases full of motorized Nikon F's and many lenses. The gear shined like emeralds in my eyes. When I was old enough he'd let me play with some of them. By play I mean mimic the proper way to hold and use a camera, fire off the shutter and listen to the drive. He showed me how everything worked, what the different lenses did and when each were used. These were his tools with which a living was being made.
In this set of images something amazing was happening. Dad had mounted a Nikon F on the wing strut of this crop dusting airplane. I wondered how in the hell that could happen. Airplanes were also fascinating to me. We'd seen crop dusting aircraft working the fields around Ohio, and even watched a crop dusting helicopter flown by a family friend. I was impressed that somehow he'd convinced a pilot to allow this to happen. If you look at the lead photo, the camera rig can be seen on the left side.
Context. Because I first saw these images in Ohio, it was assumed they were taken there. I'm sure he told me they were made in Kansas, but that didn't stick. Earlier this year I was searching the Eagle Beacon archives for his work and found this article. Suddenly I remembered the images, his stories about the pilot and how the photos were taken.
Let's take a look at the lead photo first. I really love the art here. It is an excellent illustration which supports the articles subject; Crop dusting aircraft. There are three very well defined bands which define all the stories elements; Sky, Earth and Aircraft. The stand of dark trees provides a contrast highlighting the chemical spray. He managed to keep the skyline very clean. Had there been any telephone poles or treetops poking up the image would not be successful. Dad was likely using a 300mm lens which provided great compression. Finally, the horizontal placement of the aircrafts wing profile has just dipped below the tree line. Any higher the high-key values of the wing would have blended with the overcast sky. Here, the wing is highlighted and, luckily, is also level.
Now on to the first supporting photo, the wingtip image. Here we see the pilot, the spray-boom and the field swooshing by underneath. Clearly the aircraft is flying. Out of necessity, I believe, the camera was tilted because of the mounting surface, though I feel Dad was employing the "Dutch Tilt" here, providing a sense of directional movement. The aircrafts nose is below the trees again, illustrating how low it's flying. If you look closely at the boom, there is a wire taped piping. This is the cable the pilot used to trigger the camera's motor drive. With only 36 exposures available, Dad must have coached the pilot on when to shoot. I believe the drive was set to single shot making it easier to estimate how many shots had been taken. Additionally, since the day was overcast, this made setting the exposure easier. Back then there were no automatic exposure features on cameras. When a remote was setup - the exposure and focus had to be preset. Should the light drastically change, it would have to be adjusted the next time the plane landed.
Continuing to the next photos we are introduced to the pilot, Ms. Leo Eiler of Bennington, Kansas. Back then, women would give their names using their husbands surname. I did some internet searching but could not find Mrs. Eiler's actual name. One image shows her next to the plane, there is no real door and we can see how small the cockpit actually is. Another shot finds her fueling the aircraft, demonstrating that this is a one-woman operation.
The final photo, a vertical shot, again divided into three horizontal bands. A country road diagonally combines with both a shaded tree line and the horizon, nicely defining three triangles. The aircraft is in a climbing right hand bank, its wing poking up thru the horizon line suggests a parting of ways. This is a great image to wrap up the viewers experience.
Dad's run at the Eagle Beacon ended after only a few years. I was born in 69, followed by my sister in 71. Life as a newspaper photographer required a lot of time away from home. He later found work at BGSU which kept him working as a photographer, but with slightly better hours. Eventually though, we all moved back to Topeka, which basically ended Dad's career as a professional photographer. He shouldered the responsibility of supporting his family by changing his profession several times, working for the railroad then the City of Topeka. Later in life he was able to bring photography back into his life and now spends most of his time working again as a photojournalist for publications around Kansas. I am proud of him and admire him as a father.
Please take a few minutes and enjoy these photos.
