Buzz Aldrin, second man on the moon. Mr. Aldrin is in the news lately as family members have attempted to take control of his business affairs claiming him to be incompetent. Mr. Aldrin, who frequently tweets at @TheRealBuzz and seems perfectly coherent there, is now suing the family members.
In this photo, Buzz appears at the 30th anniversary celebration of the moon landing held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville in 1999. This was one of the first events I photographed for this website, and I was using a brand new 35mm film camera with little recent experience. Photography isn’t, in my opinion, so much like riding a bike as I had become more proficient handling a camera years earlier, but had not taken any photos in many years.
In this shot, without saying a word, Buzz the most famous photographer of all having documented Niel Armstrong’s first steps on the moon, was saying to me, “use the flash dumb-ass.” I had grandiose expectations of setting the exposure on Buzz and letting the back-light shine. As it happened, I could have done just that a bit better than I did, but in reality the shot demanded that use the pesky onbaord flash which kept popping up telling me so. I’ve always like the idea of using just natural lighting, and old habits die hard. One day, maybe I’ll learn – let the camera do the work! There’s even a saying among news photographers, “f/8 and be there.” Well, I’ve never worked for a mainstream media organization and, damn, nobody told me. It’s all good though, Photoshop worked more wonders on this photo than you know.
This photo has appeared on TOCC TV before as part of my original Photography Portfolio that was presented in 1999. I also note with chagrin that next year will be the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing. Maybe I’ll get a chance for some more astronaut photos then.
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© 2018 – Jim Casey
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