Military Photographers

Anyone on here have any experience as a military photographer? I'm looking in to every option in doing photography, with a specific concentration in photojournalism/docume​ntary. I have a four year degree in Visual Communications and have been working as a photojournalist for local papers since I was 15 (I'm 22 now).

I was possibly looking at either Navy or Air Force, and being a college graduate, I would go in as an officer. So my questions are, what is OTS or OCS like? And how was life as a photographer in the military?

Thanks guys.

if you sign on in ANY of the branches as an Officer you (90%) WONT be shooting images...

thats the job of the working man (or woman). the E-1s and 2s coming out of tech school (Air Force) or "A" school (Navy) will have the basic instruction down and will start additional OJT. SOME of those enlistees may go DD or Direct Duty with NO schooling other than boot camp...

as they progress up the pay scale (becoming NCOs in the Air Force or Petty Officers in the Navy) their 'hands on' work diminishes and they become more supervisory in nature. when you make senior NCO or PO, then its closer to middle management...

getting a guaranteed job is the only real way to ensure you get into the photo job you want. the last i heard (25 yrs ago) there were only 6 guaranteed jobs available in the Navy. Interior Communications (intercoms, radios, ethernet, phones), Gas Turbine Propulsion (gas turbine engines) Nuclear Propulsion (Nuclear Power generation) being three of them...

i can GUARANTEE as an officer in the Navy you will NOT be doing any 'grunt' work but you will be in charge of a section or division. i knew a couple of lieutenants in the Air Force who wrote for the base paper and of course if there was a plum photo assignment, it would NEVER get down to the photo lab until it was just a roll of film waiting to be processed. even though we had photographers with degrees and experience in journalism/photojourna​lism...

having never been in OTS or OCS, i cant speak to that question but its just like boot camp only geared for officers (more supervision training maybe?)...

Although I have no input towards your question, I do applaud your ambition and the idea of going thru the Armed services. Not many people look at it as an opportunity to expand their ability, more of a fall back plan. Good luck with your quest and I hope you find what you are after.

Not sure if this FB link will work:
https://www.facebook.c​om …405467.74281347​822&type=1
but if it does, you'll notice that most, if not all, of the pics are taken by enlisted as LtDave pointed out.

My old PT rate (Photo Intelligence-man - Navy) was folded over into a couple of other rates years ago after I got out. We didn't take the pics, we just looked at them and all the lookers were enlisted. When we found something really important, then the officers got involved. The same place I went to photo interpretation school had a Marine photo school and all those students were enlisted.

Good luck in your decision.

The Navy no longer has a photography rating - its been merged with several others. And they are correct - photos would be taken as needed by the enlisted. As an officer you would be in charge of the department or unit, usually a public affairs office or base newspaper, etc.

Thanks for the info y'all, I was afraid that going in as an officer would mean less actual shooting time.

WolfmanPhoto wrote in post #14730138
Thanks for the info y'all, I was afraid that going in as an officer would mean less actual shooting time.

You do not HAVE to go into the military as an officer, even with a degree. You can still enlist. A degree may mean an advanced paygrade upon completion of "A" school. I believe the rating you would want is Journalist (JO). No experience with the other services, sorry.

While shooting may not be your "job," there's nothing saying you couldn't still shoot...

There have been several outstanding aviation photographers who's "job" was driving fighters but they had a camera in the cockpit with them!

CJ "Heater" Heatley is probably the best known. He parlayed his flying images into one of the best naval aviation coffee table books ever published "The Cutting Edge"

Contact Mark Rebilas:

http://markjrebilas.co​m/

He used to be in the navy and worked as a photographer. He might be able to give you some insight.

http://robertbenson.co​m
20 years in the navy as photojournalist

WolfmanPhoto wrote in post #14730138
Thanks for the info y'all, I was afraid that going in as an officer would mean less actual shooting time.

OK, lots of good info in this thread. I am in the Air Force, and have plenty of experience in the Public Affairs end of things. As a rule most are correct, the enlisted folks do most of the work, and the officers do the leadership. This is not a hard and fast line though. If an event needs many perspectives, the "O" may grab a camera and join in the shooting (as long as his leadership duties can be put on hold).

HOWEVER!!

If you are looking to get some experience and want to go into the photography career in civilian life (afterward or at the same time, more on this later), you need to realize that shooting the picture and "developing" it on the computer are often the easy part of the business. If I have garnered anything in these forums, it is that learning business and people skills are every bit as important (if not more so) than knowing the ISO-Aperture-Shutter Speed triangle. With this in mind, you will have plenty of time to learn the nuts and bolts in your free time, but the leadership and people skills you would learn as a PA officer would be irreplaceable, and quite honestly cannot be learned in a book or on-line. These skills are only learned with experience.

The Air Force has a special group of units known as "Combat Camera". These folks are "imbedded" within other units on missions or exercises to cover the story for both historical and PA purposes. If you can get into one of these units, you will garner great experience! Now, for the "same time" comment . . . if you are not familiar, there are numerous Reserve and National Guard units and options out there. These will be more difficult to get specific positions in for such a limited field, but I would at least talk to an Air Force Reserve Officer recruiter about opportunities in the Public Affairs career field. With a reserve or guard unit, you can garner the same experiences (at generally a slower rate), and still do your civilian thing. There would be a period of "full time" to get the training, and opportunities to do extended periods on active duty, but your schedule is more flexible than a full time active duty person. The pay is the same (for a given rank) but at a per-day basis.

The only down-side I can think of is that the military generally use Nikon stuff. At my unit, my folks used Canon, but we were the exception. Either way, the experiences are what you are after.

golfecho wrote in post #14756562
OK, lots of good info in this thread. I am in the Air Force, and have plenty of experience in the Public Affairs end of things. As a rule most are correct, the enlisted folks do most of the work, and the officers do the leadership. This is not a hard and fast line though. If an event needs many perspectives, the "O" may grab a camera and join in the shooting (as long as his leadership duties can be put on hold).

HOWEVER!!

If you are looking to get some experience and want to go into the photography career in civilian life (afterward or at the same time, more on this later), you need to realize that shooting the picture and "developing" it on the computer are often the easy part of the business. If I have garnered anything in these forums, it is that learning business and people skills are every bit as important (if not more so) than knowing the ISO-Aperture-Shutter Speed triangle. With this in mind, you will have plenty of time to learn the nuts and bolts in your free time, but the leadership and people skills you would learn as a PA officer would be irreplaceable, and quite honestly cannot be learned in a book or on-line. These skills are only learned with experience.

The Air Force has a special group of units known as "Combat Camera". These folks are "imbedded" within other units on missions or exercises to cover the story for both historical and PA purposes. If you can get into one of these units, you will garner great experience! Now, for the "same time" comment . . . if you are not familiar, there are numerous Reserve and National Guard units and options out there. These will be more difficult to get specific positions in for such a limited field, but I would at least talk to an Air Force Reserve Officer recruiter about opportunities in the Public Affairs career field. With a reserve or guard unit, you can garner the same experiences (at generally a slower rate), and still do your civilian thing. There would be a period of "full time" to get the training, and opportunities to do extended periods on active duty, but your schedule is more flexible than a full time active duty person. The pay is the same (for a given rank) but at a per-day basis.

The only down-side I can think of is that the military generally use Nikon stuff. At my unit, my folks used Canon, but we were the exception. Either way, the experiences are what you are after.

were/are you in the PAO? we often got shafted by the guys in that office on my bases. if it was an assignment to shoot some Airman getting a STEP promotion the photo shop got it. if it was an assignment for something airborne, the PAO wouldnt even notify the photo shop. sometimes wed get called by the affected party only to show up with a SNCO from the PAO to tell us to go back to our lab. they even tried telling guys who had been to PJ school in NY and guys who were dual qualified as Aircrew...

i started in SAC and got moved to AAVS/Combat Camera when Gen HT Johnson was running MAC just before the FIRST big shakeup in 89-90, then after a year or so we were reassigned back to the host wing which in my case was AMC then Air Etcetera. one of the guys i worked with (i was a Sgt he was an A1C) ended up a Chief in the 1st CC at Charleston...

i NEVER saw anything other than Nikon gear and Bronica ETR-S for medium format. well since i did it as a 2nd AFSC, i shot with my own F1n and lenses...

Very true, the above comment. I was a civilian hired, with veteran's preference, by XVIII ABN Corps to work in base lab at Ft. Bragg. The new guys, civilian or GI got the scut work, while the really good jobs went to higher-level civilians and certain NCOs. Over at PAO, which put out the base paper, much of the more exciting work came from unit PAOs (and sometimes the officer or NCO above the lower enlisted assigned to write the hometown news releases) because they went in the field.

Because of annual ROTC commitments, the G3 required the Photo lab to make temporary hires and assignments, usually cutting them after the summer. My job survived because I was a veteran--it gave me that little extra, but my service specialty had been Infantry, so the experience didn't apply. However, I had taken a year and a half of photo school at Daytona Beach Community College (now Daytona State College--then and now a fine program) so I was a leg up on the rest and had three years of regular college under my belt (all on the GI Bill), so I could write.

I kept getting good assignments and work published in the base paper, The Paraglide, and when a civilian position in the Corps PAO opened I got it. I went from new hire to the base paper photographer and writer in six months and I had a blast. I could shoot all the fun stuff, yet get to sleep in my own bed most nights. While I was part of it, I was safe from the little tyrannies that the Green Machine can pull on enlisted folks. Best two years of my life, but I got ambitious...

I should add that there were kids who had signed up to become photographers and they often complained about not getting good assignments or their photos in the paper or selected for submission to Soldier magazine. I tried working with them, but they weren't always receptive to learning, they wanted to get famous, NOW! One thing I can guarantee, fame ain't easy to come by.

Good luck.... Most of those rates or jobs are all locked up, It's pretty hard to get into those jobs now.