The Rogues Gallery

Editor’s Note: We’ve added a lot of new pictures to this gallery

by Ken Hackman  

The display of portraits from the President, Secretary of the Air Force, etc. down to include the local AAVS commander was prevalent throughout AAVS.  In the mid-1980s the Photojournalist Division at Hq. AAVS decided we should have our own series of portraits of the assigned photojournalists. The justification, other than the fact that we wanted to do it, was that Ken, The Godfather, felt it would be a good “lighting” teaching tool and fun to do!

Initially we decided that all the portraits would have to be made in a room in our section.  Second the theme of the individual portraits would be a choice between how the individual perceived themselves, how the rest of the PJs perceived that individual or a combination of the two. 

The portrait setting was a collaboration between the subject, the selected photographer and inputs from other PJs.  Many of the portraits took two to three days to accomplish.  Some of them required buying or renting costumes/paraphernalia.  A few., of the later portraits were made away from Norton  

In addition to displaying the portraits when a senior official visit, who we liked, the section made a collage of the images including a photo of the recipient and presented it to them at their “going away dinner”.  They were highly cherished and reportedly displayed prominently at the recipient’s new assignment.

It was fun and we all learned a lot about lighting!

If anyone remembers the gallery nickname for those not listed with one please let us know in the comments!

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