In August of 1971, while assigned to the 601st Photo Flight, Det. 17 (Korat), I was fortunate to be selected to attend the very first Photojournalism Seminar held at Norton AFB, CA by none other than the big guy himself … Ken Hackman! This was truly and honor for me. EVERYONE in photo had heard of Ken and wanted to go to Norton … HQAAVS!
The training week went fast and it was a great learning experience to talk to and work alongside Ken, his assistants and all my fellow photographers and seminar attendees. Wow! That was a long time ago!
Recently, while looking at some old 35mm slides (remember them??) I found these 2 images taken at what I believe was our “parting beer fest” at the end of our training. The first image has Ken enjoying some of the refreshments along with the other attendees and the second shot is some of the gabfest that went on. Sadly, I don’t remember any of the other participants pictured. Maybe you recognize them?? Please comment if you do.
Ken might be interested, and even a bit surprised to know that I STILL have all the handouts from that seminar! (I made good use of that AF training, staying in the USAFR nearly 23 years as a photographer.)
These old available light, Ectachrome, slides never were very sharp and digital copying didn’t help much! Interestingly, in the right photo, behind the mans hand on the table, the original slide is clear enough to see the numbers on my blue, 601st Photo Flt. hat, next to the chicken wings!
Thought you all might enjoy seeing these “rare never before published” images!
I attended the same class at Norton w/Rick and was sent back to the 600th Photo Sq. We all had a great experience, and made friends for life.
Thanks for the memory. I attended that class at Norton and if you are ready for this… I was pulled out of a combat zone for it and then sent back. It was a life changer. Thanks again SH.
Well Rick, I was pretty surprised that they were sending me back from Thailand too! I was even more surprised when my supervisor sent me me to Photo Journalism II seminar held in Ubon RTAFB in about February 1972. As far as I know, I’m the only person that attended both! I remember Ken was rather surprised to see me again. It was a good opportunity to reinforce what I had learned in August and pick up some additional skills. The TDY to Ubon wasn’t bad either!!