Q+A - What it's like to be a military photographer.

Tamgerine · Sep 7, 2013

Devinhullphoto said:
If you want to be a photographer in the military, when you enlist do you get that or is it up in the air on if you get that or a general military position. It's something my wife wanted to do but she's afraid they'll make her a soldier.

You can definitely get your wanted job put into your contract before you enlist, I did. I would NOT sign the paperwork unless I was placed into the Combat Camera field. If she enlists with an open contract she'll get whatever job the military gives her.

That being said, if she enlists as a photographer and fails out of school they'll give her a different job. They won't let her out of her contract. So she needs to pass the school in order to get a position.

However, straight infantry positions are not currently open to women. That's not to say she won't see combat depending on her job/service, but she will not be infantry if that is what she's worried about. If she's absolutely unwilling to see combat don't join the Marines or the Army, if she doesn't want to be on ship for considerable amounts of time don't join the Navy. If she wants kind of a cushy position and a slightly higher standard of living join the Air Force.

Please consider that whatever MOS you hold hold you are a Soldier/Marine/Sailor/Airmen first. The needs of the military will always come before your job. There will be times when you have to do work you don't want to do, or boring work, or hard work, or maybe not the work you wanted to do when you joined. There is always that chance. If the only reason your wife wants to enlist is to take cool pictures that is probably not a good idea because there is always that chance it won't work out and she'll still be in the military. Consider the military first, then the job.

gconnoyer · Sep 7, 2013

This thread delivers.

canonbraden · Sep 10, 2013

Sounds awesome. Can you PM me? I have some questions for you regarding this subject.

Coasty · Sep 11, 2013

Heitz said:
I honestly mean no disrespect, but I'm curious to know why the military staffs combat photographers. I always thought these images were provided primarily by journalists whom exist apart from the military proper.

There are not always photojournalists available when things happen. Also, a nonmilitary photographer might not have the same “objectiveness” as a military photographer. Plus, I would not want some kid from “The sunny times” embedded with me. Not only are you going to have to take care of him and keep him safe, he might blow your position when his flash goes off.

I was involved with the Carnival Triumph cruise ship fiasco last February. There was no press to report the incident except us. I took around 5000 pictures over four days and not a single one had “Help US!” and “Save US!” written on bed sheets until the news helicopters got in range.

The_Traveler · Sep 11, 2013

Tamgerine said:
Please consider that whatever MOS you hold hold you are a Soldier/Marine/Sailor/Airmen first. The needs of the military will always come before your job. There will be times when you have to do work you don't want to do, or boring work, or hard work, or maybe not the work you wanted to do when you joined. There is always that chance. If the only reason your wife wants to enlist is to take cool pictures that is probably not a good idea because there is always that chance it won't work out and she'll still be in the military. Consider the military first, then the job.

Having spent 24 years on active duty, I can affirm that the bold text above is totally true.

kathyt · Sep 11, 2013

Very interesting thread. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Luke345678 · Sep 11, 2013

canonbraden said:
Sounds awesome. Can you PM me? I have some questions for you regarding this subject.

Why don't you ask them on the thread itself. Some others might have some of the same questions later on.

gconnoyer · Sep 12, 2013

Coasty said:
Heitz said:

Plus, I would not want some kid from “The sunny times” embedded with me. Not only are you going to have to take care of him and keep him safe, he might blow your position when his flash goes off.

Click to expand...

LOL if you only knew the handholding that goes on with pogs.

runnah · Sep 13, 2013

While I 100% support troops and those who photograph them, I prefer that my clients not have the ability to shoot back.

Tamgerine · Dec 6, 2013

Sorry for the long delay guys! It's been super busy here. But I've got some new photos and I can always post more.

A quick update: We're actually going to be heading home soon and we're counting down here. I'll be honest, I'm pretty nervous. That must sound weird but I've spent the last year working every day straight. Five days a week I'm working 13+ hours, and the two half days a week we do get are still around 9 hours, if I get the half day at all.

You go home and it's a drastic change. You get used to being busy all the time no matter what and suddenly you've got all sorts of free time - weekends, holidays, and you just....don't know what to do with yourself. I just don't know what I would DO with a whole weekend anymore if I'm not working. I got so depressed after my last deployment that I ended up joining a roller derby team. What's next?!

It's why you get a lot of problems when Marines get back and act crazy. Especially if they've gotten used to the adrenaline rush of patrols and blowing things up. Here's a year full of exciting stuff to do every day and now here's a desk: sit at it. It's hard for some people.

Anyways, enough of that boring stuff! I got really lucky on a shoot a while back and came out with some top notch stuff for my permanent portfolio. We were over at the Afghan's surgical tent doing some dumb boring footage when they had a patient come in for surgery. He had been wounded in an IED blast. The doctors (one of them is a dentist, even) were all up in his arm. It was bonkers. Sometimes you just get lucky.

There are a lot of photos but these are the best two. If you want you can see the rest of the set on my Flickr stream: www.flickr.com/photos/tammy_hineline/

In other other words, it's the end of the year and that means the Military Photographer of the Year competition. I had an honorable mention in 2010 and I'll be submitting a whole portfolio this year for entry. It's hard to sit down and pick just 10 photos out of an entire year of work. You really have to think critically about how good the photos actually are and what you bring to the table talent wise. You have to disconnect yourself emotionally from your creation. It's nerve wracking to feel that maybe you weren't good enough or should have done something differently or shot more of something else. Oh well, wish me luck!

Any questions you have, feel free to ask, as always.

spacefuzz · Dec 6, 2013

So how often do you get an amazing shot......that is never allowed to see the light of day? Does it bother you that they get filed away in a secure data base somewhere and will never get seen?

Are you ever allowed to get artistic with your photos or is it mostly straight up photojournalism?

lambertpix · Dec 6, 2013

Wow.. what a fantastic thread. Thanks so much for your service and for taking the time for the Q&A. I followed your flickr feed, too -- you've got some great stuff there. You touched on some of the editorial parts of your workflow -- I assumed you wouldn't have copyright or control over what gets published. Can you share anything about how you get your assignments (ie, are you looking for specific types of shots, or just whatever seems meaningful wherever you're embedded) and what happens to images once you shoot them (ie, do you do post-processing yourself or just hand the cards over to someone for editing)?

Thanks again -- this is a real privilege.

sashbar · Dec 6, 2013

Tamgerine - do you draw the line between a military photographer and a war correspondent? If yes, where is it? If no, why?

I had a friend who was not a military, he was a newspaper stuff photographer. But he worked in a war zone. One day he was sitting on a bus with locals, the bus was stopped by the rebels. They spotted his camera, took him aside, shot in the head and dumped his body in a roadside ditch. He was quite pro-rebel actually. That was in Chechnya.

PS - If you work in Kabul NATO base, we may have some common friends.