Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

304 reMeMberING the SpaCe aGe
research. 49 Such is the case with bruce Weaver, a former ap photographer currently
with agence france press who has covered the american space program
since the early 1980s. his 1986 photography of the Challenger launch (which are
among those that revealed the subsequent puf-of-black smoke) is over shadowed
by his clearly capturing the explosion 77 seconds later. In Weaver’s case,
the exposed roll of flm was the property of ap, and subsequently, Weaver didn’t
have any say on the fnal edit nor did he have access to the flm he had shot even
though the photograph selected was among the most widely used in communicating
the horror of the accident worldwide. It is impossible to track down
Weaver’s entire take from the ap archives, even today. and his “iconic” image
of the explosion remains revenue intensive for the ap, but not for Weaver. .
Contrary to this is the extensive and accessible photography by bill taub, the
senior photographer at NaSa headquarters in Washington, DC, from 1958 through
1975. During the early years of NaSa,taub was able to set the precedents in intimately
capturing the nascent space agency.taub’s place was similar to the conditions
that framed de Salignac’s reign as sole photographer for the City of New York.
however, de Salignac never saw his work published nor exhibited while taub, on
the other hand, was able to have his work credited in numerous stories in National
Geographic during the early years of the space program. In addition, many of the public
domain images in the NaSa archive at headquarters refect his body of work.
beyond those photographers already noted, there is a distinct group of photojournalists
who have been covering the american space program since the 1980s
for the ap,UpI,reuters,Florida Today,and the Orlando Sentinel. 50 the scope of these
photographers work is worth examining (although the restraints mentioned above
will be formidable) given their continuous coverage and access to both human and
robotic space missions from the Kennedy and Johnson Space Centers.there are,
however, two photojournalists whose accessible work distinguishes itself.the frst
of these is Scott andrews who has been photographing every shuttle and nearly
every unmanned rocket/satellite launch since StS-1 in april 1981.
the quality of andrews’s work refects a signifcant and stylistic approach in
the reporting and documentation of the industrial landscape of space exploration
photography. Within this landscape, andrews portrays Mailers “elegance in
the design” by constantly reexploring his subject matter. his subject matter is
typically rockets, rocket launches, active and historically inactive launch pad
complexes, and rocket assembly facilities.
49. typically a photographer’s space coverage is part of a magazine or media corporation’s archive.
In building its archives, a news group like ap selects only the most historically relevant or
iconic to save and catalogue as a revenue bearing proft center for the organization. as a result,
it may be difcult, even next to impossible, to examine a photographer’s complete body of
unedited work for possible alternative choices beyond the familiar or existing iconic.
50. Joe Skipper-reuters;bruce Weaver-agence france press;pete Cosgroves-UpI;phill Sandlin-ap;
Mike brown-Florida Today; red huber-Orlando Sentinel; and James Nielson-Houston Chronicle.