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holly9000 · 07-05-2007, 04:13 PM

Ok kids...gather round...it's time for a story. We all have at least one good one knocking around our past and I thought I would share one of mine-the following is true-I only blocked out my friends last name to protect his privacy.

A few years back I was living in Las Vegas and working as a photographer-one day I got the idea that I’d like to make some large format images (I was in some cheesy photo supply store and I saw a giant print on the wall)I asked who made the print and the guy told me it was a customer of his named Mike ******-I got Mr. ****** number and called him the next day-
-he told me he worked out of his house and invited me over-the first time I arrived at his rather modest home there was a hovercraft parked in his driveway-yup,that's what I thought...and so began my association with one of America's pre-eminent commercial photographers.
Mike's house was like a maze of stuff-this was due primarily to the fact that nearly every day equipment arrived from photographic supply manufacturers, camera and lighting companies and every other business that had anything remotely to do with photography (for Mike's review and possible endorsement) he would receive new cameras daily and literally stack them one atop the next-he was often out of town, lecturing at some university or attending a photographic symposium-he also wrote for several publications and photographic trade magazines.
In his home was his darkroom-only this wasn't just any darkroom my friends-this was like the laboratory of some mad scientist-it included a machine valued at the time at around half a million dollars that could format prints the size of a billboard-that was this guys playroom-
needless to say I spent a great deal of time hanging out with Mike-even though he’s nearly 30 years older than I am we hit it off immediately and he took me under his wing-he was kind enough to give me equipment to use and would regularly process and print my film for me at little or no cost-many times I would have to insist he take at least the cost of his supplies-
Many other times he would come upon a negative of mine and just decide he wanted to "work' it-as he put it
I would end up more often than not with several 8 x 10 and 11x14’s and something very very big...lol

O.k. this brings me to the story...ahem...

First of all Mike ****** is a very private man-he never was one to offer a whole lot of information about himself-and chances are if you look for him you won't find much-over the years I knew him I did learn a few things about him
I learned that he had been a Lt.Col in the Navy and a pilot-he showed me his flight suit one day and a ton of decorations
he also told me another day that he was a member of N.E.R.T.-or the nuclear emergency response team(whatever god forbid that is) and showed me credentials for that-to me he seemed pretty heavy duty -but he had long since retired from the military.
Occasionally when I was over there another older gentleman named Gene would stop by-Gene and Mike would disappear for awhile and talk while I processed film-I learned that Gene was Mike’s best friend.
Often when I would go to Mike's house he would leave me unattended while he worked in the darkroom-during these times I would rummage through his stacks of stuff and look at the pictures and negatives, what have you-Mike would come out after awhile and I’d ask him about what I'd found-whether it was candid photographs of Muhammad Ali relaxing at home or a vintage 1960’s Playboy layout or just pictures of some dead body at a murder scene, I never knew what I was going to find-but it was all work Mike had done in the past, and basically he just left it where it fell when the jobs ended
So one day I’m going through his stuff as usual right? and under a pile of crap I come upon a roll of 70mm negatives-this is the size negative that the Hasselblad large format camera uses (for anyone not familiar with the size)-and on the roll where photographs of what looked like...ready for this?...the surface of the Moon.
So what the hell was this guy doing with a roll of negatives of the surface of the Moon you might fairly ask at this point in my tale...well...that's what I asked
And here's what my good friend Mike (after much encouragement) told me...

Mike said that they were in fact photographic negatives of the lunar surface...and that he himself had exposed them

He told me that when he was in the Navy, he was commissioned by NASA to go along on a manned flight to the moon BEFORE Apollo 11 and to make the photographs

He also told me that several flights were made before Apollo 11 to ensure the success of the landing -in light of the intense public scrutiny of the space programs both at home and in the former Soviet Union; this actually makes a lot of sense at least to me

So that’s it. Everything I just typed is true-two more quick addendums-first the 70mm Hasselblad was in fact the camera NASA used to photograph the lunar surface

And second Gene’s last name -is Cernan-he is an ex Naval fighter pilot and former astronaut,and he happens to be the last man ever to walk on the Moon (Apollo17)…

Or so we’ve been told…

Pretty cool huh?

07-05-2007, 04:13 PM	#1 (permalink)
holly9000 Upright	Giant steps are what you take... Ok kids...gather round...it's time for a story. We all have at least one good one knocking around our past and I thought I would share one of mine-the following is true-I only blocked out my friends last name to protect his privacy. A few years back I was living in Las Vegas and working as a photographer-one day I got the idea that I’d like to make some large format images (I was in some cheesy photo supply store and I saw a giant print on the wall)I asked who made the print and the guy told me it was a customer of his named Mike ****-I got Mr. ** number and called him the next day- -he told me he worked out of his house and invited me over-the first time I arrived at his rather modest home there was a hovercraft parked in his driveway-yup,that's what I thought...and so began my association with one of America's pre-eminent commercial photographers. Mike's house was like a maze of stuff-this was due primarily to the fact that nearly every day equipment arrived from photographic supply manufacturers, camera and lighting companies and every other business that had anything remotely to do with photography (for Mike's review and possible endorsement) he would receive new cameras daily and literally stack them one atop the next-he was often out of town, lecturing at some university or attending a photographic symposium-he also wrote for several publications and photographic trade magazines. In his home was his darkroom-only this wasn't just any darkroom my friends-this was like the laboratory of some mad scientist-it included a machine valued at the time at around half a million dollars that could format prints the size of a billboard-that was this guys playroom- needless to say I spent a great deal of time hanging out with Mike-even though he’s nearly 30 years older than I am we hit it off immediately and he took me under his wing-he was kind enough to give me equipment to use and would regularly process and print my film for me at little or no cost-many times I would have to insist he take at least the cost of his supplies- Many other times he would come upon a negative of mine and just decide he wanted to "work' it-as he put it I would end up more often than not with several 8 x 10 and 11x14’s and something very very big...lol O.k. this brings me to the story...ahem... First of all Mike **** is a very private man-he never was one to offer a whole lot of information about himself-and chances are if you look for him you won't find much-over the years I knew him I did learn a few things about him I learned that he had been a Lt.Col in the Navy and a pilot-he showed me his flight suit one day and a ton of decorations he also told me another day that he was a member of N.E.R.T.-or the nuclear emergency response team(whatever god forbid that is) and showed me credentials for that-to me he seemed pretty heavy duty -but he had long since retired from the military. Occasionally when I was over there another older gentleman named Gene would stop by-Gene and Mike would disappear for awhile and talk while I processed film-I learned that Gene was Mike’s best friend. Often when I would go to Mike's house he would leave me unattended while he worked in the darkroom-during these times I would rummage through his stacks of stuff and look at the pictures and negatives, what have you-Mike would come out after awhile and I’d ask him about what I'd found-whether it was candid photographs of Muhammad Ali relaxing at home or a vintage 1960’s Playboy layout or just pictures of some dead body at a murder scene, I never knew what I was going to find-but it was all work Mike had done in the past, and basically he just left it where it fell when the jobs ended So one day I’m going through his stuff as usual right? and under a pile of crap I come upon a roll of 70mm negatives-this is the size negative that the Hasselblad large format camera uses (for anyone not familiar with the size)-and on the roll where photographs of what looked like...ready for this?...the surface of the Moon. So what the hell was this guy doing with a roll of negatives of the surface of the Moon you might fairly ask at this point in my tale...well...that's what I asked And here's what my good friend Mike (after much encouragement) told me... Mike said that they were in fact photographic negatives of the lunar surface...and that he himself had exposed them He told me that when he was in the Navy, he was commissioned by NASA to go along on a manned flight to the moon BEFORE Apollo 11 and to make the photographs He also told me that several flights were made before Apollo 11 to ensure the success of the landing -in light of the intense public scrutiny of the space programs both at home and in the former Soviet Union; this actually makes a lot of sense at least to me So that’s it. Everything I just typed is true-two more quick addendums-first the 70mm Hasselblad was in fact the camera NASA used to photograph the lunar surface And second Gene’s last name -is Cernan-he is an ex Naval fighter pilot and former astronaut,and he happens to be the last man ever to walk on the Moon (Apollo17)… Or so we’ve been told… Pretty cool huh?