NANP News, Summer/Fall 2023

President’s Message

As we approach this joyous season of giving and togetherness, I extend warm greetings and heartfelt wishes to each and every one of you for a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season. On behalf of the entire NANP Board of Directors, it is with great pleasure and gratitude that I take this opportunity to express our deepest appreciation for your unwavering commitment and passion for naval photography.

Our community’s strength lies not just in our shared love for capturing moments and history but in our collective dedication to preserving the rich legacy of naval photography. The invaluable contributions of our members have continually reinforced the essence of camaraderie and excellence within our association.

Reflecting on the recent Navy Photographer’s Reunion held in Washington, DC, I am thrilled to report that it was an overwhelming success. The event was an embodiment of nostalgia, fostering cherished connections among veterans and budding talents in naval photography. The vibrant exchange of experiences, stories, and technical insights served as a testament to the enduring spirit of our esteemed profession.

In line with celebrating our accomplishments, I am delighted to introduce and extend a warm welcome to our newly appointed NANP Director, Duane Romine. With an extensive background and profound dedication to naval photography, Duane brings a wealth of knowledge and innovative vision to our esteemed leadership team. His expertise and commitment will undoubtedly contribute significantly to our continued growth and success as an association.

As we conclude this eventful year, let us cherish the bonds we’ve forged, celebrate our shared accomplishments, and look forward to the promise of new beginnings in the coming year. The spirit of unity and collaboration that defines NANP continues to inspire us all to reach greater heights together.

Once again, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. May this festive season be filled with joy, peace, and countless moments worth capturing.

Wes

From the Vice President

I am appreciative and excited for your vote to complete this year as interim Vice President, thank you.

If you saw my bio, it truly is a small glimpse of my personality. Truthfully, I am a lifelong volunteer even though I know what N-A-V-Y means, never again volunteer yourself. More recently, I have been watching the struggle to keep social groups with a purpose like NANP afloat.

The good news is everyone, in all kinds of groups especially veteran ones, are struggling too. The Internet has plugged us in to the world and now there is so much to keep our attention. With that I think, sometimes, we forget about the people and things that are closer to our hearts. For me, I am so honored to have served our country especially as a naval photographer who then became a mass communication specialist, I can’t help but want to give back.

Our members, that means you, are truly incredible and have so much information to share. I don’t care if you just started at DINFOS two weeks ago (Wouldn’t that be nice to have that, Sailor join NANP?). Everyone has something to offer especially at NANP. It can be history, creativity, networking abilities, or just plain how to solve a life problem. Who we are as individuals is amazing, but it is multiplied when we share a part of it with each other in our community/society. NANP has that space for that.

I enjoyed meeting and talking to everyone who attended our reunion in Washington, DC. If you were unable to attend and would like to reach out to me my email is nanpvpres@gmail.com, or give me a call at 703-786-4707. Thank you so much for the honor of allowing me to serve you.

Lisa

Welcome Aboard Duane Romine
NANP Director 2024, 2025, 2026

Duane served for 27 years beginning in 1958 and retiring in 1985. Duty stations included USS Norton Sound (AVM-1), CINC Pacific Fleet Pearl Harbor, Naval Parachute Test Center at El Centro, Navy DOD Combat Motion Pictured Team in South Vietnam, Atlantic Fleet Camera Group Caribbean Detachment Puerto Rico, USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), and Pacific Fleet Intelligence Center Pearl Harbor. He is a graduate of the Photographic Quality Control Program at RIT and the Cinematography Program at USC. Duane achieved the rank of PHCM, CWO-3, and LT. After the Navy, Duane graduated from the Marine Propulsion Program at the Florida Keys Community College. After obtaining his US Merchant Marine Captain License, he piloted Commercial Fishing crafts.

NANP Awards Chairman

Shipmates,

The Holidays are here and the majority of us are extremely busy. As in the general business meeting, I would like to bring up our Scholarship program. The past two years the $500 has gone to a lone applicant. We know that there are more children and grandchildren out there that could use the money for school. I would like to see a lot more competition for next years award. Just go to the NANP website, fill out the application and apply.  I am also waiting for a vote from the membership to approve adding trade schools to the mix. Today, electricians and plumbers make more money than college grads. This is also something to think about.

I would like to mention our upcoming Caribbean cruise slated for our reunion next year.  The cruise line informed me that a passport will NOT be needed for our trip to Nassau. You WILL need to show a valid drivers license or birth certificate. If there are any questions please feel free to contact Wes Gibson or myself.  In closing, I would like everyone to have a Happy and Joyous Holiday Season. I am looking forward to seeing everyone on our upcoming cruise.

Sammy

2023 DC Video Shoot Off Workshop Wrap-Up

Story and Photos by Johnny Bivera

Despite the many challenges of putting together a last minute training program post a pandemic, the DC video shoot off team made it happen. Following a successful still photography program last March, a determined and resolute group of volunteers and talented visual media professionals rallied and brought back to life, after a three year hiatus the DC Video Shoot Off Workshop in Arlington, Virginia.

My personal thanks to Maureen Stewart who spearheaded the meetings and staff logistics and Sam Morse for introducing a higher level webcam experience with his team to achieve an even wider global audience. And to Ray Flores for his years of being a management leader we finally were able recognize his efforts, time and insight with a glass ‘Spirit of Service’ statuette. And with appreciation to all the many supporters in all walks of service and skill set.

We’d like to thank our premier sponsors for donating prizes and logistic support from Canon, Adobe, Ikan, Visual Media One, True Blue Creative and to all members of NANP for your generous donations in helping to support and provide for our venue and lodging space. You are the foundation of what helps to make this program happen, you provide an additional training scope that is hard to find in our community, one that supports all military service members, our civil service partners and specially invited high school and university students.

As we look towards the year 2024, the teams are out and about and committed to doing it again next year, and strive to do it better and teach more to an even wider audience. We look towards your support!

Good Time Had by All at the
Washington, DC Navy Photographer’s Reunion

Photos by Johnny Bivera, Jerry Billings, and Wes Gibson

This year’s Navy Photographer’s Reunion kicked off on a Thursday, with many of the attendees enjoying a tour of the Pentagon sponsored by the Chief of Naval Information’s office. Later that evening, all met for a Meet & Greet at the nearby Epic Smokehouse restaurant.

Friday was mostly a free day for attendees to see Washington, DC attractions on their own and to visit with shipmates in the hospitality suite.

Saturday, attendees kicked the day off with a tour of the Navy Yard Museum. An interesting tour of Naval history, despite a large portion of the displays being packed up for transit to a yet to built, all new Navy Yard Museum.

After the museum tour, the NANP Board of Directors met, followed by a meeting of the General Membership. Links to the minutes of each meeting are provided below.

Capping off Saturday evening, we held the annual banquet. Joining our banquet this year were a half dozen young MCs in training from the nearby Defense Information School.

Highlights of the banquet included the traditional Two Bell ceremony honoring recently departed shipmates, presentation of a statuette to NANP President Wes Gibson, guest speaker and former Navy Photographer, Andrew Geraci talking about his post Navy career, and finally, a pinning ceremony for former MC turned Public Affairs Officer, LCDR Seth Clarke and his swearing in by his Uncle, Duane Romine.

Sunday, our final day of the Navy Photographer’s Reunion, was filled with a tour of Arlington Cemetery for some. Others either headed home early or visited other Washington, DC sights on their own.

Board of Director and General Meeting Minutes

A Board of Director’s meeting along with a General Meeting was conducted Saturday, October 7th at the Washington, DC Navy Photographers Reunion. If you would like to look at the meeting minutes from either meeting, they are posted on the NANP website. Please follow the links below.

Spotlight: Andrew Geraci – 2023 Reunion Guest Speaker

Story by Johnny Bivera

In our history of naval photographers, we’ve had great founders, leaders and storytellers. I know that there’s not one of us that cannot tell an interesting story. It’s in our DNA. We’ve had and continue to have great photographers, technicians and role models. But only a handful get the call from Hollywood. 

With notable names like film director John Ford getting a U.S. Navy appointment during World War II as field photographer for the Office of Strategic Services, made several films of which two won Academy Awards for war documentaries, The Battle of Midway and December 7th. He continued on to create an extremely long list of career accolades and iconic films that ranged from 1913 to 1971. My favorite film of his was The Grapes of Wrath. He went on to be the most honored director in film history. 

And then came Photomate Richard Edlund who joined the Navy in 1959, took advantage of all the available photo gear and trained, experimented and later helped form the U.S. Navy Motion Picture Production Team. He went on to be a legend. You remember the Addams Family TV show? The hand that was running around during the title sequence called “Thing”, that was Edlund’s hand. But it was his achievements in directing visual effects that sealed his status in such films as Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark or science fiction television programs like Battlestar Galactica. 

But I want to talk about a current shipmate of ours in his thirties, someone who transitioned from Photomate to mass communications specialist. In fact, I got to know him and his work shortly after he checked in at the Naval Media Center in Anacostia. In short time I would end up telling people that if they wanted to know what a mass communications specialist was all they had to do was open a dictionary and see his mugshot preceding the definition. He had just won Military Videographer of the Year and his name is Andrew Geraci.

It is a great thing to witness the growth of someone who I believe to be a creative genius, and yet here it was happening right in front of me. I run this workshop called the DC Shoot Off and it was going on its 3rd or 4th year and was really growing legs as a program.  Andrew came to me and asked, “Has anyone documented the workshop yet, if not can I do it?” Not really knowing what to expect I said sure. This is a three-day workshop.

He basically disappeared but was there, a sign of a very capable cameraman, working on site and unseen. But there was this thing I felt that separated him from the rest of us, it was a process that he had going on in his mind, keeping secret the end product, so none knew what to expect, but by the hours of the last day asked if we could screen his work, meaning he shot and edited the program almost non-stop for 48 hours, so we watched and were blown away. He captured our event in such a way that was never done before. 

The following year he asked if we could screen his latest project, “I’ve been playing around with time-lapse photography,” he said, sure I said, and again we were blown away. The third year he asked, “Can we screen my latest project, it’s a time-lapse but processed as a high-definition recording (HDR),” sure I said, I was seeing a pattern with this guy, so we watched but this time, we were really blown away. How blown away? Well, Hollywood started calling.

If you don’t know filmmaker David Fincher, let me throw a few of these credits out to you, Madonna’s late 1990’s music video, Express Yourself and Vogue, Alien 3, Fight Club, Panic Room, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Mindhunter…just a few blockbuster films he’s made, well he called Andrew after he saw that last time-lapse that was shared on social media. Fincher saw it and just happened to be working on a new project for Netflix called, House of Cards. If you haven’t seen it, Andrew’s work is the opening and closing credits. There are three memorable credit sequences that’s permeated into my memory that’s on a streaming network that I love, Andrew’s time-lapse on House of Cards and the ones done for The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, all beautifully unique and memorable.

Andrew is Director of Photography for District 7 Media and has since worked with film industry titans Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Alejandro González Iñárritu and Jordan Peele just to name a few. His filmography credits extend to productions with House of Cards, Westside Story, Dark Harvest and more. His TV, Film and commercial production company clients have been with Sony, Netflix, HBO, Apple, NFL, Disney and so on. He has established himself as one of our countries top cinematic motion-controlled time-lapse photographers and aerial scenic producers. 

But now with the writers and actors strike, work has taken a serious downturn, and Andrew finds himself challenged again, but he’s not alone. “I don’t think things are going to go back to the way they used to be, said Andrew. And business as we know it is going to change considerably. So, I’m pivoting more towards creating things for a lower level of production, but I also feel like going more into the teaching aspect of things, doing master classes and different types of educational sources because education seems to be a giant market right now.”

I asked him about his current direction in life? “To be a better human is really what my goal is, said Andrew. To take the talents and skills that I have and try to use them to benefit others instead of benefiting me because for the majority of my career I’ve basically had to use people to get where I needed to go and achieve things. I want to share my talents and skills in a way that allows other people to thrive.”

And what takeaways did you get from the Navy I asked? “The understanding of how to build a team and utilizing people’s strengths appropriately and just how to be a good leader.” Andrew is on the right path to continued success I believe, and whether it’s through products or teaching others, his focus is sharp and direct, like a ship in heavy seas, Andrew will find a way to push through the storms and continue to build on the legacy of being a U.S. Navy photographer.

To learn more about Andrew Geraci or follow him on social media, visit him at his District 7 website.

2024 Navy Photographer’s Cruise Info

The 2024 Navy Photographer’s Reunion originally slated for San Diego, California was cancelled due to the high costs of travel and lodging, as well as an anticipated low turnout due to same. In lieu of that reunion, it was proposed and voted in that a Navy Photographer’s Cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida be held.

Carnival Cruise Lines has made us a handsome offer for a 4 day, 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral, Florida, October 18 -21, 2024, with a day stop in Nassau, Bahamas. For those who have never pulled liberty in Nassau, you are in for a big surprise. It offers great shopping, great food, and tropical weather.

To read more about the upcoming 2024 Navy Photographer’s Cruise and to get information on how to sign up, click on the button below to go to the cruise page on the NANP website.

Pensacola Lunch Group

From the Newsletter Editor: Let’s bring back the old Christmas card tradition. Next year, I would like to see a Christmas card to the community from each of the regional groups. San Diego, Hampton Roads, Washington DC, and the Tristate (Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky) group that is in planning stages. The gauntlet has been thrown down by the Pensacola group. And remember, it’s the 21st century. You don’t have to do a still image. We can add a short video greeting to this newsletter as well.

San Diego Lunch Group

Story and photo courtesy of Mickey Strand

We continue to meet each month at the Dinner.  The group continues to grow, and we had almost a dozen members with us last month.  

The group is sending the invitation to anyone we know In the area, and we hope it continues to grow. Members are now bringing show-and-tell items on a regular basis.

Meet up dates are the second Saturday of each month from 1000-1200 at the Studio Dinner on Ruffin Road in San Diego.

NANP Job Opening – Assistant Webmaster

We’re looking for a volunteer Assistant Webmaster to work with Wes Gibson on the NANP website. The job entails the design and upkeep of the NANP website, putting out mass-emails when needed, working closely with the reunion coordinators each year, assisting in the production of the Association’s newsletter, and in the Webmaster’s absence, able to carry on for the Association and answer to the Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to the website

Candidates should have the following qualifications.

• Very familiar with web page design using WordPress.
• Comfortable with the Gutenberg Block Editor.
• Able to design creative web pages, mass-emails, and newsletters from scratch.
• Know what a hosting service is and able to navigate a C-Panel.
• Experience with Elegant Themes Divi would be a plus.
• Able to install, quickly learn, and use WordPress plugins.
• Able to work as a team in the design and upkeep of the NANP website.
• Can take and give constructive criticism.
• Understand and able to use Auto Responders such as Vertical Response, Mail Chimp, and Aweber.
• Have a Facebook account and able to post to the Navy Photography related Facebook groups.
• Able to construct and manage online surveys.
• Good photo management practices.
• Able to devote the necessary time to the web design and upkeep. Typically only a few hours each week, but could be significantly more during the upcoming website redesign and prior to each year’s reunion registration.

If interested in being the NANP’s Assistant Webmaster, please submit your name, email address, and phone number to Wes Gibson at nanpwebmaster@gmail.com. If you have a sample website that you have designed and maintain, please submit a link.

Candidates will be interviewed by the NANP Webmaster, Wes Gibson. The final selection of the Assistant Webmaster must be approved by the NANP Board of Directors.

NANP Job Opening – Newsletter Editor

We’re looking for a new Newsletter Editor. This is a Chairperson position on the Board of Directors with voting privileges. The job entails the design and upkeep of the NANP newsletter. Since the newsletter is web based now, the Editor will work closely with the NANP Webmaster, along with the entire Board of Directors, and have website access in order to design and publish the newsletter.

It would be beneficial if candidates have the following qualifications.

• Familiar with web page design using WordPress.
• Comfortable with the Gutenberg Block Editor, currently used in WordPress.
• Able to design a creative quarterly newsletter from scratch.
• Have a Facebook account and able to post to the Navy Photography related Facebook groups.
• Able to devote the necessary time to the newsletter design and upkeep.

The current Newsletter Editor and Webmaster is willing to train anyone with rudimentary newsletter design skills in how to transition to a web based newsletter.

If interested in being the NANP’s Newsletter Editor, please submit your name, email address, and phone number to Wes Gibson at nanpwebmaster@gmail.com. If you have a sample newsletter that you have designed, please submit a copy to Wes as well.

Candidates will be interviewed by the NANP President and Webmaster, Wes Gibson. The final selection of the NANP Newsletter Editor must be approved by the NANP Board of Director.

NANP Book Sales

The NANP is still offering books for sale on our website. The books have recently been moved to Jim Russell’s home in Pensacola and are ready for shipping. Available are, “Eyes of the Fleet: The History of Naval Photography” and “Photojournalist: The Story of a Navy Combat Photographer,” both written by retired Navy Photographer, Art Giberson. Cost is $15 each, which includes shipping.

Supplies are limited. Once the book supply is gone, the webpage will be taken down. So, don’t wait too long if you are interested in purchasing either title.

To purchase either or both of these books, please visit our BOOK SALES page.

Welcome Aboard New NANP Members

PH1 David Baumgarte
PH3 Chester Epperson
PH3 Susan Kinas
LT Diane Wolford
JOCS Robert Leonard
MCC Michael Heckman
MCC(SW/AW/IW) Brian Morales
PH2 Charles Nail

Reminder: Life Membership in the NANP is only $95. Those joining receive a Welcome Aboard pack containing a patch and certificate. For those not wanting to join the NANP, you can still add your name and information to our Photographers Past and Present list for free.

Click the button below to join NANP, add your name to the free Photographers Past and Present list, or to update your information.

Taps

Shipmates embarking on their last cruise in 2023

PHC Jerry Antone
PHCM Jay Berryman
PH1 Donald Bordwell
PH2 Tom Coughlin
PH1 Keith Dolar
CWO Burrill Dreifke
PHCS Art Ellison
PHC Carl E. Findley
PH2 David Gold
PH2 Donald Graap
PHCM David Graver
LT Robert Harville
CWO3 Sidney Hoder
PH2 David Isenhart
PHC Kurt Kinnamon
PH3 David Kukor
PHC Harry Kulu
PH2 Michael McCabe
CWO4 Theodore McManus
PHC Dan Murray
PHC Michael Postolan
CAPT John Preves
PH3 Peter Raymond
CWO4 Jim Sale
MR. Hasi Seifert
PH3 Keith Walsh
CWO4 Patrick Wilkerson
MC1 Tim Wilson
PHC Walter Wolfe
PH2 Robert C. Woods