Photographers Blog

By Gary Cameron

While every photographer for Reuters is expected to cover, and have a knowledge on an array of events, whether they be political, sports, entertainment, or features, there are certain subjects that always hold a personal interest. For me, if it has wheels, wings, and a sense of history, I want to be there.

The arrival of the space shuttle Discovery from Cape Canaveral, Florida to Dulles International Airport in Virginia (where it will be transferred into the Smithsonian Air and Space collection) yesterday took some minor planning locally, mainly with trying to figure out where our best photo positions would be around Washington, D.C. as Discovery did a last fly-over before landing at Dulles.

Elevation would be key, but also, trying to line up the various Washington landmarks with the aircraft in flight. Discovery was riding piggy-back on a NASA 747 jet, which creates quite a large object moving through the skies. Also, flight altitude was listed at 1,500 feet, which is quite low.

Reuters Senior Photographers Kevin Lamarque (on the roof of RFK Stadium in the east) and Larry Downing (at the Iwo Jima Memorial to the west) would handle the Mall aspect which comprises the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Editor in Charge Jim Bourg and Senior Photographer/Editor Stel Varias would take a look at side positions, attempting to bring in the White House or other recognizable sites.

For the second year in a row, I find myself writing about covering an event after a 30 year wait. A year ago I wrote about photographing a match at center court at the Wimbledon tennis championships, 30 years after the start of my career. This time I write about seeing my first shuttle launch, 30 years after Columbia the first shuttle lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center.

It almost feels like yesterday, sitting in the United Press Canada photo office in Toronto in April 1981 watching that first launch. I was a young freelance photographer about to be hired into my first staff job at the news agency when Columbia blasted off on mission STS-1.

I watched the wire photo machine with wide eyes that day as images taken by UPI photographers were transmitted to the world, thinking I hope someday I would have the chance to photograph a launch. Little did I know then it would take me 30 years to the final shuttle launch last Friday to actually see a rocket take off.