Friday, January 21, 2011

MORE @ WORK ~ USTDC TAIPEI TAIWAN

This is me in the USTDC Photo Lab in Taipei, Taiwan around 1961. We did a lot of different photographic jobs. We worked with the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) on such things as counterfeiting and even murder investigations. Our normal work was making ID photos for all the agencies and drivers licences etc. We also did the required official portrait photos of officers. I really like doing this and think I was very good at it. It was a challenge to do the proper lighting to make the man look good. I had several compliments. 

We also developed aerial film for intelligence and mapping. We shot photos of damaged equipment and buildings from accidents or typhoons and flooding. It was great duty and we were pretty much on our own in a separate building. In this photo I am wearing our standard "Whites" uniform but later the next year after shooting a lot of damage etc. from typhoons and flooding we got permission to wear dungarees anytime we wanted. We carried a "dungaree pass" with us in case we were questioned.

Here's another picture of me around the same time period of 1961 taking a photo of a damaged Navy van. This was taken in the rear of the TDC compound in front of a big warehouse.  Below is a photo of the USTDC compound and behind it you can see the warehouse. Also on the right side you can see our photo lab that was in a quonset hut.