SMSGT Jeff Sheehy of Beacon checks instruments on the flight deck an Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft parked on the ramp at Stewart Air National Guard Base (ANGB) in Newburgh, NY on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. Stewart ANGB is home to the 105th. Airlift Wing. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record (2)
One of the simple pleasures of working in this business for so long is the pre-visualation of an image in my mind’s eye, then going about the proper 
procedure to execute it all. When other factors cooperate (weather, the subject, etc.) to seal such an assignment, it’s all just amazingly fun. Anything to do with aviation or heavy industry always offers the opportunity for me to learn something new. I cherish the brief interaction with flight crew mechanics, pilots, train engineers, cargo ship captains and the like. Touring Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft two days ago at a nearby airport was a blast again. Throw in the joy on a 12 year-old subject’s face (bottom) or the twelve catch-light’s in the Army football player’s eyes (below), after I’ve shown them an image from our portrait shoot lit with a single strobe and the fisheye lens, and I’m sometimes literally dancing on air. Here’s a few favorites from the last few days… ~cg.
Army running backs (Clockwise from top): Jared Hassin (#7), Stephen Fraser (#27), Larry Dixon (#26), Raymond Maples (#1), Terry Baggett (#31), and Hayden Tippett (#45) at Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY on Wednesday, August 15, 2012. Army opens their 2012 season at San Diego State on September 8th. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record
(2) – Gavin Thompson at Fancher-Davidge Park in Middletown, NY on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. Thompson, a 12 year-old student at Monhagen Middle School was recently named the top sixth-grade point guard in the country, and third-best sixth-grader overall by a respected scouting service. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record
Chet Gordon resides in the lower Hudson Valley region of New York. A photojournalist for more than 25 years, he recently worked as Westchester Magazine's first photo editor, and previously was a staff photographer at four NYC metro area newspapers. He was also a photo editor at the NY Daily News for 5 years. His work has appeared in The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, USA Today, MailOnline (UK), Army Times, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Popular Photography magazines, among others. He is a career member of the National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA), and a former board member of the NY Press Photographer’s Association (NYPPA). He served honorably as a U.S. Marine in the mid-1980's, including 2+ years stationed on Okinawa, Japan, and throughout Southeast Asia. A longtime volunteer and travel enthusiast, he accompanies several humanitarian aid clients on their international disaster relief and medical missions. Since 1997, he's worked in several African countries, the Middle East, Central and South America, Eastern Europe, as well as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Russian Federation, and Thailand. He routinely mentors young photographers looking to break into the industry and vacations in Bermuda and Kenya.
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