Army cadet Dion Hart photographed in Crandall Pool at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY on Monday, November 24, 2014. Hart, 22, of Phoenix, AZ, is a senior on the Army swim team who was born to a 14-year-old mother and endured every possible hardship, including surviving homelessness, living in crack houses, and spending most of his life on welfare and food stamps. © Chet Gordon for New York Daily News.
On Monday I had the honor and pleasure of meeting and photographing a fine young man and Army cadet Dion Hart of Phoenix, AZ at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. It was all familiar territory as I’d covered USMA for nearly eight years while on staff at my previous staff job at the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, NY. That time included numerous Div. I sporting events, including full seasons of Army Football and Basketball, Presidential visits, Army graduations with upwards of 1,000 cadets and their famous “hat toss”, and all sorts of other assignments on all things ARMY. Ironically, I’d also worked at USMA for the NY Daily News to photograph the Superintendent at the time in front of this very statue (below). A simple search here on the blog of my work at the academy is some of the work I am most proud of in my career. Returning to West Point on assignment for a new / old client, The New York Daily News was kind of special too. It was if I was working among friends… ~cg.
Army cadet Dion Hart pauses in front of the General Douglas MacArthur statue and MacArthur Barracks at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY on Monday, November 24, 2014. Hart, 22, of Phoenix, AZ, is a senior on the Army swim team who was born to a 14-year-old mother and endured every possible hardship, including surviving homelessness, living in crack houses, and spending most of his life on welfare and food stamps. © Chet Gordon for New York Daily News.
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.
