“Do you really want to honor Veterans? Don’t make anymore”- John Steven Calder

United States Air Force	John Steven Calder	21 July 1976-15 FEB 1980

“I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that. – Lauren Bacall”

United States Navy	Elizabeth Jean Ruso	1982-1986

“The eyes are the portal to the soul. – Plato”

United States Navy	George Wick	1972-1975

“Maybe that’s what life is… a wink of the eye and winking stars – Jack Kerouac”

United States Navy	Ben Diaz	1968-1961

“You want to know where a man has been? Look him in the eyes – Anonymous”

United States Marines	Ray Williams	1951-1956

Project Scope:

Portraits:

I desire to take portraits of Veterans at all VA Medical Hospitals and Assisted Living Facilities. Each portrait will have only 2 prints, one for my archives and one to be printed, framed and displayed at a photography exhibit in Washington DC, with the framed print being given to the veteran pictured. This will be free to any veteran participating.

The printed picture will be scaled to a traditional ‘heroic scale’, 1.5 times larger than life. They will be printed on galley paper, with zero fade inks, mounted in a black metallic frame with glass cover, measuring 19 x 13 inches.

I have no intention on using any computer software to modify each image aside from color balancing and image enhancements.

Videos:

Each veteran will be given the opportunity to tell us about their service. This will be recorded on video and compiled into web accessible presentation.

Books:

The compiled portraits will be printed into bound hardcover book available to be purchased at cost on-line (www.blurb.com). No profit will be made on the selling of any book sales.

YountVille Veterans July 4th 2015

Composition:

I desire to shoot the portraits in close-up view, as the sample above. I chose color and high resolution to bring out the details of the faces. To show the wrinkles, the aging and the depth of a person who has lived a bit. Although sometimes these types of photos are thought to be unflattering, I see them as realistic portrayals of respect.

Footnotes:

Each portrait will have the branch of service, their full name and the dates of service. There is lots of conflict in the veteran world about what ‘type’ of veteran you are, i.e. Vietnam, Korean and American-Indian. I’m not interested in that narrative; we donated time in our life to the military. I chose to display that time only.

Model Releases:

Each veteran will have to sign a model release before I can take his or her portrait. This will accomplished with an iPad application, simply signing on the screen with a stylus.

Notifications

Each veteran will receive a notification in the mail of the dates of both art shows, the web address of an on-line portfolio, where they can download a high resolution image of their portrait, as well as a website to view the final video narrative.

Thank you for your consideration. As a service Disabled Veteran I am currently going to the San Francisco Art Institute for a Masters Of Fine Arts degree. This project, albeit a school project, is my way of giving back to the VA for their wonderful support of me.