| Sign in: |
| Members log in here with your user name and password to access the your admin page and other special features. |
|
|
|
|
|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
General Chuck Yeager
Greg Kendall-Ball, Photographer, Assistant
 |
Abilene | TX | USA | Posted: 2:38 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> Anyone here had the pleasure (or otherwise) of photographing the venerable General?
I met him this morning at an assignment.
Sometimes you shouldn't meet your childhood heroes. |
|
Steven E. Frischling, Photographer
 |
| | | Posted: 2:47 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> Greg,
I shot one of my childhood heroes right before he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He was possibly one of the biggest jerks I have ever photographed (and I have shot countless banking and finance CEOs and Execs).
Chuck Yeager is up on there on childhood heroes...maybe I should skip meeting him should the opportunity arise. |
|
Greg Kendall-Ball, Photographer, Assistant
|
Abilene | TX | USA | Posted: 2:51 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> Steve-
Just grab a 400mm lens and shoot from the parking lot, and your childhood fondness can stay intact! :)
I've heard/read that his friends love him, but I guess if you're not one of his friends, he's not out to make a whole lot more of them... |
|
Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
|
New York | NY | USA | Posted: 2:52 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> not the nicest person, right?
Plus today he is 87 so he may have been even meaner! |
|
Erik Markov, Photographer
|
Kokomo | IN | | Posted: 4:02 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> I'm 35 but I just got around to watching the Right Stuff for the first time couple weeks ago on Netflix. One of those that you don't know what took you so long to see right? Maybe getting passed over as an astronaut makes you bitter for life? Who knows.
Meeting childhood heroes isn't necessarily bad tho. One of mine as a kid was Chicago Suntimes photog John White. I saw him as an adult in a restaurant in Chicago, approached him-couldn't have been a nice guy ever. Took my picture with parents, sent me a couple of his books. You just take your chances sometimes. |
|
Andrew Nelles, Photographer
 |
Chicago | IL | usa | Posted: 4:16 PM on 02.13.10 |
| ->> Agreed Erik, John White is probably the kindest person I know. |
|
Mike Ullery, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Piqua | OH | USA | Posted: 4:33 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> I'm the photographer for the National Aviation Hall of Fame and have photographed General Yeager on a number of occasions.
The General Yeager that you see now is a little different from the one ten years ago. There have been some personal/family issues that have been...difficult, at best.
I'm not defending him necessarily but those things along with, in my opinion, he is tired of being mobbed everywhere he goes. (He has rarely had a free moment since his 1947 sound barrier flight and when "The Right Stuff" came out in the '80s it just re-ignited the fervor.) Being a celebrity is great...up to a point.
He is pretty subborn and set in his ways but I try to look at it that he has earned the right to be stubborn and set in his ways.
I've been on both sides, had him greet me from across the room and come up and put an arm around my shoulder. I've also asked a question and gotten my butt chewed.
He may be difficult sometimes but nothing changes the fact that his aviation accomplishments, from WWII fighter ace to legendary test pilot are what we need to remember about him.
Having said all of that, my advice would be to approach with caution.
Mike |
|
Mike O'Bryon, Photographer
|
Ft. Lauderdale | FL | USA | Posted: 5:01 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> photographed him in Miami many moons ago.... could not have been nicer
-- Mike |
|
Doug Strickland, Student/Intern, Photographer
|
Danville | KY | USA | Posted: 6:29 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> I didn't quite get to meet Itzhak Perlman once and it tarnished the way I thought of him, though it didn't ruin my respect for his talent. I was at Julliard with some fellow violinists in high school and he happened to come in, our director went up and spoke with him, hoping he would come and at the very least say hello to us, and he completely dismissed her.
Sometimes you don't even have to meet your childhood hero to ruin the way you think about them. |
|
Steven Mullensky, Photographer, Photo Editor
|
Port Townsend | WA. | USA | Posted: 6:59 PM on 02.13.10 |
| ->> If you can't say something nice about anyone... |
|
Steve Apps, Photographer
|
Madison | WI | USA | Posted: 7:30 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> Greg, sorry you had a bad experience. Back in the mid 90's I had a great Yeager experience.
While working for the Post-Crescent in Appleton, Wisconsin, I spent a week covering the Experimental Aircraft Association convention in Oshkosh. One assignment was covering Mr. Yeager while he gave rides to a couple of Make-A-Wish kids in a DC-3. While flying laps around the area, the kids had a chance to walk up to the cockpit and talk to him and watch him at the controls. I was standing off to the side the whole time photographing the kids having a blast. Mr. Yeager couldn't be nicer.
When we were getting back near the airport and it was looking like we getting ready to land, I asked Mr. Yeager if I should go back and buckle up. He looked at me and said I didn't have to. I was standing near Mr. Yeager and continued to take photos while he landed the plane. It was so smooth I never even took a step back.
Mr. Yeager was always a hero to me, and that moment cemented that forever. |
|
Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
|
McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 10:10 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> "not the nicest person, right?"
Yeager was a true gentleman when I had the pleasure of photographing him abut 15 or so years ago.
Maybe it was you. |
|
Greg Kendall-Ball, Photographer, Assistant
|
Abilene | TX | USA | Posted: 10:35 PM on 02.13.10 |
->> Jim-
Oh, it was definitely me.
When the organizer of the charity event took me up to introduce me, I stuck out my hand to shake his, and he looked at me and said, "You need a %$#^in' haircut and a shave."
Then he said maybe 10 words to me for the rest of the morning.
And since it was about 6:00am and we were out on some ranch land 50 miles out of town, I couldn't exactly pop in to my barber shop to get cleaned up. Live and learn, I reckon. |
|
Erik Markov, Photographer
|
Kokomo | IN | | Posted: 11:49 PM on 02.13.10 |
| ->> well then Greg, I'd have to say as a photog you'd be in good company. I looked in the mirror today, realized it's been nearly four weeks since I've had a cut (course right now it's hidden under a winter hat) but I guess if I had been there Mr. Yeager would chewing my ass too. |
|
Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
|
McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 10:13 AM on 02.14.10 |
->> "When the organizer of the charity event took me up to introduce me, I stuck out my hand to shake his, and he looked at me and said, "You need a %$#^in' haircut and a shave."'
That's a GREAT story and one that you'll be proud to tell for years to come. |
|
Rob Dicker, Photographer
|
Lake Villa | IL | USA | Posted: 10:51 AM on 02.14.10 |
| ->> Maybe he's just bitter? I've shot Jim Lovell of Apollo 13 fame, a bunch of times - and he's one of the coolest people that I've had a chance to work with. |
|
Michael Ip, Photographer
|
New York | NY | USA | Posted: 12:01 PM on 02.14.10 |
->> >>->> "When the organizer of the charity event took me up to introduce me, I stuck out my hand to shake his, and he looked at me and said, "You need a %$#^in' haircut and a shave."'
That's a GREAT story and one that you'll be proud to tell for years to come.
You bet. When I was in the Army we'd always have these retired Vietnam era Sergeant Majors and Generals come talk with us. Sometimes even Korea and WWII era guys. That's just their mentality. That's also probably his sense of humor - although it might be mistaken for bitterness. |
|
Jim Colburn, Photo Editor, Photographer
|
McAllen | TX | USA | Posted: 11:52 AM on 02.15.10 |
->> I'd say that, as a whole, the astronauts that I've photographed have been the nicest group of people imaginable. They're happy, polite and have never complained (to me) about having their pictures taken. One of my real-hero moments was shooting the Apollo 11 crew (Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins) on some big anniversary of the moon landing.
Maybe Yeager is bitter he never got to strap his ass onto the top of a huge explosive assembled by the lowest bidder. |
|
Amy Wallot, Photographer
|
Frankfort | KY | USA | Posted: 12:19 PM on 02.15.10 |
->> Greg,
Maybe you do need a haircut and shave. I'm just sayin'...
:-) |
|
Allen Murabayashi, Photographer
|
New York | NY | USA | Posted: 1:01 PM on 02.15.10 |
| ->> i hear astronauts are out of this world. |
|
Mike Strasinger, Photographer
|
Nashville | TN | USA | Posted: 1:01 PM on 02.15.10 |
->> I met Sam Shepard once, who played Yeager in The Right Stuff.
He was nice. |
|
N. Scott Trimble, Photographer
|
Lake Oswego | OR | USA | Posted: 1:10 PM on 02.15.10 |
->> I first met Yeager as a kid at Edward's AFB when he was filming an AC Delco commercial. My grandfather was a test pilot at Edwards and was taking me to the house my dad grew up in and was featured in the movie the Right Stuff! Dennis Quaid (Gordo Cooper) had the house in the movie, and the picket fence his kids are looking over at the smoke plume was the fence my granddad built (he bragged he was the first officer to plant grass in their backyard at Edwards, and Gus Grissom, and Jack Ridley were his neighbors.)
Anyway, he was great and extremely inspiring, as I wanted desperately to be an astronaut. My dad and I met him about 10 years later at an airshow after I became a photojournalist, I do remember he was a little gruff, and standoffish, but then again, sitting for a few hours throughout the whole airshow signing autographs could probably take the humor out of most people.
I did get a terrible encounter when I was a photojourn student with James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) when I had to cover a convention. I had my press badge and excited of course to be at my first celebrity shoot and he jumps up and grabs the strap of my camera bag and says "You know you can't use ANY of these photos, I'll sue you!!) It was the screening of Star Trek XI and the proceeds to his appearance went to a children's charity, I was shooting for the ASU paper! It forever grounded me from being starstruck again, well, until Mohammad Ali put a bear hug arm around me and pretended to gut punch me, which was the coolest thing ever.
I guess what I am getting at is sometimes, they have off days and on days like we do, and with the masses always wanting a piece, you can only be jolly for so long, and realize that when on assignment. |
|
Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
|
San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 1:38 PM on 02.15.10 |
->> Scott,
James Doohan was in the early stages of Alzheimers at the time. It eventually took his life.
--mark |
|
Chuck Liddy, Photographer
|
Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 2:54 PM on 02.15.10 |
| ->> Why in the world did Jim get two inappropriate's for his comment about GREAT story? That IS a great story to be able to tell..... |
|
Michael Fischer, Photographer
|
Spencer | Ia | USA | Posted: 3:13 PM on 02.15.10 |
->> Not too many celebs where I live now, but in Miami, lots and lots. I learned a long time ago that being professional around celebs means treating them with respect, don't fawn, and understand that they have NO privacy. Easy to say it's the trade off for being a celeb (and not one I'd want to make). It would make me crabby.
Just like everyone else, there are people who handle it with class, and others who are ass$oles. Not unlike the mix in this forum sometimes ;) .
If the guy's 87, cut him some slack. That's a whole lot of living.
Greg, had he said it to me, I would have asked if he had any barber recommendations... and looked him in the eyes when I said it. Maybe winked. Sometimes they growl to see if they can intimidate you. If you handle it without getting thrown off, they will open up. |
|
Return to --> Message Board Main Index
|