My Hero, George Hall -- Check Six

There have been very, very, few military stock photographers in the US or anywhere else over the past few decades, and for good reason -- the subject matter is very difficult to cover, it's dangerous, and the relationship between media pukes like us and the military's public affairs officers has been hostile for decades. But among the tiny brotherhood of military stock photographers, George Hall was the founder of the specialty, a mentor to me and others, a brilliant photographer, and a gracious gentleman. He died several years ago and is sorely missed. George's specialty was aviation -- combat aviation at first, then civil aircraft. His images were and still are amazing -- glittering, glorious photographs of all kinds of aircraft at work and play.

I met George when we were both producing books for little Presidio Press, then a small publisher in Novato, California. He had recently written and illustrated a nice little volume on the Air Force's "Top Gun" training program at Nellis AFB in Nevada. By a very happy coincindence, the book came out at the same time the movie of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, was released. Without the movie, the book would have sold 6000 copies and have been soon forgotten, but with the movie, it sold by the truck-load and was a best-seller for Presidio.

We were walking out of Presidio's little industrial-complex office when George said, "Hans, what are you doing about selling your photos as stock photography?"

"Uh...what's stock photography?" I probably answered, never having thought of it before.

George said, "I'd do these books for free just to get access to the air bases. I make a lot more money from relicensing the photos than I do on the books." I hadn't thought of it, but he and I made around $1 from each book, and not even that until the first several thousand had been sold. We were getting $3000 for an advance at that time. As George explained to me, he could easily get $3000 for a single sale of a single photograph -- and that was back in the 1980s! I started thinking about reuse of the book photography.

George pioneered military stock photography, and he was exceptionally generous about sharing his experience and wisdom with me and with anybody else who he thought might profit from his knowledge, even if we might become competitors.

Although he was known for his marvelous images made in the cockpits of fighter aircraft in flight, George confessed to me that he really hated flying in fighters. Only people who haven't done it think it is fun -- it might be fun after you've done it for a while, but it's damn hard work, especially the first few times. The combination of violent maneuvering, heavy G-forces, cramped seating, and the danger of ejecting (accidentally or of necessity) makes photography very challenging. It was worse then, when you had to change rolls of film, before the advent of digital cameras. Most first-timers get airsick, and some throw up. If you puke in the cockpit, you are required to clean it up yourself. As George knew well, it looks like more fun than it is.

George died recently after heart surgery, to the dismay of his many admirers. He was in his middle-sixties and the death was unexpected by all who anticipated many more years of his wit and wisdom. He left a wonderful collection of photography and a large collection of fans. His bride Nicki still operates his stock photo business, Check-Six. If you are looking for spectacular images of civil or military aviation, check out Check-Six -- although I suppose we are competitors in some ways, we were friends when George was alive and I am still happy to refer clients to his marvelous work.

http://www.check-6.com/