Monday, October 31, 2022

Today during my DC Photojournalism trip class we met virtually with Bill Ingalls, a senior contract photographer at NASA headquarters (33 years). The job had started as an unpaid internship while he was in college with NASA He had gotten the possible job opportunity by calling NASA nearly every day till they got s sick of them they hired him. He was given the choose to be a photo researcher or revitalize the position as senior. photographer of which he chose. He now travels the world documenting launches and landings.

Bill gave the entire class NASA stickers and pins which are really cool. I plan to add the pins to my collection.

During the meeting he showed my class some rockets he has had the opportunity to photograph.

Part of his job is to set up remote camera all along the launch pad. You have to be three miles from the launch pad. Between Bill and his colleagues there are about twenty six cameras along the launch pad when there is a launch or landing.

It is remarkable that Neil Armstrong's family allowed Bill to be the only photographer allowed to document the family service in Columbus. They also allowed Bill to go out to sea with the Navy and to be the sole photographer for his burial. Bill explained how honored he was and the large responsibility that was.

It is breathtaking that he has basically lost count of how many launches he has photographed. Bill mentioned that he has been to Moscow over a hundred and thirty times. He said he knows for sure a couple hundred which is incredible.

There were various key takeaways from our meeting:

-NASA has ten different centers located around the country.

-His headquarters office has five on his team:

• Bill (supervisor, senior photographer)

• photo editor/ photographer

• photo-archivist/ photographer

• photo researcher/ photographer

• senior researcher

-Remotes come in handy( use them a lot for launches/ landings)

-Majority of Bill's work are remote photographs. Although he has to be three miles away from the lunch he still photographing with at least two cameras from afar.

-When NASA says they are. launching, you better be ready. They do not mess around.

-Bill uses a simple camera release. for his cameras.He sets all the remote cameras up at least twenty four hours in advance. If there is no countdown release he uses a sound activated trigger which fires the cameras.

- Mostly the training has to do with working around dangerous chemicals: rocket propellants, gasses, fuels and how to be safe if there were to be a leak/access and how to take care of yourself along with others

What I found fascinating is what the training involves:

For NASA SpaceX, to be in their helicopter Bill has to take Huet training. Which is were they put you in a fake helicopter, they put on your seatbelt and drop it to the bottom of a swimming pool and turn it up side down and you have to undo your seatbelt, smash the windows out, swim across and to the top eight or nine times and if you pass that your certified to fly in a helicopter out to the launch or landing.

-Have a nice provided set of gear to use. For instance, Bill talked about using the Z9 that NASA provided to him.

-Timing and placement is key. For example, when trying to capture the "Super Moon"

-The number one thing is trust with the client your working for. By Bill building trust throughout the years he has been able to edit and release images without any review. That did not happen over night.

-Networking is important.

Bill's last advice is from a photo editor from National Geographic he spoke early with in his career that recommended to him that he photographs what you love and that way you will never be bored with what you are doing and covering.

I could definitely see myself working for NASA. It sounds fascinating to work for this company and it comes with some great benefits.