I'm trying to find the photographers on board the Bates over the years - not necessarily the ship's photographers, though I did my time there, but anybody that has accumulated the hundreds of photos that would have been taken by someone pursuing a love of photography.
I estimate that I have somewhere around 5 or 6 thousand photos - most of which I'm still scanning from the original transparencies, but all of those where taken between 1981 and 1985. That gives the website a decidedly early 80's look, which isn't really an accurate portrayal of the nearly 30 years of service the Bates put in.
I need your images - electronically, of course. You can keep the originals. All of the photos throughout the site with the exception of the Crew's Gallery, Archives, and Misc. Photos, came through my camera. We have plenty of room for all thirty years worth. Each of those slide shows at the top of the page take 10 images, and many are still duplicates because I'm leaving room for all the other years.
So if you have some good photos - even if it's only a few, that would be worthy of showcasing in the slide shows, or creating photo articles about like the ones in the photos section, contact me through the Contact Us link. You can email images to me, or if you don't have a scanner, call and I'll arrange to have them shipped out so I can scan them.
So quit hogging all the good shots, and start sending them to me, so we can share them with all the former crew.
Most photos of people taken in 'public' places (not open to the public, but accessible versus private, where you need the photographee's permission to be there, like their house) are open for publication. Navy security is more of a concern. So posting photos of your shipmates should not be a problem, nor should it require permission. Use good judgement. Photos of people in compromising positions are liable to get attention, while those typical of guys on the boat should not. I keep an eye open for pictures that could compromise security, and am sensitive to people's privacy concerns. If somebody voices a complaint, I'll address it, even if it means removing the photos.
All that having been said, you're pretty much free to post what you want within the confines of the site. Access to the site is restricted, the majority of us were shipmates, so we should be fine. We haven't had any concerns so far, though I have cropped a few to eliminate the offending evidence, so to speak.
Besides, most guys want to see the photos you have, and this is the place to do that easily.
Get them scanned, and get them uploaded.
We don't live with unlimited storage on the website, so keep that in mind. When uploading photos, keeping the maximum dimensions under 1024 pixels each way is more than viewable, and provides lots of detail, but don't scan at that resolution. Scan at the highest resolution you are able, and downsize them for upload. Many of the images on the site are 640x480. If you want folks to be able to zoom into the detail, like on the large group shots, leave the resolution high - I think the max file size is 2M.
If you have questions or need help, let me know - I can write this out in more detail.
Brad.
I was ship's photographer from Mar 74 to Aug 77. While I don't have a lot of the black and white photos I took then, I do have a number of shots from those years, mostly as slides. I am in the process of converting slides to digital but it will take some time to do that. What about pictures with shipmates in them? I have quire a number like that in various poses on the boat or on pier. Do we need permission to post those? (not sure how that would be gotten).
Thanks,
Neal Degner
I am still trying to locate all of the photos that I took as Ship's Photographer ( I took over in this responsibility after you left the Bates). I will send any and all that I find to you.
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