I've seen on this forum and others a lot of official photos from the Navy, usually taken by 'Mass Communication Specialists'. Is there an officer position that handles these? Or is it a purely enlisted job?
I'm kind of in photography myself, I think it would be cool if I could still do that for the Navy.
There are LDOs in this field, but they are drawn from the ranks and can be either Warrant or Commissioned Officers. The plum jobs are as head of CV "photo lab" and ultimately of "Combat Camera", whose ranks get to qual in diving and as passengers in aircraft. Once commissioned, the responsibilities are relegated to leading and managing and not to take assignments, but most keep their hand in the game.
That said, you don't have to be a Mass Communications Specialist (or in the past, a Photographer's Mate) to shoot images and have them released as official Navy photos. In the days of wet film, I was asked by my ship to help round out their aerial stock footage when our air wing joined America replacing another one thereby generating need for a lot of new images. The photo lab had no ejection seat qiualled photographers and I had proven myself with a CVIC camera so I was given all the film I could shoot and they sent the best off to the Pentagon for consideration as Official Navy Photos. Today, digital cameras make it so much easier to shoot. Note: you need to be careful as to what you shoot and where so contact your public affairs office. As my work was known and I developed a relationship with the Still Photo Branch in Chinfo, I'd get "assignments" or shoot lists in case I saw certain things that were on media request lists. They have a voracious appetite for imagery and if you are striving to get your work on a magazine cover, don't to forget to shoot "verticals"; it increases your odds substantially. Send me a PM if you want to know more. Cheers, HJ
