The Other U2 Guys

Remember the U2 spy plane incident? In 1960 Russia shot down super top secret CIA spy pilot Francis Gary Powers. He was held prisoner by the Soviets for nearly 2 years...and eventually was released in a spy swap.

Well, this is his son, Francis Gary Powers, Jr. He's the founder of the traveling Cold War Museum. They have a neat website.
Gary travels the US, speaking to groups interested in the Cold War. He's also raising funds for a museum home base outside of Washington, D.C.

The day of this shoot, we decided to do two set-ups: one outdoors with a model of his dad's spy plane, and another in his study. The first shot would show the playful side of his personality: the big kid in love with aviation and history. The second shot would show the business side of Gary's directorship of the museum.

We set up in Gary's office and this is one of the frames from that sequence. Your basic business guy/professional portrait that just happens to have the U2 model plane in the foreground.

Now here is the funny thing about this shoot. While writing this entry, I just happened to go to the Wikipedia entry for Gary's dad.















Twilight zone time...I swear I never saw this old black and white news photograph till now. Wow. Like father like son.

Above color images Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

New Year's Ride to Church Hill

Every year, on New Year's Day, a bunch of local riding clubs get together and trek 35 miles from Charles City County to Church Hill. The ride always ends a Jefferson Park, overlooking Downtown Richmond, the State Capitol, and I-95, just at sunset. Today, as the horses came clattering down the street (gotta love the sound of horse shoes on pavement) I grabbed my point-n-shoot along with some apples and carrots. This year, the weather was great. And lots of little city kids got to pet a horsey. Once the light faded, I knelt down and captured the silhouette image above. The the lights of Downtown Richmond and Riverfront Towers are in the background.

These are just a few of the snaps from Jefferson Park; to see the rest of the images, click here.

Here is a link to the website for one of the clubs in case you want to find out more: http://unitedhorsemen.org

All images Copyright 2008 Elaine Odell Church Hill Photography, LLC. All Rights Reserved.