Why We Do It, Part 1

This blog posting by Joe McNally about Tom, who is battling Multiple Sclerosis, is a big part of why I finally decided to start a blog of my own.

Joe McNally is a giant in the world of photography and he certainly needs no introduction from me. But I wanted this blog entry of his to be the first in a series to profile other peoples' work that shows genuine empathy, humanity, and feeling; work that explains "why we (photographers) do it". My blog posts in this series will be labeled WWDI.

"Why we do it" is a reference to a quote in Peter Howe's foreword to Dirck Halstead's book Moments in Time:

The reason that most photojournalists put up with the low pay and difficult circumstances is that they are a amazed they are allowed to do what they do.

I was deeply moved by Joe McNally's three-word response to Tom's idea about a portrait in his back yard: "Let's do this."

I e-mailed Joe in August 2008 after I read that blog post and I asked him a question to which I already instinctively knew the answer, but I wanted confirmation nevertheless. I asked him if he got any payment whatsoever for photographing Tom. He replied:

"Curtis...no money changed hands...would not do that in those circumstances...Joe"

This morning I e-mailed Joe again to see how Tom was doing, and to see if he had kept in touch. Joe replied, "Yes, Tom and I are friends, and continue to correspond. Our studio just
donated some gear for him to use for a benefit dinner gala out in Jersey."

There are some photos that, through some cosmic necessity, just have to be made. Similarly, there are some stories that simply must be told. Joe McNally is a master of both. He is my hero.

This is why we do it.


Left: Tom, described by photographer Joe McNally as "Father, fighter, lover of photography."

Not a Dry Eye in the House

Holocaust survivor Marion Blumenthal Lazan displays the Star of David that she was required to wear on her clothing as a child in Nazi Germany as she addresses an assembly at Belvidere North High School on Wednesday, September 16, 2009. Lazan's family was imprisoned at several refugee and concentration camps in Holland and Germany during WWII; the members of her immediate survived their imprisonment but her father died of typhus shortly after his liberation. Lazan has told her inspirational story of survival to over one million people at such assemblies in the last 30 years. Her autobiography, "Four Perfect Pebbles", was published in 1996 and the hardback version of the book is currently in its 20th printing.

"Commit to Courage Day" in DeKalb County

The DeKalb County Board has designated today, September 15, 2009 as "Commit to Courage Day" in honor of Mr. Samuel J. Churchill, who, according to the proclamation, "is the recipient of the Medal of Honor. During the Civil War he served in the Army in Company G, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery. Samuel fought in the Battle of Nashville in Franklin, Tennessee on December 15, 1864..."

The proclamation goes on to say of Churchill that "it was during that battle that Churchill, was recognized for valor in combat because 'when the fire of the enemy's batteries compelled the men of his detachment for a short time to seek shelter, he stood manfully at his post and for some minutes worked his gun alone.'"

DeKalb County, Illinois, is listed as the home and place of enlistment of Mr. Samuel J. Churchill. Battery G was initially organized in DeKalb at the site of the old fairgrounds, at what is now Altgeld Hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University. A plaque at the Northern Illinois Veterans Memorial in Kirkland proclaims that the majority of Battery G members were from the cities of DeKalb and Sycamore.

The unit went on to engage Conferderate forces at numerous battles and skirmishes before the battery was mustered out on September 4, 1865.

Two of the unit's members, Albert Sherburne and Samuel S. Garst, were captured at different times and held at the infamous Andersonville Prison in Macon county, Georgia. Shelburne was captured on January 15, 1865 at Eastport, Mississippi and Garst was captured near Holly Springs, Mississippi on August 28, 1864. Both men survived their terms at the notorious prison, unlike 12,913 Union troops who perished at the prison during its 14-month existence. My great-great-great grandfather, Mathew Simpson Clegg of Company M of the 15th Indiana Calvary also survived his time at Andersonville Prison. His son, Mathew Simpson Clegg, Jr. was also captured and held at Andersonville but the son did not survive the ordeal. He died of starvation at the prison.

Today about sixty dedicated volunteers work diligently to keep Battery G's rich history alive. The mission of these Civil War Re-Enactors is to "educate the public about the American Civil War, about the role that field artillery played in the war and about the people who fought and lived through those difficult times."

Much of DeKalb County woke today to learn that one of our own soldiers, Army Pfc. Matthew M. Martinek, 20, of Genoa had died on September 11 of injuries he sustained from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan one week earlier.

I hope we can all take a few minutes to remember, appreciate, and honor everyone who has served in our armed forces, in times of peace and war, from privates to generals, from long-forgotten grunts to Medal of Honor recipients. They all answered the call.


Left: Civil War re-enactors Larry Werline of Sycamore (left) as General Ulysses S. Grant and Jerry Hahn of Sun Prairie, Wis. as the unit's surgeon pose for a photograph at Battery G's encampment on September 13, 2009 at the new location of the Sycamore History Museum.