Eyes of the Fleet

 This is the widely-anticipated history of U.S. naval photography officially commissioned by the National Association of Naval Photography. The book highlights many of the people involved in Navy photography from the earliest days, beginning in 1914 when the Navy's first "official" photographer, Walter L. Richardson, a cook and amateur photographer, took some of the first pictures for the naval service, and contains dozens of archival photographs collected from retired Navy photographers and other private collections around the country. It traces the history of naval photography to the present time, highlighting the many colorful and talented photographers whose skill, dedication and often bravery made this history so remarkable. There are action photographs taken over the decades by some of the Navy's best photographer, in addition to dozens of photographs of these distinguished photographers themselves.

This is a beautiful hardbound edition with about 400 black & white and color photographs.

How to order: Send $30.00+ $3.50 for shipping (total $33.50) along with your name and address to:

ArtGibBooks
1001 E Madison Drive
 Pensacola, FL 32505-4661

If you are a member of NANP, Art will autograph the book for free. If you are not a member the autographed copy costs $10.00 extra.

If you would like to order on line follow this link /www.ArtGibBooks.com

The following is from Art Giberson dated July 2000:

My fellow NANP members. It’s with great pleasure that I report to you that Eyes of the Fleet: A History of Navy Photography, is finished and is now in the hands of our publisher, Wind Canyon Books. The manuscript (intro, acknowledgments, etc.) is 205 pages, more or less, with more than 400 photos. I have spoken with the publisher, Mr. George Jaquith, and he feels certain that unless something far beyond any of our control, happens, Eyes of the Fleet: A History of Navy Photography will be unveiled at the roundup in October.

 Folks, it has been a lot of hard work--mostly nights and weekends--but I think you’ll agree when you see the finished product, that it was well worth the effort. For the very first time we now have--or soon will have--a history of our rate. The story commences with Walter L. Richardson’s arrival in Pensacola in 1914 aboard the battleship USS Mississippi (Richardson, as most of you know, was an amateur photographer who was later commissioned and assigned the task of developing the Navy’s first photo school at Miami, FL) and concludes with the Naval Schools of Photography being replaced with the Defense Photography School in 1992 and the eventual relocation from Pensacola to Fort Meade, MD, in 1998.

 Folks, just so everyone will know right from the start, it was never my intent to try and mention everything that ever happened in naval photography. I realize that some folks may not be pleased because I either didn’t mention their old photo units, or merely skimmed over them. For that, I apologize, but in my opinion naval photography was, and is, comprised of many, many individual photographers and organizations. To attempt to list everyone and everything that has played a key role in the development of naval photography over the last 86 years would have resulted in a 5,000 plus page book which no one could afford, let alone read. When you see the book, I hope you will agree that the most important parts and events are indeed covered.

 The bottom line is simply this. We now have a fairly complete history of naval photography. Although I acknowledge it on the Acknowledgments page in the book, I feel that I would be amiss if I didn’t state here that Eyes of the Fleet is the end product of earlier works by a large number of people. Much of the material in the book came directly from the unpublished manuscripts of Cmdr. George Carroll and PHCM John Reimer. The research these two gentlemen did for their respective manuscripts were invaluable to the completion of Eyes of the Fleet, as was the material provided by Lt. Cmdr. Sam Sorenson and PHC Bill Hocutt and material from Module One of the PH Training manual.

 Eyes of the Fleet: A History of Naval Photography, Wind Canyon Books, released in October 2000. Size: 8 ½ X 11, hard cover. Approximately 206 pages, 400 plus photos.

 Art Giberson PHC (Ret)