Amazing Beautiful Historic Apollo Launch Photos From the Earth to the Moon and back again by Ed Bernd Jr

Author:Ed Bernd Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nasa, moon landing, kennedy space center, apollo 11, neil armstrong, rocket launch, 1960s america, apollo program, amazing photos, astrouants

This time I used Ektacolor L film and the colors came out perfectly. That goes to show that I can learn from my mistakes.

Apollo 11

There are plenty of photos of the Apollo 11 launch, and many of them are higher image quality than mine. If I had been using a Nikon instead of a Pentax, then Nikon would have loaned me a big lens for the shoot. They were happy to loan equipment to press photographers, because then they could brag about all the moon launch photos that were made with Nikon gear.

But I was on my own, and I wanted to do something different.

Arch Smith had a theory that a good amateur photographer could always take better pictures than a professional.

I was a good example of that on this assignment – mainly because it wasn’t an “assignment.” I did not have to come back with a photo, so I was free to experiment and take chances. If I came back empty handed, nobody would know but me.

My first challenge was coming up with an idea that I hadn’t seen before. An obvious idea would be to include both the Apollo 11 rocket and the moon in the same picture. And to do it in-camera, not in the dark room.

Even today when I do an Internet search for “photo of apollo 11 rocket and the moon” and “photo of apollo 11 launch and the moon” I don’t find any pictures like that. So maybe my double-exposure photos are the only ones in existence.

However, Life magazine had a similar idea: They took a picture of the three astronauts ahead of time, and then double exposed that with the rocket launch. I think they might have done that for both Apollo 11 and Apollo 14, because I met a very nice Life magazine photographer during the Apollo 14 launch who was taking pictures with about a dozen cameras at once, including the multiple exposures in both black and white and color.

The first two problems I needed to solve were where to find lenses suitable for my purpose.

Sterling Hawk at Sterling’s Photography had the solution for a lens that was long enough to photograph the liftoff from 2 miles away. That’s how far it was from the launch pad to the very front edge of the press site.

Sterling had a 500mm mirror lens. By using mirrors, like with a telescope, the lens would be far less than 500mm long. It would be easier to handle than a longer lens. But it did lose some sharpness. Regardless, it was the only option I had, and it would definitely do the job. The image of the rocket is 3/4 of an inch tall (18mm) on the 1-inch-tall 35mm film.

But Sterling didn’t have a lens long enough to give me an image of the moon that was at least 3/4 inch tall.

While talking about it, someone told me they knew someone who had a brother who had a big telescope in his back yard, so I

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