Compared to the firefights in Afghanistan and the flood battles going on across the United States, military exercises don't seem as exciting. However, this month's Journalist of the Month, Tech. Sgt. Christine Jones, shows that the... read more
Compared to the firefights in Afghanistan and the flood battles going on across the United States, military exercises don't seem as exciting. However, this month's Journalist of the Month, Tech. Sgt. Christine Jones, shows that the power of a photographer's camera can help illustrate the importance of even a training event.<br />
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Jones' coverage of Global Medic 2011 with the 4th Combat Camera Squadron made her stand out above the military journalists deployed to breaking-news-areas of the world.<br />
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"Tech. Sgt. Christine Jones has really embraced the new journalistic aspect of our career field and has excelled at every opportunity to hone her skills and provide insightful writing with her already impressive still images," said Master Sgt. Randy Hopp, first sergeant for 4th Combat Camera Squadron. "She has taken her talents and vowed to share them with others as she is constantly offering training opportunities for other budding journalists in our Air Force Reserve Squadron," he added.<br />
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Although Jones' primary mission was to document the Global Medic 2011 and Warrior 91 11-01 exercises, she also demonstrated her photographic skill by capturing different types of photos.<br />
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Two of her photos turned the camera on her 4th Combat Camera Squadron colleagues and captured relatively rare portraits of the faces behind the cameras, including her photos of Tech. Sgts. Chris Hibben and Efren Lopez. The latter photo was featured on the DVIDS Facebook page.<br />
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Some of Jones' other portraits from the exercise captured the energy of the training event. The portraits add to the photos showing broader action like photos of Soldiers rushing toward a Black Hawk, which for a moment makes you forget that they are part of an aeromedical evacuation simulation. If it were not for the green and grassy terrain, the photos of troops pulling security appear more like a real-life evacuation in Afghanistan than a training event in California.<br />
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Jones uses colors from the landscape and training itself, like green and yellow smoke, to draw your attention and create more interesting photos. She also shot aerial photos of the exercise, which provided a "big picture" perspective of where the events took place.<br />
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The Warrior Exercise that Jones photographed not only gave units an opportunity to rehearse military maneuvers and tactics, but it also provided Jones and her Combat Camera colleagues an opportunity to document the military training troops undergo to prepare for the real-life scenarios they may encounter in Afghanistan or elsewhere. All Jones' photos combine to make the exercises, or at least her coverage of the exercises, nearly as powerful as photos of live action in Afghanistan. show less
