Recon: Combat Camera.

Recon: Combat Camera (2010) is a United States Department of Defense documentary examining the work of military Combat Camera personnel and the combination of photographic, video and military skills required to operate alongside deployed forces. Produced as part of the Department of Defense Recon series, the 27 minute programme follows photographers and videographers whose role is to create an official visual record of military operations, training and personnel. Unlike civilian press photographers who normally operate independently of the armed forces, Combat Camera personnel are serving members of the military. They are trained in still photography and motion imagery while also being expected to function within operational units, carry military equipment and work in environments ranging from routine exercises to active combat. The programme concentrates on this dual responsibility, showing how photographic personnel must make technical and visual decisions while remaining aware of the tactical situation developing around them. Their material can serve several purposes, including operational documentation, intelligence and historical records, public information, training material and the permanent visual archive of the United States armed forces.

Released on 1 March 2010, Recon: Combat Camera belongs to a period when American military photographers and videographers had been working extensively during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and when digital photography and video had substantially changed the speed with which military imagery could be produced, transmitted and distributed. The programme places contemporary Combat Camera within a much longer tradition of official American military photography extending through the two World Wars, Korea and Vietnam to the conflicts of the early twenty first century. By 2010, personnel could be required to work with professional digital still cameras, video systems, audio and transmission equipment while accompanying ground troops, aircraft crews and other military units. The resulting photographs and footage were increasingly distributed through Department of Defense digital systems such as the Defence Visual Information Distribution Service, now DVIDS. Recon: Combat Camera therefore provides a record not only of military photographers working in operational conditions, but of a transitional period in professional military photography when digital capture, rapid electronic transmission and online distribution had become integral parts of the Combat Camera workflow.

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Recon: Combat Camera (2010).
Produced by the United States Department of Defense.
Source: Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS).
Licence: Public Domain.

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