The breadth of APS member Chuck Rogers’ photography is truly incredible. Our June program presenter’s fabulous career was the subject of Chuck’s memorable talk to the club on Thursday June 26. That professional photography career spans over six decades (60+ years) and Chuck is still actively shooting!
The first half of Chuck’s talk began about 1950 with an extensive array of his images of the United States’ space program. He described his process and setups for “getting the shot” including numerous missile launch failures along with the, eventual, spectacular successes of the Apollo moon landing program and the space shuttle. Almost everyone attending purchased Chuck’s short book summarizing this phase of his career – Cape Canaveral Photography. It is a wonderful record of those early space program days, and a superb testament to those brave men and women we call astronauts who have the skill, knowledge and courage to climb on top of a rocket and blast off.
But Chuck was just getting started! The second half of Chuck’s career, starting during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s focused on his astonishing range of commercial and advertising photography. I can’t begin to describe the vast array of stunning images he shared. But I know everyone will remember his most famous click of the shutter - exhausted runners being sprayed with water at the end of the Peachtree Road Race (on the screen in the above slide show.) This image has been used in Nike advertising for decades (and continues to this day) and has undoubtedly been seen by hundreds of millions of people (if not billions)!
APS is truly fortunate to have Chuck Rogers as a long time member. Thank you Chuck for sharing your exceptional images, expertise and stories! You are a lasting inspiration to every photographer who sees your work.
Jim Harrison
