Excerpt
LEAD: California airman Ed Drew’s job as a gunner on combat search-and-rescue helicopters is one of the most dangerous in the military.
When he got word he was heading to Afghanistan last spring, Drew, who’s also a photographer, was inspired to make something lasting while he was there — in case he didn’t return.
Little did he know that by reviving a long lost art he would end up making history.
Our story, narrated by Scott Shafer, was produced by our partners at KQED San Francisco.
ED DREW, soldier/photographer: When I grew up my life wasn’t incredibly easy, my mother worked all the time, my real father was out of the picture.
I really had to learn on my own how to hold myself up. Photography is one of those things that I used as a vehicle for self-expression ‘cause I felt in my heart that I was an artist.
SCOTT SHAFER, KQED: Working out of a makeshift darkroom, using highly reactive chemicals, metal plates and a large format camera… artist Ed Drew is putting his own spin on a 19th century art form.
ED DREW: I like tintypes because it’s not just something simple … you have to set it up and you have to be really physical with it, you can’t just click.
You’re basically making a photo on a piece of metal. You’re exposing it, developing it and fixing it all right then and there.
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