[PALADIN85020]

Just saw this. Nice job. congratulations on the publication. High praise from Mr. Ball too. Shooting a firearm or a camera both require a lot of the same skill sets. I find shooting both very relaxing. To do it well, you have to compose yourself, clear your mind of clutter, control you breathing and heart rate first. Almost like meditating to me. Very relaxing. I would bet that a person who is a good photographer would also be pretty handy with a rifle.

For what it's worth, I used to collect older firearms but have sold most of them now as I near retirement but the M41 Johnson on your rear cover would be my holy grail if I could find one for less than the cost of 5 K3's. My father in law was involved in testing them when he was in the Marines prior to WWII. He thought it was a superior weapon compared to the Garand. From a mechanical point of view they are very interesting.

Thanks for the kind words. Actually the rarest thing in that back cover photo isn't the M1941 Johnson. It's the Bowie bayonet affixed to the Krag rifle. They are incredibly rare. A small number were made at Springfield Armory in 1900 and sent to the Philippines and Cuba for evaluation. Nothing ever came of that, and most were lost forever. The scabbards are even scarcer, and this one still has its original scabbard. The only other one I've seen in person was at Springfield Armory many years ago, and it was under lock and key. I wanted to feature it on one of the covers to see if any discerning readers would pick it out and comment on it. Only a few have - because few really know what they are looking at there. There is a comment in the book in the section on the Krag-Jorgensen rifles that mentions these very rare bayonets.



John

[lesmore49]

Glad to see a book using photos, exclusively taken with Pentax camera equipment. Also congrats to OP for the effort put forth into researching, photographing and writing a book. A great achievement that many of us would aspire to do, but don't make it in the end...I'm a prime example.

[PeterAM]

Congratulations on the book. Having spent my working career in publishing I am very familiar with the time, effort and angst that it takes to create a book. I am especially fond of books that expose the reader to information on subjects that they may know nothing about, even if they never take it any farther. Being published, not "self published" these days is a real accomplishment and, at a minimum, suggests that the book has been vetted by people that know something about the subject matter.

Your shooting techniques (photographically) are very interesting; Would you have used a helicoptor if you were shooting for multi-page foldouts?

[PALADIN85020]

Congratulations on the book. Having spent my working career in publishing I am very familiar with the time, effort and angst that it takes to create a book. I am especially fond of books that expose the reader to information on subjects that they may know nothing about, even if they never take it any farther. Being published, not "self published" these days is a real accomplishment and, at a minimum, suggests that the book has been vetted by people that know something about the subject matter.

Your shooting techniques (photographically) are very interesting; Would you have used a helicoptor if you were shooting for multi-page foldouts?

To answer your question, SURE! My roof might not be tall enough!

John