Pfc. Claire Vanzant downloads video from the battlefield in the offices of the Marine Corps Imagery Resource Center at Quantico. The center receives and archives photos and video from combat photographers on the battlefield. Photo by SKY GILBAR/THE FREE LANCE-STAR View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

ARCHIVING COMBAT IMAGES

Marine archive handles thousands of images

Date published: 11/23/2006

By JENN ROWELL

Combat photographers for the Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan are busy capturing images of the war effort. But where do those images go once they snap the photos?

The Quantico Marine Corps Base.

The Marine Corps Imagery Resource Center there receives, catalogs and archives all images from field combat. It now has about 100,000 photographs and 1,200 videos.

Once archived, the photos and videos can be used for projects such as advertisements, promotions and motivational presentations. The center also maintains a Web site, from which the public can view and download images.

Pfc. Claire Vanzant, 21, handles all of the video files that come in. Most of the new arrivals are from Marine operations in Iraq.

She was studying journalism before joining the Corps. She said she wanted the job because she loves photography and "figured it would be really awesome on a resume."

Vanzant reviews all of the video to make sure what's happening on screen matches up with what's listed on the caption sheet.

"You get to see some pretty interesting videos," she said.

Across the room, Pfc. Daniel Castillo, 25, works on graphics and special projects. Before joining the Marines last year, Castillo worked as a graphic artist for six years.

"I get to put both my hobbies together, being a Marine and art. So it works out pretty well," he said.

"I like to try to use what artwork that I do to try and inspire and motivate the Marines that are out there."

Recently, the big project was providing images for the temporary terrorism exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico.

The staff printed 400 to 500 images and taped them up all over the office walls for the museum's director and art director to make final selections. About 100 images from 9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq are now displayed at the gallery.

Getting the images from the field involves more than a memory card and a mouse click.

Combat photographers in the field send the images to Joint Combat Camera Center at the Pentagon and the Imagery Resource Center simultaneously using a file transfer protocol, or FTP.

The images sent to the Pentagon are released to the media and other civilian outlets. The images sent to the resource center are archived.

The Corps has been using digital photography since 1999, which makes it faster and easier to share photos. A new server coming on line soon will further speed and simplify the process. Sgt. Adam Groenhout, 22, will be in charge of tweaking and updating the new server.

He's worked on both ends of the process. Before joining the Combat Camera Center, Groenhout spent six months in Iraq as a combat photographer.

The time in the field was a dream come true.

"The ability to capture an image and display that image," he said. "The ability to spread that information so powerfully through photography and video."

To reach JENN ROWELL: 540/374-5000, ext. 5617
Email: jrowell@freelancestar.com

Images of war The Marine Corps Imagery Resource Center at Quantico has about 100,000 photographs and 1,200 videos from field combat. For more information and to view some images, visit: tecom.usmc.mil/ccm on the Internet.

Read more stories about Fredericksburg
Date published: 11/23/2006