News & Politics

Behind the Scenes With an Air and Space Museum Photographer

How’d he get these shots?

Written by Omega Ilijevich | Photographed by Eric Long | Published on March 5, 2024

Back in 1980, a photographer named Eric Long was taking pictures of the National Mall at sunset, and a jogging stranger stopped to ask what he was up to. It turned out the man was a darkroom technician at the Smithsonian’s newly formed Office of Printing and Photographic Services, which was looking to hire. Eventually, Long got the gig, and for decades thereafter, he shot all sorts of images for the various museums, especially Air and Space. Long recently announced his retirement, so we asked him to give us a behind-the-scenes look at some notable shots from his career.

THE SETUP

THE SHOT

North American X-15, NASM; Models, Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, Collections - Washingtonian — “At this shoot, I learned that the way to show something that’s black and shiny, like this X-15, is to reflect light into it. Photography is really all about creating, shaping, and capturing light.”

THE SETUP

THE SHOT

Cockpit - Washingtonian — “They were updating the [space shuttle’s] cockpit, so the seats were removed. You can see this nice contrast between the blue screen and the warmer analog switches. If we were there even a day later, we never would have had this view.”

THE SETUP

THE SHOT

Apollo 11 space suit, Neil Armstrong, view from waist to helmet; Vertical - Washingtonian — “I wanted to shoot the Neil Armstrong suit because I had not yet seen a really nice picture of the whole thing put together. I had an idea for a new way to shoot it: rounding a piece of polyethylene foam into the shape of the visor so you could have this fingernail effect on the spherical surface.”

More: Capital Comment National Air and Space Museum Photos

Omega Ilijevich

Editorial Fellow

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