Stryker Brigade News

According to Vanty, he was unsatisfied with the quality of his photos compared to those of the imbedded photojournalist. Vanty then upgraded his equipment and began snapping away.

Realizing that buying a digital single lens reflected camera didn’t make him a professional photographer, Vanty started to research the art of photography.

Vanty shoots with a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera body, which is a low end amateur camera. He has two lenses, a Nikon 18-55mm zoom lens and a Tamron 55-300mm zoom lens. Both of his lenses have Ultra Violet filters on them. UV filters filter ultra violet rays and helps to protect the lens. Vanty has recently purchased a Nikon speed light flash.

“I take pictures as often as I safely can while on patrol, at least two or three times a week,” said Vanty. “I take pictures because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me. We are in the cradle of civilization making history and I want to remember a lot of these places and people.”

Vanty uses Adobe Photoshop elements to edit the pictures he takes. Photoshop allows a photographer to color correct, crop, and sort photographs. He uses his Apple iBook and iPhoto to store the photographs.

“Anyone who has an interest is free to see my pictures,” wrote Vanty. “I use a lot of them for military things and I send a lot of them home to help my family understand what it’s like around here. Not so much the military side of it but the people of Iraq and how they live.”