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Montagnard Chief--Vietnam 1967
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Sep 25, 2020 23:32:20   #
Rightstuff
 
I photographed this Montagnard Village Chief in a jungle mountain village near the Tripod-border area of South Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia in 1967. His facial expresion can be summed up in the word "Puissant". I was serving in the Special Forces at the time. My camera was a Kodak Retina II. It had no light meter, No zoom; I had to guess at f-stop and speed exposures. It was a bellows type camera. Folded up it fit perfectly for me to carry in one of my four ammunitions pouches. I have added photos of camera which I still have and it even has some Jungle mold attached.

Any Comments regarding Photograph of distinguished Montagnard Chief?







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Sep 26, 2020 00:20:48   #
sakitson Loc: Goleta, CA
 
Impressive that you could capture the moment. Good portrait.

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Sep 26, 2020 00:21:01   #
lwiley Loc: Los Banos, CA, USA
 
From what I've heard you didn't mess with and piss-off the Montagnards! Him being the Chief he must have been a pretty bad-ass dude.

Regarding the camera, I am reminded of something the Wright Brothers were claimed to have said, "It is not necessary to always have the latest equipment with all the bells and whistles, it is important to know how to use what equipment well!

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Sep 26, 2020 01:31:53   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
Rightstuff wrote:
I photographed this Montagnard Village Chief in a jungle mountain village near the Tripod-border area of South Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia in 1967. His facial expresion can be summed up in the word "Puissant". I was serving in the Special Forces at the time. My camera was a Kodak Retina II. It had no light meter, No zoom; I had to guess at f-stop and speed exposures. It was a bellows type camera. Folded up it fit perfectly for me to carry in one of my four ammunitions pouches. I have added photos of camera which I still have and it even has some Jungle mold attached.

Any Comments regarding Photograph of distinguished Montagnard Chief?
I photographed this Montagnard Village Chief in a ... (show quote)


Thanks for your service.

Good portrait with what you had.
Ammo pouch, I had a Sgt from the 9th Infantry in my section (a HQ) who lost his camera, complete with a picture of the VC who shot him. The view through his viewfinder was a VC with a BAR who had just popped out of a spider hole a split second before he clicked a shot. He managed to stuff the camera in the ammo pouch he carried it in and then while he was out of it from morphine they stripped his web gear off in the Dust Off. He never saw it again, spent over a year in a hospital and came to our HQ to finish his tour in country still complaining. He wanted that last picture of the guy who shot him.

We were a General Support group and had all kinds of people attached to us as their base unit. Including two battalions of Montagnards and their SF Advisors. During Tet they retook the Qui Nhon railyard and station with an actual bayonet charge. When news of that came in a lot of people were very impressed. They also recaptured some government buildings by getting another of our units to use an M-42 Duster to blow holes in the walls until they collapsed then getting an engineer unit to drive dozers back and forth on the rubble to pack it down. The Province big wigs were upset over losing the buildings, including a few of their houses, but smart enough to keep their mouths shut.

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Sep 26, 2020 08:39:44   #
Silverrails
 
lwiley wrote:
From what I've heard you didn't mess with and piss-off the Montagnards! Him being the Chief he must have been a pretty bad-ass dude.

Regarding the camera, I am reminded of something the Wright Brothers were claimed to have said, "It is not necessary to always have the latest equipment with all the bells and whistles, it is important to know how to use what equipment well!


I will AGREE with those 2 Wright Brothers, can you imagine what would have happened at Kitty-Hawk, N.C. if these 2 inventors DIDN'T know how to operate there Flying Machine? YIKES!!

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Sep 26, 2020 08:55:10   #
Bill 45
 
Clear up the camera and put some film in it and use it.

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Sep 26, 2020 09:20:18   #
HistoryLover Loc: Landenberg,Pa.
 
Thanks for your service, and welcome home!

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Sep 26, 2020 09:54:05   #
Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida
 
Rightstuff wrote:
I photographed this Montagnard Village Chief in a jungle mountain village near the Tripod-border area of South Vietnam, Laos, & Cambodia in 1967. His facial expresion can be summed up in the word "Puissant". I was serving in the Special Forces at the time. My camera was a Kodak Retina II. It had no light meter, No zoom; I had to guess at f-stop and speed exposures. It was a bellows type camera. Folded up it fit perfectly for me to carry in one of my four ammunitions pouches. I have added photos of camera which I still have and it even has some Jungle mold attached.

Any Comments regarding Photograph of distinguished Montagnard Chief?
I photographed this Montagnard Village Chief in a ... (show quote)


Love it and I too still carry a similar camera around but it's a Voightlander 35mm....made so well.

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Sep 26, 2020 11:17:23   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 

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Sep 26, 2020 11:18:15   #
Wingpilot Loc: Wasilla. Ak
 
Thanks for sharing that great portrait. He reflects the effects of the times back then, caring for his people and worrying about what the enemy was going to do. Yes, the Montagnards were a tough people and hated the VC, and the VC and NVA didn’t like them, either. It was a tough time for the Montagnards back then.

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Sep 26, 2020 11:38:30   #
raymondh Loc: Walker, MI
 
Expertly calculated & captured!

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Sep 26, 2020 14:03:20   #
Hereford Loc: Palm Coast, FL
 
Great portrait of a chief Montagnard. Spent time with a M... relocation village in 1970/71 as my squadron was responsible for helping these people survive in the re-location area. I drank their home made wine from the big crocks and ate roast dog with the village chief on many an occasion during my year there. it was a very different experience.

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Sep 26, 2020 14:05:21   #
Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas
 
Very good portrait shot.

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Sep 26, 2020 18:32:30   #
yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey
 
Very nice portrait! There's a lot character in that face.

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Sep 26, 2020 19:22:24   #
KankRat Loc: SW Chicago Suburbs
 
Rightstuff wrote:

Any Comments regarding Photograph of distinguished Montagnard Chief?


My comment is that I've been looking at it for a solid 5 minutes...or it's been looking at me. That's a rare thing. It's a picture that sucks you in. Really would not matter what format you shot it in. A great image supercedes everything else.
Bravo.

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