A soaring bald eagle is a pretty impressive image as it is, but replace that eagle with a giant one made of bronze, and you've got one hell of a picture. At least, that's what Stephen R. Brown, former AU professor and author of "The Jewel of the Mall," thought.
Brown was the only photographer to document the construction process of the World War II Memorial. But his photographs and his self-produced book displaying them were almost not meant to be.
When President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993 the bill that made the World War II Memorial possible, he and other supporters had no idea that the project would be delayed many years. Thanks to the diligence of Sen. Bob Dole, the project continued. When construction finally got underway in 2001, Brown called friend and bronze sculptor Ray Kaskey to congratulate him on being commissioned to design the sculptures on the memorial. Knowing of Kaskey's aversion to the media, Brown asked how he was handling the press, to which Kaskey answered, "No problem, there's been no press whatsoever." It was then Brown said he realized nobody was documenting the historical construction process of the memorial, so he embarked on his quest to photographically capture the "jewel of the mall."
First, there was the problem of getting authorization to photograph the construction site. Fortunately, Brown was also friendly with Sen. Dole.
"He was hip to it," Brown said of Dole, who authorized his unique participation on the project. He photographed the sculpting and casting process for all of the brass, including wreathes, ropes and eagles.
Brown tried to get funding from magazines and institutions for his work, but received none, so the ambitious project, as well as the book, was self-funded.
"The money," Brown said, "was kind of intense."
He spent more than $100,000 printing his new book. However, the project has thus far been a success. In addition to sales at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, the book is also carried in the Smithsonian bookstores and several other National Mall locations. Brown's next struggle is getting the National Park Service to sell the book at the memorial itself.
The book itself has many unique pictures of the memorial, as well as detailed photos from throughout the process, from the sculpting of the reliefs along the sides, the casting of the bronze, the test layout, the "flying" of the eagle, and of the memorial before it opened. Brown took many of his photographs using cranes to get unique and otherwise unavailable high-angle shots.
The most impressive picture in the set is one of the bronze eagle statues being craned into place. This, Brown explained, was the "one shot" that made the project. For him, it was interesting to learn about a bronze sculpting process that is 3,000 years old. At one point during the project, he said he spent 16 hours a day at the site for three weeks taking pictures.
Brown used digital Nikon cameras and laid out the book himself using Adobe Indesign. In addition to being a photographer, Brown formerly taught digital imaging and Web design courses at AU's School of Communication.
