A Retirement Farewell for Bob Laubach

This past March, Bob Laubach, Photography Lab Manager at Northern Virginia Community College for the last 15 years, retired after a lifelong career in photography. My time in the photo lab in NVCC over a decade ago now lasted only a year, but like many students taking photography classes in Alexandria I came to know Bob very quickly, and have kept in touch ever since. And while I didn’t end up taking the Large Format Photography course he taught while I was in college, I did attend a Large Format Film workshop with him in Great Falls.

Bob is an infinite source of photographic knowledge; it doesn’t matter if you’ve known him 10 minutes or 10 years, if you spend just 5 minutes with Bob, you’ll still wind up learning something you never knew before. A proud graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology, Bob would frequently tell insider tales of Kodak and their operations, also headquartered in Rochester.

On his final day managing the photo lab in Alexandria, Bob’s family, friends, and former students from multiple generations gathered to celebrate his retirement. Fellow longtime photography professors of Northern Virginia Community College’s presented Bob with a placard honoring Bob’s lasting impact on the Photography Department, establishing the darkroom and naming it after him as the Bob Laubach Film Processing Lab.

I captured pictures during my time at Bob’s retirement party, and am including a few highlights below. I also have the full set I captured online and available for viewing and download in this gallery.

A few photos I captured with Bob in 2011, several years after I had moved on from the NVCC photo lab:

It was wonderful to once again also see Page and Aya, professors who I’ll never forget their impact on my career in photography. Like Bob, I’ve remained in touch with Page and Aya since my time learning at NOVA’s Photography Department, and they are two professors I’ll never forget. I took numerous courses with both Page and Aya, who collectively taught me how to process and print film, but there are two that stand out especially to me:

• Aya’s Digital Photo Editing course helped me become more comfortable with Photoshop, an endlessly powerful tool I knew nothing about at the time but now rely on every day, and to better understand colorspace and print workflows; a vital skill that, again I use every day, but remains seamless and invisible to the people and businesses I work with.

• Page’s Photojournalism & Ethics course undeniably shaped how I interpret and create multimedia; the responsible capture, editing, and dissemination of photojournalism this course underscored continues to influence how I capture and edit every live event I shoot, from intimate weddings to multinational brand PR activations - there is not a single time I’ve worked on a project intended for publication that this course hasn’t crossed my mind.

Most people have teachers or professors who are formative in some way or another, and Page and Aya are unquestionably two who shaped my approach to photography.

A Dulles Farewell for Dennis Hazell

March 25th, 2022 marked the end of an era.  At least, at Washington Dulles International Airport.  If you’ve spent any significant time working at Dulles, you’ll surely recognize Dennis Hazell, IAD’s Customer Service Manager, and a friend of mine with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with for over a decade now.  I lovingly call Dennis “Captain Airport” among other names, and he always has called me not “David,” but “J. David” - a comfortable and familiar sound when Dennis talking on the phone with Dennis, but still throws me for a loop when it’s called out for my Starbucks order.

Dennis has been the friendly face of Dulles’ customer service program, including initiatives such as the Going the Extra Mile program, working a the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority since 2007, and has been at Dulles since 1997, as Station Manager for American Airlines for 10 years.  It’s hard to imagine Dulles without Dennis, who has been a perpetually extroverted presence and source of fun at the airport for 25 years.  The DC region’s airports have not lost Dennis however, as he moved in his Customer Service Managerial role to Ronald Reagan National Airport, “The Little Airport by the River” as of last week.

Over the years Dennis and I have worked together in both organizing and documenting some of Dulles’ most memorable events, including the first ever Discover Dulles: NASA SCA 747 and Space Shuttles Discovery and Enterprise, which will have its 10 year anniversary in two weeks.  Many of the events Dennis spearheaded or was otherwise involved in are among my fondest and most memorable, and the earliest ones such as the numerous events involving NASA and the Air and Space Museum were unquestionably formative and influential to my own career as a commercial event photographer.

On his final day at Dulles, a large group gathered to speak about Dennis’ time at the airport and the memories they had with him, and present commemorative gifts and awards to mark his time and impact on the Dulles Airport family.  It was an emotional event for everyone, but most of all Dennis, who was somewhat overcome by the memories and kind words shared with those in attendance, and had to pause a few moments while giving his farewell remarks.

Dennis will be truly missed, but at least we won’t have to go far to still walk through the Terminal with him and need to stop every 50 feet because someone else runs up to say hi; all you have to do is step over to DCA and I’m sure the same thing will be happening there on his first day.

If you’d like to see the full set of images, head over to the gallery here, which includes downloadable group photos from the receiving line after the ceremonies.

Dennis at Dulles

I’m including a handful of my favorite moments with Dennis; this includes my portrait of him on the airfield that is one of my first-ever published photographs, Dennis presenting Swiss Solar Impulse pilot Captain Bertrand Piccard with a box of Dunkin Donuts on live television, my earliest photo of Dennis I’ve since coined “Airport Jesus” (he hates this picture, but I still enjoy it to this day), me sitting at Dennis’ desk holding his fathead, juggling phones as usual, and Dennis and I standing on the airfield in front of the freshly landed SCA 747 and Space Shuttle Discovery, still in awe that everything that day had gone completely to plan.

The Retirement of Captain John Prater

This past Thursday, I was honored to help commemorate Captain John Prater's retirement, greeting him for his final flight arriving at Dulles from Paris.  Captain Prater began his aviation career in 1978, going on to be elected President of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) in 2006.

Captain Prater has flown cargo and commercial airlines, including DC-8s, DC-10s, A300s, 727s, 757s, 767s, and 777s, but would retire flying the 787 Dreamliner.  I was on the runway's hold short to welcome him on his final landing and ceremonial water arch (which the high winds caught, misted, and totally drenched me for!).

Thanks to all the fine folks in Dulles OPS who were so helpful in coordinating the logistics of this event with me and ALPA - as always, it would never be possible without all your help.

Eero Saarinen's Dulles Airport Main Terminal

01

This January I was commissioned by Washington Dulles International Airport's Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to photograph Eero Saarinen's historic Main Terminal building.  When MWAA employees retire, they are presented with a commemorative photograph of the Airport's Main Terminal, normally signed by other employees who worked closely with them, giving support and leaving their good wishes.  Even I received one when my 7 years with the Airports Authority came to a close.

This photo is, however, dark, out of date, and no longer known where the negative is for reproduction.  The Airport wanted an updated version; a portrait of the historic Airport at its 50 year anniversary.  One that is bright and shows how the Airport has flourished.  It's a pretty picture; I like it a lot!... but it's reached its time, and I was tasked with creating a suitable replacement.  Quite an honor!!!

The photograph was taken from an unusual angle not often seen; most photos of the Terminal are shot from the West, given the ease of access to Daily Garage 2.  The retirement photograph is shot from the East, which requires access to the Signature Flight Support hangar's upper rooftop - the decision to shoot from this same angle was easy, as it is so unique.  Weather was a constant factor, and it took 3 attempted shooting days to get the final image.  Below are some of the shots I took while on the rooftop, waiting for the perfect lighting, chronologically from my first attempts to the final image.

02

It was very strange seeing an aircraft depart for Germany that I know I've been aboard, and was present for its very first landing at Dulles.

03

Finally I had the shot I was looking for; dramatic sky, and a brightly lit Terminal.  The lighting on the Terminal wasn't quite warmed up yet, so the final image actually is a composite of two exposures to bring the dynamic range back to what was visible at shooting.  I had been focusing on wider shots since that was what the previous photo had been, but I quickly noticed that a zoomed view offered greater perspective and overal character to the image.  My gut was right, and the Airport unanimously chose my final shot of the Terminal; zoomed in to 140mm, with vibrant streaking across the sky.

The final photo is available for print purchase on my client site here.

04

The Airport LOVED it.  Absolutely LOVED it.  I was shocked how much; I actually got hugged when they saw it, and it quickly got around to other offices - the Finance Department will actually be using the image as the cover for Dulles' latest Annual Report, along with several other of my images inside.  The photo was an exercise in Photoshop as well, as there were two large utility trucks parked in front of the Terminal that proved challenging to remove; the end result is quite stunning!

Finally, as I turned to leave, my gear already packed in my bag, I saw the new full Moon, orange on the horizon as it had just risen as the sun set; I quickly set my gear back up and got a moon shot before retiring from the Signature Flight Support rooftop, a new portrait of Dulles saved to my camera's CF card.

05