Industrial, Amateur Photographer
My grandfather began his career at Climax Molybdenum Mine at the Harvard Observatory in 1948. In the mid-1950s he moved to the engineering department.
Trained by the Army in aerial surveillance
The Army Aircorp taught my grandfather how to take a good photography as part of an aerial reconnaissance team. Most of his work during the war involved using large, fixed cameras. The bomber pilot flew back and forth over a designated area while my grandfather and his team took hundreds of photos as part of a grid. These photos were later developed, hung walls in a grid pattern. and used by the Army for intelligence and mission work.
He fell in love with photography and it loved him back. He learned to tell stories in the Philippines.
Used his skills in PR department at Climax
During the mid-1950s my grandfather took his skills and photographed hard rock miners and mining for the PR department at Climax. I don’t know how many photos he took. What is left in his archive is a powerful story of hard rock mining and the men who pulled moly from the earth.
My grandfather’s industrial photography does a great job of telling this story, and the story of older methods of mining.
W R Allen Photography 