IN MEMORY OF RICHARD AVEDON

San Antonio, Tx. -- I barely knew Dick, yet in the short time that I had the privilege to work with him, I was deeply impressed and greatly touched. I will always look upon my opportunity to meet him with the greatest fondness, and the honor of the being photographed by him will neither dwindle nor be forgotten throughout my days.
In college, I studied much of Avedon's work. Every photography class I took, we looked at his photographs and held class discussions. He was a giant in the world of photography and fine art. When I met him, I expected ego or pretense. I found neither. While interviewing him, he would also ask me questions about myself. The interviews became more conversational than anything else, as we flowed through the topics. He was very congenial and thoughtful and extremely interesting.
His love, passion and zeal for photography inspired a mountain of the same within me. His intensity marked his illustrious career and his instinct and intelligence steered him true, as his legacy shall attest.
Not many others strode forth with as much gusto and will and passion to fulfill such a desire as Avedon had in his employment of photography. One can easily feel it in his soulful and poignant portraits - captured and frozen in time. His contribution to the world of art can never be fully measured.

by Spc. Rodney L. Foliente, 4th Inf. Div. PAO, who is a recent Army journalism course graduate from the Defense Information School, Fort Meade, MD, and has been in the active Army since January. Foliente has worked as a journalist with the 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs Office since August. The Southern California native received his bachelor's degree in fine arts and photography from Columbia College, Chicago in 2002. The 30-year-old specialist has been married seven years and has one daughter with one child on the way.

Spc. Foliente and I worked with Richard Avedon and Laura Wilson for two days (Sept. 22 and 23) just before he traveled to San Antonio. He took photos of seven of our 4th Infantry Division Soldiers and a group shot and a solo shot appeared in the New Yorker.
I did the coordination for about two weeks leading up to the actual photo shoot and the overall experience was outstanding.
Mr. Avedon was great to work with.
What struck me from the outset was this: he had a mental image of what he wanted to get out of the shoot and that drove him to find the soldiers that fit that image and then drove his dealings with the soldiers during the actual shoot.
We looked through numerous vehicle motor pools, where the Army keeps their trucks and tracked vehicles, looking in the back of Bradley fighting vehicles, looking at the faces of soldiers the vast majority of which recently returned from Iraq for the right face. He found what he was looking for.
On the personal side he was more than willing to talk to Spc. Foliente and I and took our portraits after we were done with the mandatory shots he needed. He did that as a way to thank us

but I will always be grateful for that portrait, and the story that goes along with that photo.
by Major Matt L. Garner who was born in Montana and raised in Utah. He received a degree in English and Communications from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, in 1990. Garner served as a UH-1 Huey and AH-1 Cobra helicopter pilot prior to becoming a Public Affairs Officer in 2002. During that time he served in Alabama, South Korea, Alaska, New York, Haiti, Washington D.C. and Utah. Garner returned in April 2004 from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan where he commanded a Public Affairs Detachment with the mission of publishing the ³Freedom Watch² newspaper for all coalition forces in Afghanistan. He is currently stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, with the 4th Infantry Division.