| William (Bill) Hartenstein became interested
in photography during High School and purchased his first camera at age
15. At that time he enjoyed photographing Lockheed aircraft at the Burbank
Airport and photographing fires. He also enjoyed Nascar and Indy Car photography
shot at Ontario and Riverside racetracks. Expanding on aviation photography
he had an opportunity in 1983 to go to Florida and shoot the first launching
of the Space Shuttle Challenger STS-6 for Bill Gibson Productions. After
the launch he returned home to California and went to Edwards Air Force
Base for the landing of that Shuttle. At this landing he met Michael Ryan
Ripley of Ripley & Associates who was covering the landing as well.
After some discussion, Mike asked Bill if he would be interested in doing
some work for him which included “Aviation Week and Space Technology” (AW
& ST) a magazine of which Bill was already a subscriber. With aviation
becoming more and more prevalent Bill jumped at the chance and was out
at the Mojave Desert at least once a month shooting for Ripley & Associates.
He got his first cover shot in a September 1986
issue of AW& ST, shooting the Lockheed Fanstar (a conversion of the
original Jetstar). Shuttle landings, test flights of new aircraft for the
military and NASA, as well as some launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base
Bill was there. As time passed Mike took on less and less work for the
magazine and formed Aviation Photographers Limited (APL). As Mike gradually
cut back from the magazine Bill picked up more assignments and began covering
a wide array of projects. Working from his own machine shop Bill was able
to leave as needed to cover shoots like first flights, the unveiling of
the F-117 Stealth Fighter and B-2 bomber getting the only overhead shot
(see B-2 story). The B-2 photos were published
in papers and magazines all over the world and shown by CNN and even shown
on the Johnny Carson show. After this Bill became the leading photographer
for AW & ST for Southern California and surrounding areas including
the Nevada desert. Many assignments resulted in additional covers and numerous
shots for articles in the magazine.
Bill also became more involved in fire photography after shooting the First Interstate fire in downtown Los Angeles. A childhood friend of his (Kevin Parkes a Burbank Firefighter) suggested that Bill show the photos to Burbank Fire Dept. Captain Alan Simmons who was a photojournalist for Fire Magazines. Alan suggested that the photos be submitted to Fire Engineering Magazine. One of the photos was used for the cover of an upcoming issue. Bill learned greatly about “chasing fires” from Alan and became more and more interested in this exciting and dangerous hobby. He also became a volunteer photographer for the Los Angeles County Fire Department in 1991. At the same time Bill was making a few bucks. Bill made a few trips to New York with Alan, where the safety codes aren’t nearly as strict, Bill also rode along with world famous NY Rescue 3 in the Bronx. It was during one of these trips that they came up with the idea of putting together a fire notification radio system similar to that used in the East Coast and in 1990 the California Fire Photographers Association (CFPA) was born. Most everything Bill learned about fire photography, his published fire photographs and at times even his life is owed with gratitude to Alan Simmons. |