TonyNY77
MACV-DAO-Tan Son Nhut Panorama6
I must begin by stating I did not take this photo and it's not my property. In fact, I found copies of the original at the Web-based military intelligence Wiki at military-intelligence.wikispaces.com. The original version is/was also available at www.tsna.org/photo/index.html.
After further research, I believe the photo credit may belong to a Mr. Mitch Alvins, who previously was assigned to the Reproduction Section, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion (ARS), Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, from July 1967 to February 1968.
The original version of the photo appears to be a two-part scan of a large B&W panoramic photo. Anyone familiar with the area recognizes this view as a westward-looking perspective of the headquarters for the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), which was co-located with Tan Son Nhut Air Base — which now is known as Tan Son Nhat (notice the spelling change) International Airport (IATA airport code "SGN").
One potentially important note about this photo: For technical reasons I don't understand, Flickr is limiting the highest resolution available for download to just 1,024 x 476. However, the version I uploaded is actually 1,685 x 784 (1.1 MBytes). If anyone needs or prefers the higher resolution version, I hope you'll drop me a line and I'd be happy to provide it to you.
Changes/Enhancements — The original version of the photo was somewhat unevenly developed, i.e., the shading/exposure of the scanned print was not uniform. Additionally, because it was a panoramic shot, which I presume to have been printed on an unusually large sheet of photographic paper, this apparently necessitated scanning the photo in two sections. Lastly, the print from which this scan was made seemed to have a crease/fold running vertically.
Being a photo hobbyist, and also because I have some interest in the photographed area, I used my modest knowledge of digital photo processing software and made the following enhancements:
(1) I did my best to eradicate any evidence of the vertical crease that had marred the photo.
(2) Other artifacts, apparently introduced by marks on the negative, were artificially eliminated by re-touching.
(3) The unevenness of the exposure was somewhat adjusted.
(4) The two scan sections were combined to appear as the print probably looks, as one contiguous panoramic perspective of the subject area.
(5) Several white-colored annotations were removed, including text indicating the name/location of "MACV, Tan Son Nhut." Two irregular rectangles that apparently had been used to indicate the location of a specific unit or functional area of Tan Son Nhut Air Base were also removed in the enhancement process.
Although I've contacted the Webmaster for the site featuring this Mitch Alvins photo, I'm not sure whether they've endeavored to add this combined version of their two-part photo to their Web site.
Lastly, since there doesn't seem to be many high-quality aerial photos of this area from that period of time, I want to thank the photographer and the photo's owner, whomever they may be, for taking and preserving this rare, high-quality image of this historic landmark which has the interest of many people, particularly military and civilian service veterans of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, personnel assigned to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, and of course, members of the United States Defense Attaché Office, the last tenants of the former MACV Headquarters building.
MACV-DAO-Tan Son Nhut Panorama6
I must begin by stating I did not take this photo and it's not my property. In fact, I found copies of the original at the Web-based military intelligence Wiki at military-intelligence.wikispaces.com. The original version is/was also available at www.tsna.org/photo/index.html.
After further research, I believe the photo credit may belong to a Mr. Mitch Alvins, who previously was assigned to the Reproduction Section, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Military Intelligence Battalion (ARS), Saigon, Republic of Vietnam, from July 1967 to February 1968.
The original version of the photo appears to be a two-part scan of a large B&W panoramic photo. Anyone familiar with the area recognizes this view as a westward-looking perspective of the headquarters for the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), which was co-located with Tan Son Nhut Air Base — which now is known as Tan Son Nhat (notice the spelling change) International Airport (IATA airport code "SGN").
One potentially important note about this photo: For technical reasons I don't understand, Flickr is limiting the highest resolution available for download to just 1,024 x 476. However, the version I uploaded is actually 1,685 x 784 (1.1 MBytes). If anyone needs or prefers the higher resolution version, I hope you'll drop me a line and I'd be happy to provide it to you.
Changes/Enhancements — The original version of the photo was somewhat unevenly developed, i.e., the shading/exposure of the scanned print was not uniform. Additionally, because it was a panoramic shot, which I presume to have been printed on an unusually large sheet of photographic paper, this apparently necessitated scanning the photo in two sections. Lastly, the print from which this scan was made seemed to have a crease/fold running vertically.
Being a photo hobbyist, and also because I have some interest in the photographed area, I used my modest knowledge of digital photo processing software and made the following enhancements:
(1) I did my best to eradicate any evidence of the vertical crease that had marred the photo.
(2) Other artifacts, apparently introduced by marks on the negative, were artificially eliminated by re-touching.
(3) The unevenness of the exposure was somewhat adjusted.
(4) The two scan sections were combined to appear as the print probably looks, as one contiguous panoramic perspective of the subject area.
(5) Several white-colored annotations were removed, including text indicating the name/location of "MACV, Tan Son Nhut." Two irregular rectangles that apparently had been used to indicate the location of a specific unit or functional area of Tan Son Nhut Air Base were also removed in the enhancement process.
Although I've contacted the Webmaster for the site featuring this Mitch Alvins photo, I'm not sure whether they've endeavored to add this combined version of their two-part photo to their Web site.
Lastly, since there doesn't seem to be many high-quality aerial photos of this area from that period of time, I want to thank the photographer and the photo's owner, whomever they may be, for taking and preserving this rare, high-quality image of this historic landmark which has the interest of many people, particularly military and civilian service veterans of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, personnel assigned to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, and of course, members of the United States Defense Attaché Office, the last tenants of the former MACV Headquarters building.