D. McBurnett - Uncommon Grit: A Photographic Journey Through Navy SEAL Training

I have a vivid memory of standing on the ramp of a C-130 aircraft looking out over the Arizona landscape at 5:15 in the morning. It was quite beautiful at 15,000 feeta mix of bright orange, red, and vermilion painted the desert floor and sky. I was a military free fall instructor at the time. Standing there looking at the visual splendor, I turned to my student to give him words of wisdom before he took his first free fall jump: Can you believe we are getting paid to do this? I looked back out and said to myself, Somebody should take a picture of this. Then the light turned green, the jumpmaster gave us the hand signal to GO, and I slapped my student on the shoulder, indicating it was time to jump. I pulled my parachute shortly after my student and leisurely drifted down while taking in the scenery, staying upwind until it was time to get into the landing pattern. I had never really noticed the sky before, but on that day I did. I guess it was destiny tapping me on the shoulder to let me know I was about to embark on another life journeyphotography.

I have always been odd. Quirky might be more accurate. I saw things a little differently growing up. It sounds strange, but have you ever looked up at the clouds and started to see shapes, faces, and animals, and gone wherever your imagination took you? I had the ability to see things like that everywhere I looked. It was almost annoying, to be honest, but its the way I saw the worldshapes, lines, repeating patterns, faces, and what seemed like puzzle pieces. I drifted off in my own world of these visions. I grew up in the eighties, so I find myself more of a retro fan. I like that era. It was a fun, simple time. Playing PAC-MAN, riding outside all day on my banana-seat bike, climbing trees, playing Atari, setting up my Star Wars figures and pretending to be Han Solo, building forts. But what I really loved was art. I always looked forward to the comics section of the Sunday paper. I loved watching cartoons and doodling and have always been a fan of other artists talents. I read pretty much every one of Charlie Browns adventures created by Charles Schulz. I loved Calvin and Hobbes because Calvin was a lot like me, living in his own imaginary world. I would never miss the Hanna-Barbera hour featuring Scooby-Doo and the gang and all the Saturday morning cartoons they created. Captain Caveman, Hong Kong Phooey, The Flintstones, Josie and the Pussycats, The Jetsons, and Speed Buggy, to name a few, kept me glued to the tube all Saturday morning. I admired Stan Lee and Jack Kirby with the Marvel universeI used to ride my bike to the 7-Eleven with what little money I had to purchase comic books like Batman, Richie Rich, Spider-Man, X-Men, Mad, CARtoons, and other graphic novels when I could afford them. Heavy Metal graphic magazine was always a favorite, especially as an adolescent teen when the bookstore or local drugstore blindly put it in the comic book section, not realizing it should be in the adult rack, but still great graphic stories. Art has always been part of my life, and it never ceases to amaze me what incredibly talented humans live among us. As you go through this book, you may see the way things influenced me and how I evolved them into my own artwork.

Other great influences in my life, in no particular order (I could include all of my influences, but this is an art photography book):

Hayao Miyazaki - the breathtaking creative mind behind the groundbreaking masterpiece Spirited Away

Shirow Masamune - mechanical precision artist

Frank Miller - unbelievable storyteller, mastermind writer and inker of easily the best comic book ever written (in my opinion), The Dark Knight Returns, along with Sin City and 300

Comic book artists J. Scott Campbell, creator of Danger Girl; the late Michael Turner, creator of Witchblade and Aspen Comics; and Todd McFarlane, with his breakaway creation of the antihero Spawn. I used to go to San Diego Comic-Con early in my Navy career and stand in line for over three hours to get some of my favorite comics signed.

Image Comics artists Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Marc Silvestri, and Erik Larsen

Charles Dickenss harsh realism

Frank Herberts novel Dune

Clive Barkers fourth-dimensional worlds

Pixars Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs

Ridley Scotts original version of Blade Runner (1982). Hands down the most visually stunning movie ever and one of the most influential works of art that I always reach back to when Im stuck in creative withdraw. His use of harsh contrast lighting, smoke, and water to create texture in practically every scene is just plain brilliant.