M60 Machine Gun Up Close

Don't try this at home.

Photographers are always looking for a better angle, a new look, a different way of taking a photograph. I guess I was experimenting a bit.

But many viewers of this shot of a South Vietnamese soldier with his finger on the trigger of an M60 machinegun look at me like I'm one crazy b*****d.

The ARVN soldier, a trainee at a basic training center at Pleiku, was locked and loaded with a full belt of ammunition, and could have taken my head off with one burst had he wished to do so.

Instead, he just smiled for the camera and adopted his best warrior pose.

Shot in 1972 with my Pentax Spotmatic on Tri-X film.