Candid Captures: A Marine's Photographic Journey to Raise Funds for World Spine Care
This is a guest post from World Spine Care US board member Dr. Thomas Hyde. All purchases from the Tom Hyde Photo Collection support World Spine Care’s efforts to improve lives in underserved communities through sustainable, integrated, evidence-based, spine care.
My interests in photography and collecting cameras originate back to the time that I served in the Marine Corps.
I was positioned in Japan on a Navy base with a few Marines. During my time in Japan, I was tasked with intercepting, processing, and reporting Morse code that was intercepted from Russian submarines, ships, airplanes, and carriers, to later be sent to the White House and the Pentagon.
While I was stationed in Japan, a fellow Marine shared with me his excitement for his newly purchased Olympus Pen FT, suggesting I follow suit and purchase one as well. If you are not a camera connoisseur, the Olympus Pen FT is a half-frame camera, meaning in a roll of 36, you can process 72 pictures.
Needless to say, I bought the camera.
The first picture I took was of an old Japanese lady in a rice paddy in the countryside. I still have that picture and camera today.
Since then, I have traveled all over the world, including India, Vietnam, and Antarctica, with Africa being one of my favorites. Throughout my travels across the globe, I have added to my extensive camera collection and personally taken thousands of photographs.
Today, my camera collection has surpassed 500 cameras, dating back to the 1870s. In my collection, I have Brownies, a German spy camera, a pocket watch camera from 1904, and a camera that becomes a turntable, just to scratch the surface.
If you are interested in viewing some of my photography, I have provided several photographs for World Spine Care’s latest campaign, the Tom Hyde Photo Collection fundraiser. Each photograph is representative of my own personal travels and the unique experiences that went along with them.
For instance, in the Light-footed Leopard photograph, you can see the animal’s stealthy descent. Not pictured is his prey, an Impala, stowed away higher up in that same tree for safe keeping.
I was able to witness the birth of a giraffe and was able to watch the calf take its first steps. The picture of this encounter is entitled Nurtured Newborn.
Shooting the image of the Lilac Breasted Roller was a practice of patience, taking me several trips to South Africa and Tanzania. These skittish birds are quite difficult to capture, but as seen in the shot, the males display quite a striking appearance with their colorful feathers.
I saw the Majestic Male Kudu on one of my walks in South Africa – an animal with a commanding stature of over 6 ft.
These moments and others captured through my own photography can be found at the Tom Hyde Photo Collection on our website.
Each image speaks to my own unique travels, but if there is an image that speaks to you as well, the digital files are available for purchase. All proceeds from the sale of my photography will be given to World Spine Care.
Thank you for appreciating my passion for photography and most importantly, for supporting World Spine Care’s commitment to providing access to safe and effective spine care to underserved communities.
World Spine Care is situated all around the World, with clinics in Botswana, India, the Dominican Republic, and Ghana. As a Board Member of World Spine Care US, I am personally invested in their vision:
“A world in which everyone has access to the highest quality spine care possible.”
Thank you in advance for your support in realizing this vision.
Instructions to download the full-resolution digital files will be delivered via email upon purchase. The image collection is available at a discounted price for a limited time.
