Astronaut Photography

Swedish camera brand Hasselblad Bron is honoring the 45th anniversary of Apollo 11’s moon mission by completing a user’s manual for astronauts to photograph their space expeditions.

The 40-page online manual aims to instruct astronauts about the Hasselblad 500 EL/M camera and about the general techniques behind taking space photographs. The manual brings attention to Hasselblad’s involvement with the space expedition and the brand’s camera collections.

“The anniversary of the moon landing itself is of great interest to consumers, but not necessarily to enthusiasts of the brand, ” said Al Ries, founder and chairman of Ries & Ries, a Roswell, GA-based marketing strategy consultancy.

“Hasselblad owners are normally professional photographers and the move to digital has been painful for many of them, ” he said.

“Professional photographers have had to greatly change everything they do. And many of them still think ‘film’ has many advantages that digital does not.”

Mr. Ries is not affiliated with Hasselblad, but agreed to comment as an industry expert.

Snapping pictures
Hasselblad cameras were not originally designed to work in zero gravity, but 45 years ago they were discovered to function without gravity, so the product developed and grew throughout the years of space travel.

The Astronaut’s Photography Manual was created with the Training and Man-Machine Divisions at the Johnson Space Center of NASA.

Hasselblad’s guidebook covers how to change the focus and how to adjust for different lighting. The manual uses images from space to demonstrate the different options.

Manual

The ability to photograph outer space has provided photographic necessary evidence to verify the theories of many scientists. Also the images provide an opportunity to all people, regardless of education or economic differences, to experience space.

The brand celebrated the first photographs of the moon by creating a 45th anniversary section on its Web site. The section highlights the 40 years of photographs and speaks to the importance of photographing expeditions.