This is a fantastic article regarding photographer Edward Steichen (1879 – 1973), who was a respected photographer in modernist circles prior to volunteering for service in the First World War, and by the time he joined the U.S. Navy for the second war, his stock was even higher.
Steichen was much admired by museum directors, taste-makers and magazine editors and was the highest paid photographer in the world during the inter-war years. Recognizing that they had caught a big fish, the U.S. Navy granted the man a senior rank, making him Director of the Naval Photographic Institute. No study of World War II art is complete without mentioning Edward Steichen and his efforts with the U.S. Navy.