54 NEBRASKAland • APRIL 2018
L
ast spring, I made a phone call to high school basketball coach and my hunting partner Bill Heard.
"I have a turkey hunting photoshoot in the Pine Ridge in a few days and I'm needing a guy to
photograph who would look the part. Any ideas?"
Bill thought for a moment. "What about Chandler?"
Jacob Chandler was a former player of Bill's who, after finishing up school, went on to become an
Omaha firefighter. While I had hunted with Jacob before, I hadn't thought about him being a possible model
for us.
"Has he ever done anything like this professionally?" I asked Bill.
You could sense Bill smiling on the other end of the phone. "Professionally?" Bill questioned. "Well…"
A day later, I was at Bill's and asked him to clarify his response about Jacob. He walked over to a pile of
old newspaper articles about players he used to coach, and pulled out a Chippendales-like calendar with a
cover featuring 12 shirtless firefighers – Jacob among them.
Fast-forward a few days later as our group of photographers, models and director started our turkey
hunting photoshoot.
I view my job as a photographer to make everyone as comfortable as possible with me and this process;
the models are about to see our cameras in their faces for the next 10 hours.
So as we began the first location, and it was Jacob's turn to work, I took a knee and
began to click the button on my camera. I shot a couple of frames with him posing
as he liked, then I said, "Give me a look like you did for that bare-chested fireman
calendar."
As the group laughed behind us, this look was Jacob's response, the exact look that
he gave in the firefighter calendar. A true professional. ■
Jeff Kurrus
Feb. 1, 2018
Breaking the Ice
