Taking pictures for daily newspapers is James Emolo’s job. Photographing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. is his passion.
Since the mid-1990s, Emolo has been making a pilgrimage to the nation’s capital to take images of the memorial and the people who pay homage to it on a daily basis. Through Dec. 1, 16 of Emolo’s photographs of the memorial will be showcased at the Ristra on Washington Street in Hoboken.
"I’m really proud of this work," said Emolo, who lives in Clifton. “I want more people to be aware of our veterans.”
According to Emolo, the cost of the Vietnam War will forever be calculated by the approximately three million lives lost in the conflict.
“Almost three decades have passed since the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975,” Emolo said during an interview last week. “In more than a quarter century, the scars of battle have healed slowly for many of the more than 2.7 million U.S. servicemen and women who served there and for the loved ones of those who died in the small country halfway around the world.”
In 1979, the idea to create a national symbol of reconciliation to heal a nation was born in the mind of Jan C. Scruggs, a former infantryman who saw combat in Vietnam, according to Emolo. Scruggs enlisted the help of fellow veterans who shared his vision and after three and a half years of dreaming, planning, fighting, and fundraising, the memorial was dedicated on Nov. 13, 1982.
“The Wall,” as it is more commonly known, is 247 feet in length and stands 10 feet high at its vertex. Inscribed upon its polished, black granite surface are the names of every solider killed or who remains missing in action in Vietnam, for a total of 58,209 names.
“When I first visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the mid ’80s, it was as a typical tourist armed with a checklist of monuments and museums to see in our nation’s capital. But my brief encounter with ‘The Wall’ turned out to be anything but typical,” Emolo said.
The photographs which he eventually took are very passionate and emotional images of people looking for names of friends or relatives, flags left hanging for visitors to see, and flowers or sometimes messages on pieces of paper that read “We miss you.”
Emolo currently works as a special projects editor for the North Jersey Media Group, the parent company for daily newspapers in Hackensack and West Paterson and an array of weekly newspapers in Bergen and Passaic counties.
He is schooled in photography and got his start in newspapers as a freelance photographer in New Jersey, covering news events and selling the resulting photos to local daily newspapers.
“In time, I gained enough experience and accumulated enough clips to land a job with a small weekly newspaper in Paterson,” Emolo said.
Generally, the resources of small weekly newspapers are limited, he noted, which affords a person the opportunity to learn the many facets of the publishing business.
“My role as a staff photographer soon expanded to include writing and page layout responsibilities, and before long, my newly acquired skills took me to a larger weekly, then a daily, and ultimately, my present position," he said.
Ivy Giacchino, one of the managers at the Ristra, decided to feature Emolo’s work after meeting him last month.
“We talked and I was intrigued by his photographs,” Giacchino said. “His pieces are patriotic. Something our country needs.”
The Ristra is located on 230 Washington St. For more information, the telephone number for the Ristra is 216-1550. Emolo can be reached at emolo@northjersey.com