Veteran offers snapshot of service

The roll of film wraps around the right forearm of East County’s Thomas Cronshaw, each frame of the tattoo telling an important story about his life.

Included are emblems from his favorite sports teams, the Patriots, the Celtics and the Bruins, drawings of his cats, Sylvester and Dexter, and the badge and stripes of a U.S. Marine Corps corporal.

“It’s filled with things that are important to me,” Cronshaw said.

Cronshaw’s service in the U.S Marine Corps wasn’t something he planned, but neither was his introduction to photography.

With Veterans Day approaching Nov. 11, Cronshaw shared memories about his military service and how it led him to his career.

He had dropped out of college and joined the Marines spur of the moment in 1990. After basic training, he could have taken many paths, but his superiors barked an assignment he didn’t know existed — combat photographer.

“I didn’t even know that was a job in the Marines when I enlisted,” Cronshaw said. “I guess it was fate.”

After basic training, Cronshaw returned home to New Hampshire for 30 days, before heading to Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado for 15 weeks of photography school.

“I learned everything from portraiture to developing film, everything you need to know about camera. All the basics,” he said.

Then, he went to Quanico, Va., to work at a base photo lab. There, he took head shots of graduates from officer candidate school in a studio and also took promotional photographs.

“The Gulf War had just started, but I was at a nondeployable base,” said Cronshaw, who stayed there until being transferred in 1992 to Camp Pendleton, Calif. 

With the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, he worked in the intelligence division, doing military training and printing intelligence, along with award and promotion photos.

“Then, we left on a ship for six months,” he said. That was November 1992.

Cronshaw’s unit trained in the United Arab Emirates, and within a month became the first to respond to conflict in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope.

“We lived in a tent village in summer for close to three months,” he said. “I would take helicopters back to the boat to get film developed.”

Cronshaw would develop film and make prints for intelligence officers to review.

He would ride with the troops to protect United Nations’ food trucks taking supplies to starving people within the country. Warlords and gangs would try to hijack them.

“I had a rifle strapped to my back and a camera in my hand,” Cronshaw said. “Thankfully, when we were there, things were pretty quiet.”

Cronshaw returned to the United States in February 1993, just eight months before the battle of Mogadishu, made famous in the film “Black Hawk Down.”

Cronshaw completed his military duties in December 1993.

He didn’t know what to do as a career and spent a few years bartending. He went back to school in 1996 to pursue a degree in kinesiology (sports management) with a minor in photography, but he fell in love with photography during an internship with the Portsmouth, N.H., Herald, and ultimately, aspired to become a sports photographer.

Still, he had a hard time breaking into the photography field. He moved to Florida in 1999, working security at a bar and at a car rental store. 

Finally, though, he started Thomas Cronshaw Photography in 2001.

“I missed it, and I was sick of the grind,” Cronshaw said. “I decided to splurge for a really nice camera.”

From there, his passion for photography developed. “In the Marines, they don’t teach you the creative side,” Cronshaw said. “I didn’t really get it at that point.”

Now, Cronshaw travels the world, photographing weddings and corporate events and seeking interesting stories.

Cronshaw pointed to his tattoo.

“There are still a few spots left,” he said.