Picture Passion Valley Photographer Has Been There For Many Special Moments, Scenes

As a young man, Jack Cunningham’s dreams ran through the air and his passions through the lens of a camera.

The long-time Spokane Valley resident dreamed of piloting the planes that sat in rows at Felts Field.

“It was always a dream of mine to fly an airplane,” Cunningham said.

His passion, which he practiced as often as he could, was photography. Cunningham began taking pictures of his grade school classmates back in the 1930s.

“I used to charge ‘em a penny or two a shot, so I could buy another roll of film, you see,” said Cunningham, his eyes sparkling beneath his trademark thatch of snow white, wavy hair.

Cunningham, 73, was lucky enough to see his dream come true and his passion endure, even to today.

In the end, he said, it was the passion - for cameras, film and photographs - that brought him the most satisfaction.

“I was a photographer before I was a pilot,” Cunningham said. “Photography was my first love. I got it, and I never lost it.”

The more than 4,000 Valley couples who hired Cunningham’s studio to photograph their weddings over the years are glad of that, as Cunningham often hears at the community functions he attends.

“You’re sitting in these meetings and people start talking about when you did their weddings,” Cunningham said. “It’s gets embarrassing sometimes.”

Despite having “retired” in 1984, Cunningham still shoots photos for people.

The Spokane Valley Hospital Foundation recently hired Cunningham to shoot its annual Festival of Trees.

And people still borrow pictures of the Valley from Cunningham’s extensive archives. He has dozens of binders filled with images from nearly 60 years of toting a camera through the Valley.

Skip Bonuccelli, spokesman for the Central Valley School District, often taps Cunningham’s resources.

“If I can’t find it anywhere else, I know Jack’s got it,” said Bonuccelli, who praised the quality as well as the quantity of Cunningham’s work. “It’s incredible. He’s an artist with a camera.”

Cunningham fondly remembers his time as an Air Force pilot during and after World War II.

He can recount in great detail everything from his training as a glider pilot to the time he brought his B-24 bomber in for a landing from 17,000 feet with the power gone in all four engines.

But even those thrills can’t compare to some of his experiences behind the camera, he said.

Cunningham recalled a time in early 1951 when a commercial airliner crashed in a blinding snowstorm just outside of Edwall, Wash.

He and a state trooper bashed their cars through the snow drifts to reach the site of the crash, where Cunningham said he snapped a roll of film.

Cunningham said he called the offices of the Spokane Chronicle to let an editor know he had some shots of the crash and then made the treacherous drive into Spokane to deliver the film.

Cunningham said when he arrived at the newspaper offices, the Associated Press was waiting to transmit his photographs of the crash to newspapers nationwide.

“That was one of the biggest thrills I had in my life,” he said.

He also recalled once taking a picture of Eleanor Roosevelt when she visited Spokane.

“In those days, you could still get right up next to them,” Cunningham said. “I was right beside her car when she was getting in. Somebody in the crowd jostled me, and I only got about half of her in the frame. Somewhere in my collection I’ve got half a picture of Eleanor Roosevelt.”

His love of airplanes and pictures also landed him in trouble a few times.

The FBI once investigated him after he stopped at a former airfield in north Spokane to photograph a lightning storm.

It was just before World War II, he said, and taking pictures at airfields was forbidden for security reasons.

Nothing became of the investigation, he said, because he was just taking pictures of the storm.

“Besides, they didn’t turn out,” Cunningham said.

Another time, he was arrested after he refused to turn over to a military officer some film he shot of a plane crash on Mount Spokane.

Cunningham said he “escaped” with the help of a Washington State Patrol trooper he knew who said the military had no authority to arrest him.

Cunningham has been trying to slow down the last few years, cutting down on the rolls of film he shoots. He’s finding it hard.

“Last year I was going to cut it down to 110,” said Cunningham, who said he used to shot several hundred rolls per year. “I shot 160.”

The type - as well as the number - of photographs has changed over the years.

The images that fill his dozens of blue binders have gone from wedding portraits and accident shots he took for the Washington State Patrol to scenic mountain vistas and other sights he sees while “going for drives” with his wife of 46 years, Lois.

All in all, Cunningham said, it’s been great to see his dreams come true and his passions stay pure.

“I’ve had fun,” he said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)