E. O. Goldbeck, photographer, was born in San Antonio, the second of four children of first-generation German Americans Benno T. and Ida (Schultze) Goldbeck. Records report that he was born either in 1891 or 1892; his descendents claim that he was born in November 1892. In 1901 Goldbeck decided to pursue a career in photography, after he captured a candid shot of President William McKinley passing by in a San Antonio parade. Within weeks he had purchased his own camera and was taking and selling impromptu portraits of his classmates and teachers, and in high school he worked as a freelance photographer for San Antonio's two city newspapers. After graduating from Main Avenue High School in 1910, he worked at a series of odd jobs and traveled to South America, the West Coast, and Alaska. He financed his trips by taking "kidnapped" photographs, so dubbed by studio photographers because the pictures were taken with no financial obligation to the subject, and then offered for sale. During this period Goldbeck purchased his first Cirkut camera and began experimenting with the panoramic format. Mounted on a revolving tripod geared so that camera and film could move in synchronization, the Cirkut produced long, narrow prints ideal for recording large groups, bird's-eye views of cities and events, and sweeping landscapes. Throughout his career Goldbeck used the panoramic format for group shots, reasoning that the more prints were sold from a single negative, the more profitable the time spent taking the shot.
Como se menciona en la biografía Eugene Goldbeck se dedico a fotografiar a grupo de personas que forman parte de alguna composición en especifica, como es el caso, de esta foto en donde los militares participan para formar el escudo norteamericano. La fotografía en si no me produce mucho pero se que a nivel político tiene una importancia que cabe recalcar.
