Hatfield, who lives near Lynbrook High School, has now taken over his late father's business, and continues to snap pictures of Cupertino and the surrounding environs from the air. He will discuss the business and share examples of the detailed aerial shots at the Cupertino Historical Society & Museum on Nov. 30.

Those who attend will likely see photos of the intersection of De Anza and Stevens Creek boulevards back when the Cali Mill and the Red & White Market across the street were practically the only developments in town—and that same intersection today.

"He tried to reshoot each view year after year. Sometimes, that can take tilting the plane, or moving a wheel, or making six passes over the area," Hatfield says. "All the streets have changed, so you have to navigate by way of the creeks and streams."

Adrian Hatfield got started in aerial photography when he served in the military during World War II. Aerial photographers would fly ahead of the front lines of battle to take pictures of the upcoming buildings and terrain. The cameras were mounted on the bottom of the planes and their pilots would snap photos about every three seconds—Adrian mostly flew a C-47 "Skytrain" transport airplane.

Though he received a degree in photojournalism from Stanford University in 1938, Adrian didn't fly much behind enemy lines and instead trained under more experienced aerial photographers. But his son says that Adrian would help with the developing process.

"After they had the film developed, they would lay out these huge photos on the floor and look for targets," Hatfield says, noting that the pictures were often spliced together to create a larger overview of a particular area. "It would be like putting a puzzle together."

Adrian returned to the Bay Area after the war ended and settled with his family in Los Altos Hills. "We would ride horses to the Stevens Creek dam and back in a day," Hatfield says. While Adrian started a construction business, he continued to pursue his interests by founding an aerial photography business on the side. Hatfield recalls accompanying his father on the airplane around the Bay Area.

The photos, shot on hi-speed military film, were purchased by cities, Realtors and developers. Many of the Cupertino photos show the Stevens Creek quarries and the development of the Monta Vista and central parts of town.

Hatfield says his father also worked for the state, shooting photos that helped with the original layout of Interstate 280. "During the gas crunch, the mayor of San Jose called because there were no state funds to finish the freeways," Hatfield says. "They put an old car on one of those sections of the freeway that didn't go anywhere, and lowered the mayor into the car by helicopter. Before he even got back to the office, Jerry Brown called."

Hatfield still has a copy of that photo, which his father titled "Audacity."

After his father's retirement in 1979, Hatfield—who also owns a construction business—was reluctant to take on the photography side as well. But he now leases planes out of Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose and uses his father's same cameras, which evolved to hand-held equipment in the years after World War II. Adrian died in 1995, but Hatfield still strives to shoot the same views his father did. He's also trying to digitally archive and correct old photos for easy reference, and to sell to area history buffs.

He's already working with the Cupertino Historical Society beyond his presentation on Nov. 30. "He walked into the museum a couple months ago with a roll of photographs," says Kate Stober, Education Coordinator for the Cupertino Historical Society. "He's going to donate prints to the museum, and it's going to be a really cool presentation."

Hatfield will discuss his family's business as well as display photographs and cameras in the Cupertino Room of Quinlan Community Center at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 30. Admission is $5 for non-members. For more information, call 408.973.1495. The Quinlan Center is located at 10185 N. Stelling Road.