Click. A photo is taken. Click. Another. As he takes photos, an artist envisions the scenes he will create for the public.

Kristopher Battles, one of the last combat artists, is currently with the Harry S. Truman Strike Group taking photos and making sketches. Combat artists were more common during World War II through the Vietnam War. They used traditional media - drawing and painting - to record scenes of combat and everyday life of service members. Battles' mission is to capture the lives of service members in unique drawings and paintings.

"[We] deploy where the Navy is operating and document the activities of Sailors for history," said Battles. "We are doing this so later down the road people can get an idea of what Navy life was like."

Battles works for the Naval History and Heritage Command contributing to the Navy Art Collection. The command sends artists to different locations to gather missing pieces from the collection.

"The mission of our command is to enhance the Navy's effectiveness by preserving, analyzing and interpreting its hard-earned experience for the Navy and American people," said Gale Munro, the head curator for the Navy Art Collection. "We sent Mr. Battles because he is a highly skilled artist with active duty service and I believe his artwork will make the public and other service members proud of the work carried out by the Harry S. Truman Strike Group."

Battles said he saw the flight deck, hangar bay, some of the weapons magazines and met Truman's aircraft handling officer in Flight Deck Control. Along the way, he took photographs, which inspire his illustrations.

"I try to focus on specific actions and people," said Battles. "They are usually activities unique to certain areas of the ship and activities that show what the Navy does. I take several photos from different angles and perspectives so that I can reference them later."

According to Munro, the artwork produced is quite popular and has certain advantages over photography.

"The artist is able to compress time, including all the components of an event in one image," said Munro. "The artist can highlight details, edit out extraneous details that detract, diminish details, and refine the composition of the scene so that it conveys a message. Also, culturally our society has a respect for artwork. Artwork of Sailors, at work, on ships has a continuing popularity."

According to Munro, the most recent artwork of this sort is nearly 20-years-old and it's important to keep pace with today's Navy.

Throughout the ship there is always something happening to document, whether it's an everyday task or a one-time event.

"I want to get behind the scenes," said Battles. "I want to see the galleys, sculleries and everything the public doesn't normally think about. I want to show what it's really like to be aboard a ship out at sea."

If you would like to see some of Battles' work, visit www.kjbattles.blogspot.com.

For more news from USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), visit www.navy.mil/.