Visual Storytelling with Purpose
Every project begins with a story worth telling. Through this portfolio, Wesley demonstrates 16 years of experience in photography, branding, and design which help people and organizations communicate with authenticity, clarity, and impact.
My creative journey began behind the lens — both in and out of the studio, while serving this great country.
During my years in the U.S. Air Force, I learned how to tell stories that mattered, capturing moments of courage, compassion, and connection around the world.
Today, that same sense of purpose guides everything I create. Whether designing a brand or photographing a family, I bring the same commitment to excellence, authenticity, and impact that I learned while serving.
Welcome to the official portfolio of Wesley Farnsworth, an author, designer, photographer, and communications professional with over 16 years of creative experience. This collection showcases both the visual and written storytelling that shape my work, ranging from brand identity and web design to photography, marketing campaigns, and published writing. Each project reflects my passion for helping others communicate with purpose, clarity, and creativity rooted in faith.
Photography – Capturing Real Moments, Real Stories
From presidential inaugurations and sporting events to portraits, church services, and creative campaigns — Wesley’s photography blends precision with emotion to tell compelling stories.
Church Testimonial & Brand Story Video
This brand awareness was produced for Faircreek Church, in Fairborn, Ohio. Its goal was to highlight what makes their church unique, their services, and the church’s personality in a visually engaging way, giving them a shareable piece of content that would strengthen their digital presence and connect emotionally with their audience. I handled every aspect of production – from concept and scripting to filming, editing. and final delivery.
Branding & Graphic Design
Wesley combines his background in communication and design to craft brand systems that express mission and identity — from logos and color palettes to print and digital materials.
Web Design & Digital Strategy
Clean design. Strategic structure. Purpose-driven content. Each site Wesley builds blends aesthetics with storytelling to help organizations connect and grow online.
Writing & Storytelling
From authoring The Blueprint of Becoming to crafting brand stories for ministries and small businesses, Wesley writes to connect truth with transformation.
What if your greatest failures were the foundation of your transformation?
In The Blueprint of Becoming, I share my raw, redemptive journey from addiction, shame, and broken identity to healing, purpose, and faith. Blending honest storytelling with biblical truth and practical tools, this book guides readers to confront what’s holding them back and build a life aligned with God’s design.
Whether you’re starting over, seeking clarity, or rebuilding after loss, this is your roadmap to renewal—proof that with God, it’s never too late to become who you were meant to be.
World War II veteran celebrates 100th birthday
88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Story by Wesley Farnsworth
Thursday, April 29, 2021
XENIA, Ohio – What do the construction of the Empire State Building, Prohibition, the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, the Holocaust, World War II, Vietnam, the first man in space, and the Sept. 11 attacks all have in common?
All of these events and many more happened in the last 100 years. They also took place during the life of Pfc. Jim. H. Martin, a WWII veteran who celebrated his 100th birthday April 29.
Martin served as a paratrooper in G Company, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, from June 1942 until September 1945, when WWII ended.
Martin marked his 100th birthday with some fellow WWII vets and local community members during a celebration April 23-24 near his home in Xenia.
The beginning
Originally from Indiana, Martin’s family moved to Ohio in 1931 when an aircraft company his father worked for relocated here.
“We were the only family to move here with the company,” he recalled. “But within a year of moving here, the company went bankrupt and then the Great Depression was on.”
Martin says growing up during that time wasn’t all bad.
“I did have one rule. I could go all day and do whatever you wanted but you had to be home in time for supper,” he said. “We would play ‘Cowboys and Indians,’ go fishing a lot, and spent a lot of time catching frogs, snakes, possums, skunks and things like that.
“We would also go to the fairgrounds and see what all the vendors had set up. Occasionally, we would find a nickel or a dime and that was really big. It was just a wonderful time to grow up.”
People often thought it was odd for Martin to catch skunks, but to him, it was normal. One time, he caught a skunk that wound up having five little ones a week later.
“Someone told the game warden I had them. He came out and said, ‘I understand you have skunks,’” Martin remembers. “I said I did, and I let them run loose around the house in the summer just like the dog and didn’t have one bit of a problem. The skunks even came to bed with me at times, and I would have them and the dog in bed with me.”
Besides unusual hobbies, Martin was also a little different than some other kids in his town because both his parents had college degrees.
“Like everyone else, though, we didn’t have a car,” he said. “We walked a mile to town each day. I didn’t feel any different than everyone else.”
With much of the United States mired in grinding poverty and unemployment, the leaders of his community stepped up.
“About four times a year, we would have a town meeting and dinner at my house with all the people, like the business owners who made the town run,” he said. “They would discuss what they could do to make the town better, not with laws but with common-sense changes to how things were done.”
As Martin got older, he began working just like most American men and women did, including during his time at Kiser High School in Dayton.
“I was working at the tool and dye shop 10 hours a night and going to school,” Martin said. “In my senior year, I worked six nights a week and 13 hours a night, and I went to school all while carrying a grade-A average. I wasn’t stupid; I knew what was going on in the world.”
Military service
Originally, Martin had decided he wasn’t going to volunteer for military service because of stories he had heard from World War I vets about their lives after the war. In fact, he had the choice not to go due to a military deferment, but that all changed.
“It was a Monday, and my boss said if I wanted to defer that I could and I’d have the paperwork in hand on Thursday,” Martin recalled. “I said, ‘You’ve been listening to the radio, and you go to the movies on the weekends and see the films about what is going on over there.’ I knew if France and Britain didn’t get some help, they were going to go down, and then (Nazi Germany) would be coming after us.
“We were the only country in the world that could do anything about it.”
With the decision now made, he enlisted in the Army on June 25, 1942, and was selected to become a new type of Soldier known as a paratrooper.
“When I started, our unit was 6,500 people,” Martin said. “But Col. Sink developed what he called ‘Airborne Basic’ during that time. We went from 6,500 people down to just 1,650 people. That’s how tough it was.”
The training for these new paratroopers took place at a remote location about 100 miles northeast of Atlanta called Camp Toccoa.
“It was a pretty primitive base,” Martin said. “It wasn’t even finished for us.”
Just shy of six month after enlisting, on Jan. 3, 1943, Martin had completed all required parachute packing, jumping from a plane in flight and other generalized training to officially become a qualified parachutist. It was also during this time he earned his nickname, “Pee Wee.”
“I was small in stature and only weighed 106 pounds when I went into the service,” Martin said.
“But I told everyone it doesn’t matter what your size, because you’re carrying an M1 rifle just like the rest of us. As long as you have that, it’s an equalizer, and you’re just as good as the big guy.”
After training, Martin and his unit departed U.S. soil from Camp Shanks in New York aboard the RMS. Samaria for England.
“The ship was only supposed to carry 1,000 people, and we had 5,000 on board,” he said. “It took 10 days to go across, and during the trip, we had the biggest storm seen in 50 years.
“We had an arrow on the wall with degrees marked. It was going 45 degrees one way, then another 45 degrees in the other direction.”
According to Martin, he and other men in his unit were on the ship’s top deck during the storm, leaving a 50-foot drop to the water below. Everyone thought they were going to go under.
By June 5, his unit had departed for battle and parachuted down behind enemy lines in France.
“We jumped into Normandy before all the beach forces came in,” Martin said. “Our mission was to knock out all utilities and to kill any enemy we found, which we did.”
Martin said there is something special about paratroopers you won’t find with any other unit.
“There was a lot of familiarity between an officer and his troops in the paratrooper world that you didn’t see in the regular Army. Because when the shelling is happening, you could look over, and 15 feet from you was the colonel,” he added. “With the regular ground troops, the colonel would be way back telling them to go out and do it. But our officer would get up and say ‘follow me’ because rank didn’t matter.
“Everyone knew where the line was and who the boss was, but we all suffered the same fate.”
Life after the war
Life for service members returning from WWII wasn’t all roses, according to Martin and his late wife of 72 years.
Under the law, companies had to rehire troops who fought overseas. But many defied that law and “wouldn’t take us back,” claiming things had changed while they were gone, he said.
“For two years, I didn’t have a job after I came back,” Martin said. “My wife and I nearly starved to death, but then things straightened out.”
Martin’s wife, Donna, taught him over the years to be optimistic.
“If you look at everything pessimistically, your life is going to be miserable,” he said. “Things are not always going to go right. In fact, most things probably won’t, but still, it’s a good life.”
Today, Martin spends time speaking to ROTC units, visiting war sites overseas and engaging in other community service, sharing his life experience to anyone who will listen. It’s during these talks that he insists he is not a hero.
“You’re not a hero when you volunteer for something, when you train for it and you get paid for it, because you’re expected to do it,” Martin said. “A hero is the guy I heard about that put himself at risk to help a car that went into a pond to help the people out of their vehicle. He had no training and wasn’t going to get anything out of it. That’s a hero.”
When speaking, Martin often gets asked if he hated the German enemy troops.
“I didn’t hate them,” he said. “They were fighting for their country just like we were fighting for ours. If you go in hating, it ruins your judgment, and you’re going to lose.”
His 100th birthday celebration included a mass parachute jump from three C-47 Dakota aircraft, featuring “That’s All, Brother,” which led the main airborne invasion into Normandy.
“I’m happy here. I’ve got people coming from all over the place, including overseas, to see me all the time,” he said. “The fact I turned 100 doesn’t mean a thing because I don’t feel any different than I did at 30. I just can’t do heavy construction.”
At a century old, Martin offered one piece of wisdom for today’s generation: Just enjoy what we have now.
“We can’t change what is happening. The restrictions we have today are nothing,” he said. “I’ve gone through nine pandemics in my lifetime. The medical care we have in this area is the best in the world.
“I’ve had a wonderful life.”
WRIGHT-PATT AFTER DARK: Fire Department stands ready 24/7 to render aid
88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Story by Wesley Farnsworth
Tuesday, July 6, 2021
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio — The department has three firehouses on base – two in Area A and a third on Area B. It’s made up of 91 personnel, including the administration, chiefs, dispatchers and operational firefighters.
“Sixty-eight of those are the firefighters people see climbing down from the trucks when we arrive on scene,” said Jacob King, 788 CES fire chief. “We are strategically located on base so that we can be anywhere within five minutes when a call comes in for help.”
Unique shifts, amenities
While most of the base population works a typical “9-to-5,” 40-hour workweek, it is a bit different for fire department staff.
“Our administration team works 60 hours week,” King said. “However, the operational firefighters’ schedule consists of 48 hours on, 72 hours off, followed by 48 hours on and 48 hours off, then back to 48 hours on and 72 hours off to complete their two-week pay cycle.”
Because of the unique work schedule, each fire department station is set up like a home. After their normal duty-day hours conclude at 5 p.m. with dinner, firefighters are free to relax and unwind a bit until a call for help comes in.
“We have many of the same amenities that we would have at home, just minus the spouse and kids,” said Brian Wilcher, 788 CES lead firefighter, who marked 20 years at Wright-Patterson AFB on June 26. “Instead, we are their family.”
Some of the amenities include a pingpong table, gym, common room with several recliners and a large-screen TV for watching movies. Each firefighter also has a private bunkroom and there is commercial internet for those who want to surf online or play video games.
Of course, they also spend time talking to each other and on the phone with their families at home.
The bunkrooms are always shared by two firefighters who work completely different shift rotations, so there is no chance of them overlapping and each has their own closet for privacy.
“The evenings are ours to relax and unwind a bit,” Wilcher said. “Some of the guys use this time to go to school, call home or play video games with each other. While some may choose to spend a bit of time getting ahead or catching up on some of the work they were unable to get done during the normal duty hours.”
‘It’s the job we choose to do’
One thing that doesn’t change during this downtime is their alertness and readiness to respond when the call for help comes in. No matter what activity they are doing, there is always a plan to quickly get to the firetrucks and the person in need.
“We laugh because calls will come in while we’re in the shower, using the restroom or sleeping,” Wilcher said. “It’s just part of the job, and we learn to do things a bit differently than you may at home.
“For instance, you always bring your clothes with you to the shower, and you don’t leave them in a ball; you set them out so they are easy and quick to put on. When you go to sleep, you make sure there is a clear path between you and the door so you don’t trip on anything when you jump out of bed and run to the trucks at 3 a.m.”
Wilcher went on to recall a time he was in the shower when the alarm bell went off.
“I remember getting out of the shower and running to the truck with only half my head shaved,” he said. “I’ve since developed a routine so that doesn’t happen again.”
If the calls come in during mealtime, the firefighters work like a well-oiled machine.
“The guys take off to the truck and those who stay behind immediately stand up, grab some foil and wrap it up and put their food in the warmer until they return,” Wilcher said.
No matter what happens during the night, however, the next workday begins at 7 a.m.
“We may go on a call at 3 a.m. and be out until 4 or 5 a.m., then come back and sleep for an hour or two and get up to do it all again. We don’t get to sleep in,” King said. “We train our bodies for this because it’s the job we choose to do. Although you may be tired, you are able to push through, and be fully capable and ready to perform when the bell sounds.”
Personal sacrifices
The unique work schedule also brings a unique set of home challenges when it comes to holidays, birthdays and other milestones such as ballgames, dance recitals and children’s school events due to the amount of family time missed.
“Many of us celebrate birthdays and other big holidays on days other than what they actually fall on,” King said. “The guys that have to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, they’re trying to celebrate Christmas on the 23rd, so that they can be there with their family. Santa Claus just knows that mom or dad’s a firefighter and they’re working, so he comes early for different events like that.”
Crew members also trade shifts or hours, when possible, so they can try to accommodate special events.
However, regardless of the weather, day of the week or time of the day, the fire department stands ready to serve.
“No matter if there is one person on base, or 100,000, we provide the same level of service 24/7 — because what everyone does on this installation matters,” King said. “It matters for the warfighter downrange, the warfighter in space and to the family members that are back here at home.
“We want everyone to know, if you are deployed or TDY, that your loved ones will be taken care of because we stand ready if ever needed. We are here to help and are only one call away to be at their door and solve their problem, no matter how big or small it may be.”
Wright-Patt office offers health services to civilians
88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
Story by Wesley Farnsworth
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – At the start of the new year, the traditional New Year’s resolutions are made by many. One of the top areas identified by people to get better in, is self-improvement. Things like eating less, exercising more, and losing weight, are normally at the top of the list in that specific category.
This is where the Civilian Health Promotion Services office can step in and help achieve those goals by giving the civilian Airman the tools needed to succeed.
“Our office offers a wide variety of completely free tools to individuals looking to improve themselves,” said Sara Cramer, a health promotion specialist with CHPS. “We offer wellness screenings, which include a cardiac risk profile (cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar), blood pressure, and body composition analysis.”
“We also offer classes on a wide variety of health education topics, provide different wellness challenges throughout the year and we have an interactive website that offers a health risk assessment and other helpful features and resources,” she added.
All of the services offered by CHPS are free and available to DoD Civilians, with most services also available to Active Duty members.
The cardiac risk profiles can be completed once a year for those that qualify, while the body composition analysis is made available quarterly. However, the health classes and blood pressure readings can be accomplished as often as the member would like.
Classes and screening can be done at the CHPS office located in the Wright Field Fitness
Center in Area B, or they are able to come to the employee.
“One nice thing is that we are a mobile worksite wellness program,” Cramer said. “So our idea is to make it more convenient for people to utilize our services. So we can come into your office to setup screenings, as well as teach our classes when requested.”
However, while the installation is at HPCON Delta all classes are being conducted virtually, and screenings are being done in-person at their offices by appointment only.
“Once we return to HPCON Charlie we will resume visiting offices and offering our services,” Cramer said. “Until then we ask that people make an appointment for our services in our office and call before they come so that we can give them all the information they will need for the service(s) being requested, and to ensure proper social distancing.”
“As a leader it’s my job to make sure that I’m providing the services and resources to my teammates and letting them know that they are available for their use,” said Senior
Master Sgt. Robert Redziniak, Senior Enlisted Leader for the Director of Personnel at the
National Air and Space Intelligence Center. “However, a self-assessment is the first step of self-care. If you feel like you’re not on your A game, then it may be time to do something about it.”
Redziniak said that when he tells people about these available services, he normally starts with his personal experiences.
“I’ve used several of their services and had a lot of great experiences with them,” he said.
“Back in 2021, I went and got my InBody assessment done with their bod pod, and after I got the data, I recognized that I was not exactly where I wanted to be. So, I was able to make some really great life choices, which enabled me to lose almost 30 pounds over the past six months.”
However, it’s important to note that individuals who work in this office are not doctors.
“We provide preventative screenings that in no way diagnose, treat or manage health conditions,” Cramer said. “We’re a useful resource for DOD civilians and active duty members to establish a baseline for certain health markers such as blood pressure, or your blood glucose or blood cholesterol. And, from there, we’ll typically recommend, if someone is showing signs of something, that they go see their doctor.”
“We’re a great resource to utilize between physician visits and we encourage all participants to have a primary care provider and we share the numbers they learn here with them,” she added.
Individuals are able to track and download test results, as well as take wellness classes from the organization’s website: USAFwellness.com.
Redziniak has advice for those on Wright-Patt thinking about using these services.
“Give CHPS a call, to set up an appointment or to bring them out to the unit. Make them a part of the team,” said Redziniak. “Physical and mental health are a big part of where we’re at with COVID. It’s important to be focused on what’s most important, which taking care of yourself.”
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