Creative inspiration sometimes strikes at unusual times. For retired Navy SEAL Darren McBurnett, the time was around 5 a.m., as he jumped out of a C-130 aircraft at 15,000 feet and eyed the breathtaking beauty of Yuma, Arizona.
Gliding through the air with the sun rising, McBurnett saw the captivating landscapes and vivid colors typical of the Southwest. He wanted to capture the midair moment with a picture, but he had no photography training.
He decided to learn.
Darren McBurnett captured this image of a fellow skydiver. (Photo by Darren McBurnett)
McBurnett spent countless hours reading books about the field and searching the internet. “I am a self-taught photographer,” he says, noting that he was a skydive instructor with the Navy when he started taking photographs in 2007. “My career [in photography] just happened. I did it because I enjoyed it.”
McBurnett attached a camera with a bite switch to his helmet and used his mouth to snap shots during jumps. His in-air photos (like the one at right) caught the attention of his command, and his photography skills were soon in demand. McBurnett took photographs for 11 years, working with National Geographic and Rolling Stone along the way, and he served as an instructor at the Basic Underwater Demolition School during his last couple of years in the Navy.
“The word had gotten around about his photography skills, and he was asked to photograph first-phase training — something no other SEAL has done,” his wife, Kim, says. “He followed several training classes through the infamous ‘Hell Week,’ photographing the men [experiencing] evolutions with which he was quite familiar, having lived through them all personally.” The project eventually morphed into McBurnett’s coffee table book, “Uncommon Grit.”
Adventurous from a young age, McBurnett went into the Navy directly after graduating from Purdue University, continuing the military legacy of his father, two grandfathers and a grandmother. “What I liked the most was the structure,” he says of military life.
Although he didn’t know what SEALs did, McBurnett said yes when asked if he wanted to join a special forces team. “They told me I would swim and scuba dive, and I thought that was cool,” he says.
Darren and Kim McBurnett (Photo courtesy Sara Hunt)
During his time in the military, McBurnett saw the sacrifices soldiers made for the American people. After he retired, he wanted to do something to honor those who served. “I want to give to both first responders and families of first responders,” he says.
He and Kim began their charitable work by attending nonprofit events with fellow retired SEALs, using McBurnett’s photography to raise nearly $1 million for military kids and spouses, along with a few other causes.
Because he was leading more events and had been picked up by multiple speaker bureaus, McBurnett shifted his attention to serving as vice president of the Uncommon Grit Foundation, which he and Kim founded in 2020. “As he made more contacts and learned about the nonprofit world, we decided we’d like to start our own foundation to benefit military and first responders in remembrance of SEAL brothers Darren lost during his career,” Kim says. “We wanted to set up a foundation that would put on unique events and raise money, then provide grants to organizations doing excellent work in the military and first responder space.”
Golf carts laid with memorial flags at the Bone Frog Open. The next Virginia edition of the event takes place Oct. 13-14 at Hermitage Country Club in Manakin Sabot. (Photo courtesy Sara Hunt)
The McBurnetts moved to Richmond in 2018. The following year, they started and found success with the Bone Frog Open, a weekendlong golf tournament and fundraiser. (The “bone frog” graphic, an illustration of a skeletal frog, is often used to honor fallen Navy SEALs, and many SEALs get a tattoo with the image after returning from a combat deployment.) The pair are starting to add events in other states, including the Bay Frog Open in Erie, Pennsylvania, which includes a golf tournament and a 1-mile swim.
McBurnett (second from left) and participants in the 2024 Bay Frog Open in Erie, Pennsylvania (Photo courtesy Sara Hunt)
“Each location where we hold events has a host group who can choose local nonprofits to receive a part of the proceeds, helping military and first responders in their community,” Kim says. “To date, [the Open has] given over $680,000 to 25 nonprofits and nine individuals/families in 14 states — $350,000 of that in the last two years alone.”
McBurnett says the past quarter-century has taught him just how precious and fragile life is. “It can be extinguished at any time,” he says. “I implore people to take every day and enjoy what they have and the people around them, because life is so short.”
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