The Long Island photographer who took the iconic photo of young John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father's coffin spoke with News 12 Long Island today to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.

Oceanside's Dan Farrell, 83, snapped the photo after Kennedy's funeral Mass in Washington, D.C.

"It was the saddest thing I've ever seen, there wasn't a dry eye," says Farrell.

Farrell, then a staff photographer for the Daily News, remembers having just one chance to get his picture.

"I knew he was going to salute and it was so quick, it was just up and down like that. I got the one shot and that was it," he says.

Farrell was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph, but lost to the photo of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald.

For interview with Dan Farrell, watch the clip to the left or click News 12 Extra on Optimum TV channel 612.