[Leica] Biographical Info re Dr. Ted's Curiosity

[tedgrant at shaw.ca (tedgrant at shaw.ca)]

Hello Alan,
A most heart felt thank you for this wonderful outline of your photo 
life!!!!!!!! Wonderful, wonderful!!!!! As I see some of my own experiences 
in your dialogue. :-) We both came through much of the times of the same 
era. A big congratulations on your many awards, way ahead of me! :-) 
I just have a few along the way and feel very fortunate and lucky I even got 
one! ;-)

I believe we should have more of these posted on the LUG! Then maybe we 
might get by some of the unfortunate posts we endure! :-( Besides I feel it 
helps built a far stronger rapport between each other and friendship!! In 
some cases the unfortunate moment of a bark at another LUG brother or 
sister!!!

Thank  you most kindly for honouring me with your photo life history.

cheers,
ted :-) 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alan Magayne-Roshak" <amr3 at uwm.edu>
To: "lug" <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2013 6:41 PM
Subject: [Leica] Biographical Info re Dr. Ted's Curiosity


> Dr. Ted, following a post by Larry Z, you stated that it was interesting 
> to you to find out the background of LUGGERS, so here is mine:
> 
> I'm a self-taught photographer, who grew up around cameras and images. My 
> father had been in the Army Air Force in WWII and served with the Fifth 
> Air Force's 8th Photo Recon Squadron in New Guinea.  He had boxes of 
> prints and negatives that I used to look through when I was little, in the 
> 1950's, and our family subscribed to Time and Life magazines, so I got 
> immersed in good pictures. One of the local Chicago television stations 
> ran B&W British movies, so I also got influenced by the lighting in films 
> such as "The Third Man" (my favorite).  I played with my father's cameras 
> (I think the first camera I used was a Foth Derby), read the Golden Guide 
> to Photography, and took casual snapshots, but I liked to draw better.  
> When I got to college at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I started 
> working as a cartoonist for the UWM POST, the student newspaper.  A friend 
> got into photography and we started to learn darkroom techniques together. 
>  By the time he lost interest, I was hooked, so I bought all his 
> equipment.  I was carrying a camera every day just taking personal 
> pictures with Pentaxes - first an H3v, and then a Spotmatic. One day at 
> the POST, I heard someone say that they needed an assignment shot, but 
> that the photographer hadn't brought his camera that day (!).  I had mine, 
> so I volunteered to do it. From that point I did both cartoons and photos, 
> learning by trial and error, working up to being the Photo Editor.    
> Before I graduated, I also got a part-time student job with the 
> university's Photographic Services department (our school didn't have a 
> photo program; I majored in Art History).  There were no permanent 
> openings at Photo Service, so I ran a new darkroom facility in the student 
> union until 1973, when a job opened up and I was able to take the exam and 
> get hired.  One of the first things I did after getting this job was to 
> buy a used M3 with 50mm collapsible Summicron, since I wanted a 
> rangefinder camera like H. C-B and other famous photographers of the 
> fifties used, and when I got it was thrilled to find out that the M suited 
> me perfectly.  This is still my favorite body.  It's sooo smooth after all 
> these years of use.
> 
> At Photo Services, I joined the University Photographers Association of 
> America and the Wisconsin News Photographers Association, through which I 
> got to meet, and learn from some of the photographers that had made The 
> Milwaukee Journal the leader in newspaper photography since the 1930's; 
> people such as George (Sam) Koshollek Jr., Angus MacDougall, Robert Gilka, 
> Tom Abercrombie, and especially, Edward R. Farber, former Journal staffer 
> who developed the first portable electronic flash units for the paper with 
> his own company, Strobo Research (later sold to Graflex).  Ed instilled in 
> me a love for multiple flash. And he was a gadfly, encouraging me to be a 
> rebel, to go my own way if I felt it was the better path. In 1981 Ed and I 
> co-hosted a seminar on electronic flash photography sponsored by the 
> Milwaukee Sentinel at their Active Americans Days event.
> 
> I worked at UWM Photo Services for 40 years, starting as a Photo 
> Technician, and transitioning through Photographer I, II, III, to Senior 
> Photographer and head of the department in 1998.  I've covered 70 
> commencement ceremonies and received 110 awards from news, industrial, and 
> university photographer associations, including UPAA University 
> Photographer of the Year.
> 
> (I did some stock photography in the 1980's when a friend opened Third 
> Coast Stock Source; 85-90% was with Olympus OM's and Kodachrome, but when 
> she sold out to Index Stock, I stopped, knowing I don't have the drive it 
> takes to succeed in that arena.  I always liked being a staff 
> photographer.)
> 
> My personal work has included documenting architecture threatened by 
> demolition (mainly in the 1970's), infrared, pictorialism, and Hollywood 
> style B&W glamour portraits, but my most satisfying photography has been 
> using my Leica (for B&W) or a digital color camera to record the humorous 
> vignettes that surround us, as inspired by my favorite photographer, 
> Eliott Erwitt. 
> 
> Awards/Collections:
> UWM Classified Outstanding Service Award 2004
> 12 First Place, 19 Second, 7 Third, 29 Hon. Mention, awards from 
> University Photographers Association of America (UPAA), Wisconsin News 
> Photographers Association (WNPA), Wisconsin Industrial Photographers 
> Association (WIPA), and the American Institute of Architects Wis. Chapter
> UPAA Photographer of the Year 1978
> UPAA Best of Show 1981
> UPAA Clip Contest Winner 1986
> 34 UPAA Honor Awards.
> Two purchase awards, Color of Wisconsin, 1984
> Asahi Pentax World Photo Contest 4th place award 1970
> Two Milwaukee Journal Snapshot Awards 1968
> Two B&W photos: collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum
> One B&W photo: Ed Farber Memorial Collection ? Milwaukee Art Museum
> 
Speaker at the UPAA Annual Symposium.  
> 1992 - 1998  taught "The Discerning Eye" photography workshop for the 
> Division of Outreach and Continuing Education.
> 
> 
Shows: 
> ?Less is Less, The 70?s ? A Decade of Demolition" at UWM School of 
> Architecture & Urban Planning
> Milwaukee Press Club solo show
> Infinite Eye Gallery solo show
> Pabst Mansion Historic Preservation Show 1981
> Lakefront Festival of Art, Milwaukee 1970
> Wustum Museum
> Smithsonian "Portrait of America"
> "Humor in Photography" - Washington Square East galleries - NYC
> 
> Alan
> 
> Alan Magayne-Roshak, Senior Photographer
> University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Photo Services
> (Retired)
> UPAA POY 1978
> amr3 at uwm.edu
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Alan+Magayne-Roshak/
> 
> "All the technique in the world doesn't compensate
> for an inability to notice. " - Elliott Erwitt
> 
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