Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/07/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]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