Katrina destroys prints of NO photog icon Herman Leonard, but negatives saved...

[Asylum Steve]

Thought some of you might be interested in this story.

New Orleans based 82-year-old photographer Herman Leonard, renown for capturing the golden age of American jazz through his incredible b&w images, escaped Katrina with his family unharmed, but lost a lifetime's body of prints to the storm. Amazingly, his original negatives were saved by his staff:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...ationworld-hed

http://www.hermanleonard.com/default_content.html

How would you feel if this was your life's work and you were in this situation?

While it's very sad to see so many precious prints lost, personally I feel those are material objects. From a historical perspective, I think the negatives are much more improtant, and it's a bit of a miracle that they were saved...

[adina]

I'd imagine his computer would have been fried

[another view]

True - more prints can be made from the negatives, but printing is an art in itself. I'm not familiar with the name, did he make his own prints? If he did, I hope he's still able to. As we all know, it's getting harder and harder to find good labs to do work like this anymore. Like I said, I'm not familiar with his work (might recognize some of the images though) but his printing style may be as important in the final print as the negative itself.

In any case, it's great that they saved the negs. I can't imagine what it's like to have a short time to get whatever will fit into your car out of town before it's destroyed. Fortunately, a lot of negatives will fit into a small car! Sure it would be best to have all the prints and negs, but if forced to choose I think the negs are the right choice. His staff know his work well, no doubt.

[opus]

This raises the question, "how far "off-site" should one store their backups?


As for how would I feel ... ? Well, a few years ago I did a little self-inspection and attitude adjustment on myself, about how I feel about material possessions. Basically I convinced myself that material possessions, no matter what they are, are "let-go-able". Sad to confront, but ultimately nothing lasts forever.

My husband would say, "just go make more." That's an attitude I would hope I could adopt, rather than be crushed by the magnitude of what was lost.

[another view]

I should have read the article and looked at his site before I replied. I started looking at his images and most of us have probably seen some of these images before. I'll bet the prints are amazing. And yes, he does his own prints. I hope he can continue to create them.

[Asylum Steve]

And yes, he does his own prints. I hope he can continue to create them.

...that makes this almost a unique situation. Leonard not only does his own printing, but seemingly has developed very precise and specific darkroom techniques to produce fabulous prints from what are often poor (ie underexposed) negatives.

And, at his age, there is really no way he can ever hope to replace the huge quanity of prints that were lost in the Katrina's aftermath, and he feels there are very few printers who could duplicate his techniques.

Now, not to open a can of worms here, but I'm inclined to think that his work could be printed digitally from high-res scans of his negs, the images being cleaned up and enhanced in a program like photoshop.

I know that may sound like blasphemy to some, but IMO it's simply an evolution of photographic presentation, and should not detract at all from the original capture method of camera and film. Truth is, it may be the only feasable way to ensure that his work lives on as well as meets public demand...

[tink]

Wow, this story is truely a miracle. For one thing, he is a surviver by evacuating the floods but what's important to him in his life..his work! It's so sad he has lost all the prints and he may never have the duplicated to the depth of how they were but it's not a total loss. He still has the negs!! Historically, he will live on!

[Asylum Steve]

Basically I convinced myself that material possessions, no matter what they are, are "let-go-able"...

I have thought about this many times. I really feel in my heart I could lose all my possessions, including all my original photo materials (negs, slides, digital files), and be able to simply start over.

As it is, I don't dwell in the past, or on older work, and am always looking forward to my next creative project.

That being said, what I would feel the saddest about would be losing older photos of my family and friends...