World of Digital Cameras broke out this week with news of a production milestone that Nikon just achieved. 120 million lenses produced I can see why. Great glass, mounted on extremely durable high-performance cameras. So why am I showing you this photo of a gray-haired gentleman handing Richard Nixon a book on Park Avenue in New York?
Forgive me, I have written about this before. But in these chaotic times, with millions of photos flooding our eyes and a crazy, uneven, sometimes clicky bunch of content providers, influencers and talented creators, rat constantly with angry abandon, I thought it might be tempting to mention that the power of a single, observant, really tough professional photographer might be appealing.
On the right is David Douglas Duncan, a formidable photographer for LIFE magazine, introducing Richard Nixon, a war buddy from his time in the Marines, with his latest book about Picasso. Duncan was a combat photographer in the Marine Corps, and after the war joined the staff of LIFE. Later in his career, he became close friends with Picasso and photographed many of the artist’s books.
After the war, stationed in Tokyo, Duncan’s friend Jun Miki insisted that he visit the Nippon Kogaku factory to see their lenses. Impressed with their sharpness, he took them to the front lines of the Korean War. (As David always said, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.”) Considered by many to be the most important photojournalist of the Korean War, Duncan’s photographs were so sharp so much so that his editors at LIFE in NY thought he might be using a Camera disc. When the rest of LIFE’s staff saw how good the lens was, they wanted to get involved. And this small, relatively unknown lens manufacturer was well on its way to becoming the global brand known today as Nikon.
I took the above photo for UPI and it ran page one. (Slow news day.) A few days later, the phone rang in my tiny New York apartment. “Joe, it’s Dave Duncan, and that’s an absolutely beautiful photo you took the other day. Can I get a printed copy?”
I almost dropped my phone. I studied his work in school. I stammered out a “yes” and printed him a copy. Drop it at the Time Life lab for him to pick up. Don’t sign it. It was 1978 and I was a kid. I don’t think anything about copyright, ownership, value. I had so much fun taking photos in New York.
Years later, when Nikon was about to celebrate its 100th anniversary, I was sent to Castellaras, where Duncan lived with his wife Sheila. We did video interviews and I took portraits of this wonderfully talented man, one of my photographic heroes.
After a moment, he said, “Joe, come with me.” We went into his studio and he looked through some stacks of paintings and papers. And turned back to me with the print I had made for him nearly forty years ago. He looked at me and said, “It’s time for you to sign me.”
A talented photographer. 120 million lenses later.
Let’s add more….
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