Connecting - Feb. 01, 2024

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Feb. 1, 2024

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Colleagues,

Good Thursday morning on this Feb. 1, 2024,

Today’s issue brings more memories of our colleague Hal Buell and the legacy left by the beloved and highly respected former director of photos for The Associated Press.

A story on his death last Friday was in Wednesday’s Connecting. Please share your own favorite memories – they’d be so welcomed by all of us who knew Hal.

Another milestone! - Dodi Fromson - Murray's longtime friend and onetime colleague in Tokyo, Norman Sklarewitz, is 100 today. Not an AP-er (that I know of) but Stars and Stripes, Wall St Journal, US News and World Report, and hundreds of freelance articles on economy, travel, etc. He's in good spirits, though still mourning the passing of his wife Esther 2-3 years ago. Birthday party being given by his niece Joyce.

Here’s to the new month – may you be safe, stay healthy and live each day to your fullest.

Paul

Remembering Hal Buell, an AP photo legend

Tim Donnelly – Here is an image from March 2019 Jim Dietz memorial with current AP Director of Photos David Ake, and Santiago Lyon and Hal Buell – both former directors.

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Hal Buell congratulates Dan Hansen at his going-away paarty in New York in December 1986, after Buell promoted him to the Boston AP bureau.

Dan Hansen - In 1979-90, I worked in the photo department of The Arizona Republic newspaper and during baseball spring training I would be hired by San Francisco AP photographer James “Jim” Palmer to help process, print and transmit his baseball photos to AP NY Photos. It was during this time that Jim suggested I contact Hall Buell to possibly work for AP.

I sent my resume, along with Palmer’s reference letter in April of 1980, to Hal Buell about possible photo openings with AP, and he wrote back a very encouraging letter but at the time had nothing to offer me. I wrote again in July receiving back another kind note that still nothing available, and I wrote again in October and the reply this time was there wasn’t much he could do for me while I was in Phoenix and suggested if I came East, it might improve my chances of getting an AP position.

So I wrote back that I would move to Washington, D.C., after the first of the year, and on Feb. 14, 1981 with what belongings fit in my car I drove east.

Hal granted me an interview the first week of March in NYC, forwarded my name and resume to Toby Massey at the AP Washington photo office and I started my 23-year AP photo career in D.C. a week later.

From D.C. to LA to NYC and 17 years in Boston AP - thank you Hal for believing in me, offering a wonderful career adventure, and being a great inspiring boss.

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Mark Elias - After a few years as an AP stringer in Miami, and then as a photographer for the Tampa Tribune, I moved to New York to go into studio photography. A photographer I was assisting noticed that every time a siren would go blaring down Fifth Avenue, I would poke my head out the window to see what the emergency was. He suggested I still had ink in my blood and should continue with my journalism career. Taking that advice, I went to 50 Rock, reintroducing myself to the staff on the photo desk and then stopping at the bullpen to say hello to Mr. Buell. It was like talking to God, but that’s the way we always thought of him! He told me to get a pager and soon, at 21, I was one of the regulars there, covering all sorts of assignments.

After nearly three years in the city, I was seeking something a little more stable than an on-call position. One day after an assignment, I asked Mr. Buell if I could buy him a cup of coffee in what I think was called "the Pink Poodle" (The AP restaurant/coffee shop/snack bar). He listened to me pitch for a staff position, somewhere, anywhere, within reason, of course. He told me there was nothing at the moment but would keep the conversation in mind.

He was a man of his word. Several weeks later, he asked if he could buy ME a cup of coffee. He told me of positions opening in New Orleans, Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, quickly following with “but you don’t want Springfield.” Knowing how wise Mr. Buell was, I told him I loved Chicago, and he made the appropriate arrangements.

For the next 11 years, it was the greatest assignment of my life. It’s one that would not have happened without Mr. Buell.

Rest in peace, Hal.

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Photo by Bill Foley

Bill Foley - I was very sad to hear of Hal’s passing. He always seemed like the Energizer Bunny, with endless excitement and enthusiasm for the AP, photojournalism, and all the people he worked with. Hard to believe he is gone.

He was a true giant in his field and had observed and helped photojournalism make the transition from the darkroom to digital.

In 1978, after photographing the Indy 500 as an AP stringer, I went to NYC and met Hal for the first time at 50 Rockefeller Center. I had brought my portfolio of black and white prints. As we talked about the AP, Hal asked what I was looking for. I said my plan was to work overseas. As he closed the portfolio, he suggested that I should go to London and talk to Horst Faas, who was in charge of the AP Photo operations overseas.

I thanked him for his time in meeting with me and said that I would take his advice and go to London.

As one might imagine, travel in 1978 was far different than it is today. Pan Am had a deal at the time - Amsterdam from Boston for $99.00. I traveled to Boston and bought a one-way ticket to Amsterdam.

A few days after arriving in Europe, I made my way to London and made an appointment to see Mr. Faas. I was more than a little nervous about our meeting-he was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and had done just about everything, so, I was understandably a little worried about our meeting.

Walking into his office at the AP on Farringdon Road, he was very welcoming as I said what an honor it was to meet him and that I had recently met with Mr. Buell in New York, who had recommended that I should go to London and meet with you to discuss the possibility working overseas for the AP.

I handed him my portfolio. He opened it up, looked at the first few prints, then he closed the book and said “Would you like to go to Cairo and cover President Anwar Sadat and the peace process? I can offer you a contract to work for us in Cairo.

I immediately said yes. Horst and I then talked about what the AP was looking for in terms of coverage of Sadat and other events in Cairo and elsewhere. I was given a tour of the darkrooms, given a few pointers on the use of the AP transmitters.

A few weeks later, I returned to NYC and received more education about the AP and the overseas operations. I met with Hal a number of times during my week at the AP in NY.

I returned to London and packed up some darkroom supplies and a few bricks of film before heading to Cairo via Warsaw and Istanbul. (another long story).

In April of 1983, while transmitting photographs of the US Embassy bombing in Beirut, Hal came on the line to tell me I had just won the Pulitzer Prize.

Hal was a wonderful boss and a great friend. I am very grateful for the time I had with him.

He will be missed and will always remain in the hearts and memories of the countless people he helped, supported, and interacted with during his amazing lifetime.

RIP Hal!

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Elaine Hooker - What could I add about Hal Buell? His obituary lists his accomplishments. His colleagues recall he was generous, loyal, open-minded, curious, need I say opinionated (and doubtless almost always right). Hal knew the ins and outs of the AP and of 50 Rock and reached out to help colleagues no matter how busy he was. I agree with Claude Erbsen’s comments in Connecting that Hal was a very thoughtful man of deep loyalties. Hal loved the AP and loved to reminisce about his time at the AP and his colleagues, even into his 90s. It was an honor to be Hal’s friend. He will be missed by many.

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Guy Palmiotto - Sad to hear about Hal. He was the individual who had hired me, giving me my AP career. I started as his office boy, generally working with him and his “Bullpen”, Sandy Colton, Jake Schawdel and Tommy DiLustro. He was a mentor, teacher and above all a photojournalism visionary. In working with these four men was worth more than any photojournalism course I have ever taken. Yes, he was tough at times, and did not take any BS, but we were a very successful team. Under his watch, I gained perspective as a journalist, and more so, respect for the man and his sense of purpose. We moved from B/W to color and we transitioned from film to digital under his watch, and a multiple Pulitzer Prize winning team. It was a privilege and an honor to work for him, and for that I will be eternally grateful. He will be missed.

Sorry To Hear.

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Francesca Pitaro - I will miss Hal Buell. Even before we became personal friends, I got a sense of what kind of man he was outside of his legendary career at the AP and his numerous post-AP projects. From our first meeting in the Corporate Archives, Hal was warm, friendly, and always available to consult on AP history. Hal had an encyclopedic knowledge of AP history, photography and photographers. One discussion that cropped up many times over the years was about the very first photo to be sent over the wire with the inauguration of the Wirephoto service in 1935. I appreciated Hal's generosity with his time and knowledge. In addition to my questions, Hal was happy to help the many researchers I sent his way over the years.

Later, when I came to know Hal as a friend, I realized there was much more to this special man. I remember our friendship as starting on the night about seven years ago when we took the subway from the AP offices on Liberty Street, after a 25-Year Dinner celebration, to Penn Station. We were headed for the same LIRR train. Hal's Douglaston stop was a few beyond my Flushing stop. Nick Ut had missed the dinner but was still going to spend the night at Hal's place. The plan was for the two of them to meet at Penn and travel to Hal's together. As things happened, Nick was delayed, and since Hal and I were having such a good time, I waited with him until Nick showed up. It was the beginning of many memorable conversations, dinners and good times.

Hal was unfailingly kind, a true gentleman. In the past months dealing with Claudia's death and his own health problems, he never lost his sense of humor or his curiosity about what was going on in the world or the people around him. We discussed our families, the news, food, Jesuit education, photography, and whatever else struck us as interesting or funny. I learned a lot from Hal and will treasure his friendship and the example of a life well lived.

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Chris Sullivan - Hal Buell’s 2021 book, “From Hell to Hollywood,” which pivots on Nick Ut’s Pulitzer-winning photo of the Vietnamese girl fleeing from a napalm attack, took a story that we thought we knew – the whole world recognized that picture -- and revealed its much greater depth and meaning. It was my good fortune to be Hal’s editor on the book’s text, and as I sadly reflect on his death, I want to share a small story that shows both his modesty and thoughtful decisiveness.

After telling Nick’s fascinating story up to the moment when he shoots the image, then through the events that followed (including Nick’s intervention at a hospital that probably saved the girl’s life), Hal detailed how such a picture makes its way to transmission and publication. Each paragraph of Hal’s draft taught me something new and important. It was a riveting story.

But then the narrative reached the New York photo desk. There, of course, Hal, as head of Photos, entered the scene – except that he seemed to step back as he wrote that part. Modesty explained this. In our first conversation about the manuscript, I pointed to this noticeable shift away from the great detail, action and emotion of the story; I asked that he give readers more in the 50 Rock scene. What questions or qualms did he have or did he hear around the desk when that photo came in – with its shocking image of torment for a naked young child? He replied that he’d given a word sketch of that moment but did not intend for his part to overshadow Nick’s achievement in any way. But, I asked, without his cool judgment and gutsy decision making, would anyone even know of that photo? We talked for a few minutes, and finally he said, “OK, I can add a few graphs.”

In no time, he sent a substantial add (telling me not to ask for more).

The photo was “unlike any image previously transmitted on the AP network,” he wrote. Noting that he himself had helped create guidelines that forbade nudity and anticipating that the picture would set off plenty of political chatter from partisans on the ongoing war and that it could be expected to upset editors and the public, he went on to assess the image with his professional’s eye. Terming the composition and other technical factors perfect, he next ran through a long list of questions filling his mind.

“These considerations,” Hal wrote, “were not checked off one-by-one on a list, imaginary or real. They morphed quickly toward a conclusion as the picture was viewed and discussed with editors. It was obvious to me that this was a photo … that had to be seen.

“We transmitted Nick Ut’s picture worldwide.”

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David Tenenbaum - Working as a photo editor and then a photographer for Hal Buell was a huge gift for me. He ran a culture that above all, our images had to accurately tell the story, and tell it with impact so it would make the cut and get into the paper where it could help people understand whatever event we were covering. After that, it was all about winning: get maximum quality on the wire fast. And leave your ego at the door: if a stringer or local paper had the best shot, it goes first. Serving the members (and trouncing the competition) were what mattered. And when we did a good job and the play reports went our way, it was fun to think of Hal smiling in the morning.

Going to the occasional risky assignments with the culture Hal built in your back pocket was incredibly energizing. Wherever we went, we were the proverbial "Pros from Dover" and we were there to win.

Hal's lessons went beyond photos, to business and life, and they served me well running a company after AP. One bit of advice around hiring someone ("I'd rather have him in the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in") had to have come from his Chicago roots! We had debates about the merits of the (inexpensive) Lucky enlarger being as good as a (pricey) Leica enlarger (he was right, they were equals), and about whether breaching whales were happy or upset (jury still out). One night at a national political convention he led the team in a rousing chorus of "Momma don't let your babies grow up to be Shooters". And one time, when it really mattered, he acted with extreme integrity when it likely made life harder for him. A guy like that maxes out the respect meter.

Godspeed, Hal.

Connecting wishes Happy Birthday

Regan Morris

Connecting '80s/'90s Club

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Connecting publishes this list at the beginning of each month. If you are qualified for one of the age groups and would like to be listed, drop me a note. Please let me know of any errors.)

90s:

Norm Abelson

Malcolm Barr

Henry Bradsher

Joseph Carter

Phil Dopoulos

Hoyt Harwell

Gene Herrick

Joe McGowan

Charlie Monzella

Bob Petsche

Arlon Southall

Lou Uchitelle

Sal Veder

Doris Webster

Joe Young

80s:

Hank Ackerman

Paul Albright

Rachel Ambrose

Peter Arnett

Harry Atkins

Frank Aukofer

Jim Bagby

Myron Belkind

Ed Bell

Dan Berger

Adolphe Bernotas

Brian Bland

Lou Boccardi

Hal Bock

William Roy Bolch Jr.

Ed Breen

David Briscoe

Ben Brown

Charles Bruce

Ford Burkhart

Harry Cabluck

Sibby Christensen

Shirley Christian

Norm Clarke

Steve Crowley

Don Dashiell

Bob Daugherty

Linda Deutsch

Mike Doan

Bob Dobkin

Bob Dubill

Harry Dunphy

John Eagan

Claude Erbsen

Mike Feinsilber

Dodi Fromson

Joe Galu

Bill Gillen

Steve Graham

Bob Greene

Jerry Harkavy

Paul Harrington

Mike Harris

Chick Harrity

Merrill Hartson

Frank Hawkins

Monte Hayes

Jerry Jackson

Spencer Jones

Doug Kienitz

Dean Lee

Pierce Lehmbeck

Warren Lerude

Edie Lederer

Carl Leubsdorf

Jim Limbach

Bruce Lowitt

David Liu

Jim Luther

Larry Margasak

John Marlow

Dave Mazzarella

Chuck McFadden

Yvette Mercourt

Reid Miller

Karren Mills

David Minthorn

Peggy Mooney

Bill Morrissey

Harry Moskos

Ron Mulnix

Bruce Nathan

Greg Nokes

Larry Paladino

Jay Perkins

Lyle Price

Charles Richards

Bruce Richardson

Carl Robinson

Mort Rosenblum

Frank Russell

Denis Searles

Richard Shafer

Susanne Shaw

Mike Short

Victor Simpson

Rick Spratling

Ed Staats

Karol Stonger

Barry Sweet

Mark Thayer

Marty Thompson

Hilmi Toros

Kernan Turner

Jeffrey Ulbrich

Jack Walker

Mike Waller

Bob Walsh

Dean Wariner

Don Waters

Lew Wheaton

Jeff Williams

William Winter

Byron Yake

Johnny Yost

Kent Zimmerman

Stories of interest

After budget slashing, more newspaper journalists plan one-day strikes (Washington Post)

Story by Laura Wagner

A wave of union walkouts at media companies nationwide has now reached several Pulitzer-winning regional newspapers owned by a firm known for slashing the operations of the hundreds of local newsrooms it has acquired in recent years.

On Thursday, employees at seven newsrooms, including the Chicago Tribune, the Orlando Sentinel and the Virginian-Pilot, plan to walk off the job to protest management’s refusal to offer cost-of-living raises and threats to end their 401(k) matches.

It’s the largest collective action by staff at the former Tribune Publishing chain since it was purchased in 2021 by Alden Global Capital, criticized by some employees for what they see as “vulture capitalist” practices, such as selling off real estate assets.

But while most of the recent media walkouts — from the New York Times just over a year ago to Condé Nast last week — have largely been PR exercises, aimed at pressuring owners in the court of public opinion, union members believe their action could seriously disrupt the Tribune newspapers’ production this week.