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In Memoriam
Local Legend, Ted Streshinsky
At the age of 80, ASMP life member and renown photojournalist
Ted Streshinsky of Kensington died unexpectedly on March 27th at
Kaiser Hospital in Richmond of complications following lung cancer
surgery. Streshinsky was born in 1923 in Harbin, China to Russian
expatriate parents. During World War II, Ted was one of only 100
non-Chinese students attending St. John’s University in Shanghai.
He finished his education at UC Berkeley, earning a bachelor’s
in journalism in 1947 and finishing his master’s degree in
political science two years later. Upon graduation he turned his
passion of photography into a photojournalism career spanning more
than 40 years.
Streshinsky joined the ASMP in 1958 and was very active
at both chapter and national levels, serving numerous times as chapter
president and functioning as national director. Early in his photojournalistic
career, Ted was among local ASMP members championing photographers’
rights and striking against Time, Life and other magazines for higher
day rates, usage fees and retention of personal copyrights for the
images they created. These initial grassroots tactics were able
to realize their goals. Ted went back to work creating iconographic
imagery of American life for most leading magazines of the including
LIFE, Time, Look, the Saturday Evening Post, the New York Times,
Smithsonian and National Geographic. Joe Munroe recalls Ted’s
fundamental aide in coordinating many ASMP events, including three
major annual retreats at Asilomar with guest lecturers such as Ansel
Adams, Edward Steichen, Charles Eames and Wynn Bullock.
Best known for his turbulent images of the 1960s,
Ted’s subjects and personalities included the Black Panthers
movement, Caesar Chavez and the Farm Labor movement, Edward Strong
and the Free Speech movement, People’s Park riots in Berkeley
among other Vietnam War protests and four US Presidents; Kennedy,
Johnson, Nixon and Reagan. He also documented numerous historical
moments, from the day the prison on Alcatraz closed, to the signing
of the United Nations’ charter, to the moment then-Governor
Pat Brown broke into tears upon deciding not to commute the execution
of a condemned prisoner.
He also created portraits of writers, scientists,
artists and musicians including Aldous Huxley, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion,
Linus Pauling, James Baldwin, Janis Joplin, Jerry Garcia of the
Grateful Dead, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters. Ted’s still
images were used in various media including World Book Encyclopedia,
the PBS Special “Arguing the World,” even on a recent
37 cent stamp.
A “marvelous Streshinsky adventure” as
recounted by friend and photographer, Jon Brenneis begins “when
the hippies were all living on Haight Street, a veritable carnival
of brightly dressed people selling wares and drugs and such I believe,
Ted saw a guy sitting on the end of the block by a trash can. He
was brightest guy on the street and he seemed to be taking notes.
Ted started taking pictures of this fellow a block or so a way with
a telephoto lens, then went closer with a different lens including
those around him and the surroundings and such. As Ted approached,
the brightly colored fellow said that he was a producer for CBS
and there were cameras located in various second floor apartments
on the corner and across the streets. As Ted was heavily featured
as the subject in many of their recent shots, the CBS producer asked
Streshinsky to sign a model release.” The tables turned, an
amused Ted signed the release forms.
Although the Bay Area was his home base, he never
stayed settled for long. Many of his assignments were international,
from attending young girl’s funeral in Samoa to documenting
a two-week royal wedding in Samoa. While working out of San Francisco,
he met his wife, Shirley a writer. They married in 1966 and after
their children were grown, they collaborated on numerous travel
assignments that took them to dozens of locations, such as Spain,
France, Vietnam, Burma, Hong Kong, China, India, Singapore, Indonesia,
and Hawaii. In regard to his international projects, Ted once said,
“For me it is the photos of the people that convey the dynamic
of a country. Often, the only phrase I know in a language is ‘May
I take your photograph?’ “ Streshinsky illustrated seven
books, including “California Wine,” “Delano,”
“The Last of the Mountain Men,” “Rivers of the
West” and “Beautiful California.”
In 1989, when he was 65, Ted stopped photographing
and founded Photo 20-20, a stock photo agency in Emeryville representing
about 70 photographers and distributing pictures to magazines and
advertising agencies around the world. Ted saw this agency as a
chance to mentor young photographers. He did not offer his own images
through his agency, he carried the art of fellow photographers and
felt their fine art deserved to be treated as such and including
his own images would only detract from his efforts to promote others.
In 2001, Photo 20-20 merged with Lonely Planet Images; a division
of travel guide publisher Lonely Planet.
At an awards ceremony at Fort Mason Center in 1988,
Morton Beeb bestowed upon Ted the honor of Living Legend status,
counting among his peers those as Charles O’Rear, Kent Reno,
George Steinmetz and Ruth Bernhard.
Friends and family described Streshinsky as a man
with a wiry frame, boundless curiosity and a keen intellect. What
runs throughout his body of work is not just his technical skill
but also in Ted’s ability to capture humanity in his photographs.
“Ted loved to photograph people. He loved the
emotion, and he loved the action of people and movement and capturing
character. He wasn’t big on just scenics,” says his
wife Shirley Streshinsky. “I loved to watch him work, he was
very elegant.”
Jonathan Chester remembers Ted as “was a good
friend and mentor. His straight talking, self-effacing manner is
a rarity in the photo business. He is greatly missed by all who
came to know and work with him through his stock library, Photo
20/20.”
Ted “was always in good humor. We laughed a
lot,” recalls Joe Munroe. “He was loyal and sincere;
and a hard working guy for things her felt were good.”
At his memorial, daughter Maria said her father’s
work was very important to him, he took great pleasure in it and
his work was truly “a member of the family.”
"Of all the adventures Ted and I shared, two
are particularly memorable. Our China photographic lecture tour/roots
discovery, and our vision to co-found the Pacific Center for Photographic
Arts. The opening of the Center will be ever more poignant for me
as Ted will not be here to see the completion of our last grand
adventure together. Love never ending, Elnora Lee"
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At the time of his death, Ted Streshinsky was
working with Elnora Lee to create the Pacific Center for Photographic
Arts in Emeryville, California; which they conceived to be an organization
much like an ICP West; a truly international photography venue with
space for multiple world class exhibits, theater, private collection,
workshops, photographic fine art bookstore, service counter for
processing needs and extensive community outreach as well as classes
for children wanting to learn photography.
After much of Ted’s prompting, his daughter
Maria has decided to relocate and become the center’s Creative
Director. His architect son, David is already redesigning site plans.
The Emeryville Town Council is working with the PCPA towards funding
and occupying a space in Emeryville by year’s end. A capital
campaign is underway with a major fundraising auction set for November.
Memorial contributions may be made to:
Pacific Center for Photographic Arts
PO Box 8508, Emeryville
CA 94662-8508. |
