Herbert Keppler dies

from popphotography.com

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008

By Jason Schneider
January 2008

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008
Loiuse and Herbert Keppler at dinner at the Excelsior Hotel in
Cologne, Germany, Photokina 2006.

It is with profound sadness that we note the passing of Herbert
Keppler, whose extraordinary brilliance and uncommon devotion in his
lifelong work as an editor, publisher, mentor, and true and generous
friend made him one of the most revered, respected, and beloved
members of the photographic community.

To state that Keppler was a positive force who helped advance the
industry he loved so deeply, that he was a tireless advocate and
thought-provoking guide for millions of amateur photographers all over
the world, and that he was a practical camera design and marketing
genius whose advice was eagerly sought and implemented by countless
photographic manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, is merely to
scratch the surface of his remarkable achievements. Knowing him was a
privilege, and working with him an honor. He was a magnificent human
being, not only in what he did, but also in who he was. We will sorely
miss his puckish sense of humor, his joie de vivre, his unfailing
loyalty, his kindness, and his staunch integrity. But most of all we
will miss him--because we know we will not see his like again.

Herbert Keppler did so much for the photographic industry over the
course of his illustrious 57-year career--37 years at Modern
Photography and 20 years at Popular Photography--and gave such an
immense amount of heartfelt support and advice to photo enthusiasts
worldwide that assessing his unique accomplishment is a daunting task.

The son of Victor Keppler, the renowned and brilliantly successful
photographer and commercial illustrator, he developed an early passion
for photography. By the time he was a teenager, he was shooting and
printing portraits of his classmates at the Admiral Farragut Academy
and selling them to their parents.

After earning a Bachelor of Science degree at Harvard, Keppler was
commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy at the tail end of World
War II, served as an officer aboard an LCS (landing craft support
ship), and eventually became a lieutenant, the commanding officer of a
crew of 65. Aware that his crew of seasoned veterans of the Pacific
campaign knew much more about operating a ship than he did, Keppler
addressed them with his signature combination of leadership and
humility: " I know I have a lot to learn about the way this ship runs,
and I really need your help. If you help me, I will do my level best
to help you."

Later, when his men were reluctant to take on a particularly onerous
and dangerous maintenance task, Keppler took up the proper tools and
began doing it himself. "Sir, what are you doing?" a crewmember asked
incredulously. "I wouldn't ask you to do anything I wouldn't do
myself," he replied. The crew promptly rose to the challenge and did
what was required.

These incidents have nothing to do with photography per se, but they
say volumes about the character of the man who was to become one of
the most influential people in shaping the photographic industry for
over half a century.

After the war, Herbert Keppler went into newspaper and magazine
journalism. He was a reporter for the old New York Sun, which helped
hone his natural writing skills, and he worked for Footwear News, a
trade magazine. Finally, in 1950 his journalistic talent and
photographic passion came together and he became an associate editor
at a new photographic magazine called Modern Photography. "It was a
shoestring operation in those days," recalled Keppler, "with one
typewriter, a folding table for a desk, and no private offices. The
chain of command was a little fuzzy, but I knew one thing for sure--I
wasn't the boss."

That was to change over the years as Keppler rose through the ranks
and put his indelible stamp on the magazine that was to be the
archrival of Popular Photography for 39 years. By the time Keppler
left Modern in 1987, he had utterly transformed the magazine into one
of the most respected, admired, and financially successful
publications of its kind in the world.

A book could and probably should be written about Keppler's
distinguished career at Modern Photography over nearly four decades,
but here are some of the highlights of what he accomplished from the
time he joined the staff as associate editor in 1950 and left Modern
Photography as Editorial Director and Publisher to become Vice
President and Publishing Director of Popular Photography in 1987.

He established a system of objective camera and lens testing based on
scientific measurements of shutter speeds, lines-per-millimeter
resolution, exposure accuracy, etc.; enlisted the aid of trained
experts in optics and camera testing to create a comprehensive testing
protocol; and published the test methods and criteria, enabling
readers to compare the performance of the leading cameras and lenses
on the market. He made sure this program was carried out with the
utmost integrity, a vast advance over the bad old days when only
advertisers received favorable reviews in many photo magazines.

He was an early and tireless champion of the single-lens reflex camera
(SLR), writing an extremely popular series of SLR columns explaining
their numerous advantages over the then-dominant 35mm rangefinder
cameras, including their upside potential for future development. By
the early 1960s, it was clear that Keppler had been right, and the
35mm SLR became the camera type of choice among serious enthusiasts
and professionals until the dawn of the digital era. His SLR columns
continued, offering honest, straightforward advice on a wide variety
of topics, always in his inimitably direct homespun style that
endeared him to generations of readers.

He was one of the first photo magazine journalists to recognize the
vast potential of the Japanese photographic industry and to write
extensively about the excellence and technical ingenuity of Japanese
cameras and lenses. He first went to Japan in 1956, and returned every
two years thereafter, establishing close personal ties with leading
members of the Japanese camera industry from corporate heads to senior
engineers. All considered him a trusted friend and colleague, and for
more than 40 years he gave consistently excellent advice to Japanese
photographic companies based on his unparalleled knowledge of the
American market and practical camera design.

He established a Mail Order Code of Ethics in response to widespread
abuses, and saw to it that advertisers that engaged in shady practices
were removed from the magazine. He also set up enforcement procedures
to help insure that readers' issues with advertisers were addressed
and resolved.

He assembled a staff of experienced hands-on experts qualified to
write knowledgably about subjects including film and processing,
darkroom work, lighting, composition, camera and lens design, as well
as specific picture taking techniques. He oversaw every piece of
editorial content that went into the magazine each month and balanced
it with excellent picture portfolios, many by some of the most
outstanding photographers of the day.

He developed a layered structure of editorial presentation so that
busy readers could access much of the content of each article by just
scanning the headlines and picture captions. Readers could then choose
to peruse the entire text if the subject interested them, and when
they had the time. This profound understanding of the reader and the
reader's needs and wants was pioneering at the time, and looked
forward to the concise, content-rich editorial presentation that
characterizes much of today's magazine journalism.

The 20 years that elapsed since Herbert Keppler joined Popular
Photography were equally productive, as he had the opportunity to
update and enhance many of the concepts initiated and perfected at
Modern Photography and bring them to an even higher state of fruition.
One of his most significant accomplishments was to bring the benefits
of a state-of-the-art, on-site test lab to Popular Photography, vastly
enhancing the testing capability of the magazine and consolidating its
unequalled reputation as a source of accurate high-level information.
Under his masterful guidance, working closely with excellent editors
in chief and staff members past and present, Keppler provided the
underpinning of the magazine's format and structure, enabling it,
under the leadership of John Owens, the current Editor in Chief, to
make a smooth transition to the digital era. Indeed, the fact that
Popular Photography is still widely acclaimed as the world's premier
imaging magazine in the digital era is due in no small measure to
Keppler's influence and input.

Herbert Keppler, affectionately known as Burt to his close friends and
colleagues, was given countless honorary awards and titles throughout
his long and distinguished career--and over the years he was widely
hailed as "Mr. Photography" and "The Conscience of the Industry." He
was among only a handful of Americans to receive one of the highest
awards to be bestowed upon a foreigner by the Emperor of Japan for his
notable contribution to the Japanese photographic industry and its
phenomenal success in the U.S. He was also presented with "The Order
of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Rosette" at a splendid
conferment ceremony held at the Japanese Consulate in New York on
December 9, 2002, by Ambassador Yoshihiro Nishida, Consul General of
Japan.

While Herbert Keppler was certainly appreciative of all the
recognition that came his way, there are no official honors given for
his two most significant personal attributes--integrity and compassion.
What probably mattered to him most is that millions of photography
enthusiasts all over the world thought of him as "Kind Old Uncle
Burt," the man whose sage, warm-hearted advice and counsel helped them
get more out of their photography for more than half a century.

"RichA" wrote in message
...
from popphotography.com

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008

By Jason Schneider
January 2008

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008

[ . . . ]

I'm extremely saddened to see this. I've been a regular and most
appreciative reader of Keppler's columns since way back in the old Modern
Photography days.

He will be very, very much missed.

Neil

RichA wrote:

from popphotography.com

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008

I learned much about photography from his "Keppler on the SLR" column in the
60's. I never met him, but I just lost a old friend. -- Doug

"Douglas Johnson" wrote in message
...
RichA wrote:

from popphotography.com

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008

I learned much about photography from his "Keppler on the SLR"
column in the
60's. I never met him, but I just lost a old friend. -- Doug

Sorry to learn that. I met him many years ago and volunteered to help
young kids learn photography under his guidance.

RichA wrote:

from popphotography.com

In Memoriam: Herbert Keppler, 1925-2008


I've got an early copy of The Asahi Pentax Way written by him. I think
I'll page through it tonight.




mike