AL GOLUB
EARLY, EARLY DAYS--MISSOURI, CALIFORNIA & COLORADO
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri during World War II. Soon thereafter, my dad, Sam, moved our small family to a Navy Base near Livermore, California. It used to be called Camp Shoemaker, which is kind of ironic, since my dad was a shoemaker, just as his own father had been. Dad made sure all the sailors had shoes before they shipped out.
My parents--especially my mom, Helen--liked California, so after the War, my dad moved Golub’s Shoe Repair to Los Angeles. He located his small shop on The Miracle Mile in Beverly Hills. I went to grade school in Beverly Hills, junior high in Hollywood, and eventually enrolled at Hollywood High.
When I was twelve, I started playing around with cameras and film. My first camera was a Brownie Hawkeye. I had a little Kodak kit for developing film. That’s when I first fell in love with photography.
By that time, my parents had divorced and Dad had remarried. He and his new wife, Sylvia, moved to a suburb outside Denver, Colorado. Dad wanted me to go to high school in the clean air of Arvada, Colorado. So, I ended up attending Arvada High School where I was the high school paper’s photographer and yearbook editor.
Since I was young and headstrong, I returned to Los Angeles, where my mother still lived. I started Los Angeles City College with intentions of becoming a chemical engineer. But my heart was in photography and I just couldn’t stay with the engineering program.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE
Instead, I joined the Air Force. Unfortunately, I maxed the electronics test and was forced into air traffic control school in Biloxi, Mississippi. After successfully completing the course, I was awarded a Control Tower Operator certificate with Precision Approach Radar enhancement. Thereafter, I was shipped to Castle Air Force Base, Merced, California. I was just in time for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
But that Crisis didn’t impact me nearly as severely as my own, personal health crisis. Air Force doctors found a lump deep in my chest cavity. They sent me to Letterman General Hospital in the beautiful Presidio, San Francisco, California. There, I was operated upon. Even after all these decades, the scar remains. It looks like I tangled with a table saw and lost. But the really important result was that post-surgery I was unable to qualify for my flying physical.
A warrant officer told me that there was a secret war going on (in Vietnam). My first sergeant, Master Sergeant Dupree, suggested I find a career at Castle AFB. I told Dupree I had been a yearbook editor and photographer so he took me to the base newspaper, The Valley Bomber, where I passed the entry exam: I bowled, drank beer, and could handle a camera & film.
So, Airman Golub of The Valley Bomber began his three-year stint. In addition to daily Air Force assignments, I did features for UPI, AP, The Fresno Bee, The Modesto Bee, and other newspapers. Most notably, I did features for Strategic Air Command’s Combat Crew Magazine. During those three years, The Valley Bomber won a lot of awards, both at SAC and Air Force level. We were a top newspaper with an excellent reputation. The failed flying physical turned out to be a good thing after all. My great luck in being directed to The Valley Bomber was genuinely life-changing. You could say that Fate took over and gave my life real direction and meaning.
EXPOSURES TO PROFESSIONALISM & EXCELLENCE
When I’d been at The Valley Bomber for about six months, Major George Herkert was assigned to the 93rd Bombardment Wing as Director of Information. I quickly learned that Fate had smiled on me again. Major Herkert had been a photography instructor at the Modern School of Photography in New York. He also took me to my first National Press Photographers Association Flying Short Course--held at Disneyland. There I met such famous NPPA members as Joe Costa. And I learned the principles of photojournalism, which have guided me throughout my career.
In April 1966, The Modesto Bee hired me as a Staff Photographer. If I thought my days of excitement and excellence were over, I soon learned I was wrong. The Modesto Bee’s Chief Photographer at the time was Chuck Rogers. Chuck combined tremendous charm with a sincere love for people, a daredevil’s thirst for adventure, and a wonderful joie de vivre. Chuck’s style, both personally and photographically, was contrasted to that of the Senior Staff Photographer, and later Chief Photographer, Forrest Jackson. Forrest was an extraordinarily skilled photographer who was constantly innovating. He was contemplative, deep and artistic. The quality of his photography was unsurpassed.
I quickly learned that Forrest expected as much photographic excellence on such assignments as “Dog of the Week” as he did on A-1 top-of-the-fold headline stories. And I learned that even if I won an award for today’s photograph there would be an opportunity tomorrow to take a photograph that was better still.
LEARN FROM MENTORS, BE A MENTOR
By the time I became Chief Photographer and later Director of Photography, I had long since learned that I needed not only to take great photographs, but also to set an example through my approach to my work. These mentors, Chuck and Forrest, taught me many lessons.
I have tried to pass on the many gifts I’ve been given--by the likes of Major Herkert, Chuck Rogers, Forrest Jackson, and others--and to build upon their legacy. My 39 years at The Modesto Bee gave me opportunities to earn awards for my own work, but even more importantly to work with and guide other talented people. I am proud to have hired and mentored Bart Ah You, Adrian Mendoza, Steve Kosko, Hank Kosko and others including over twenty-five photojournalism interns.
In early January 2005, I began teaching digital photography & photojournalism at Modesto Junior College. In this new role of instructor I am thrilled to be able to work with talented and artistic educators and students.
REAL PASSIONS
On January 31, 2005, I retired from The Modesto Bee. It was far from the end of an exciting career. I immediately equipped myself with a full array of the very best digital photographic equipment. Then set off to fulfill my own “assignments,” free from the dictates of the often bureaucratic and stultifying requirements of the modern daily news grind.
Since my “retirement,” I continue to teach at MJC and have also worked for General Motors, the Associated Press, Polaris Images, USA Today, the Houston Chronicle and others. I continue to pursue my photographic passions: NFL football, wildland reserve, birding, and nature.
Now there is more time for hiking, birdwatching, gardening, and taking those photographs that require lots of time in addition to talent, skill and great equipment. My life is full of exciting people, exciting places, and exciting opportunities to take a photograph that is better still than the one I took yesterday. |
