Did He Take the Kennedy Picture?

[bob cole]

New York Times Page One Story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/nyregion/15photographer.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

 

[bmattock]

This story has been kicking around, refusing to die, for a couple weeks now. Saw the first couple of volleys in Editor & Publisher.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003625949

Seems to me that the chances are high Mr. O'Donnell was somewhat self-aggrandizing while he had his mental faculties, claiming to have been a 'White House Photographer', which was stretching the truth - since he worked for the USIA. Indeed he took photographs of Presidents - there is documentary evidence of him in photos taken by others of various presidents, and he is indeed taking photographs in them, as I understand it. I doubt he did much more 'stretching' of the truth than many people do. Hey, I was a 'retail petroleum transfer technician' in my youth. Yeah, I pumped gasoline.

It also seems to me that he got old and suffered from advanced dementia towards the end of his life, and that is to be pitied.

An obituary gave credit to him for photographs he did not take, based on the information given them by his surviving relatives, who were acting on their best knowledge. I don't really understand why this is still going on.

It is also interesting to note that there are more than one 'John-John' photo floating around - so it is at least possible that O'Donnell was there, he could have taken 'a' version of that photo, though no proof exists of it at this time.

He served his country in the military, he was a respected working photographer, and as he got old, he lost some of his faculties. He is loved by his son and wife, and that should be the end of it. If any harm was done to anyone, it was in the form of an accidental error in an obit, and correction has been issued. Let it be.

 

[photogdave]

Here is some further reading:
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0708/the-bizarre-story-of-joe-o-donnell.html
I won't comment. Wasn't there, don't know the facts.

 

[rich815]

Yeah, it's been bantered around various forums for a couple weeks now:

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2007/09/why-take-pictur.html

and

http://theonlinephotographer.typepad.com/the_online_photographer/2007/09/the-odonnell-br.html

 

[bmattock]

Turns out that Digital Journalist may have done a hatchet job on O'Donnell:

http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2007/09/odon02.html

In any case - the man was a real press photographer during the times and places he spoke of - no Walter Mitty type. He served his country, he did his job, and as he got old, he suffered the indignity of dementia. He's dead now - no one can hurt him anymore, and the only people damaged by this are his widow and his son, neither of whom have been accused of doing anything wrong.

So how about dropping and lettting the poor guy rest in peace?

I think it's worse than paying attention to what Brittney does on MTV or whatever.

 

[wlewisiii]

Bill, thank you for the materials you have provided. Heck, far as I'm concerned Britney actually finally looks like a woman rather than a boy with tits... 😱

More seriously, as for Joe, there were so many shots of John saluting that it irrellevant about who said what, where, when...

William

 

[Olsen]

Far more interesting is this picture. A good example of that picture manipulation was possible and was done long before Photoshop became a reality. Lee Harwey Oswald had even worked for a lab that did such manipulations.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/CE746A.jpg