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He's experienced life with a unique view of the world Joe Messinger’s first published photo in a newspaper was of a marcher at a parade carrying a U.S. flag. He was just 6 years old when he took the shot. Now 66, the Claremont resident will be honored with a lifetime achievement award for his career as a photojournalist by the Press Photographers Association of Greater Los Angeles. “To me it's an amazing profession,” Mr. Messinger said. "You're living the dream. You have a front row seat to history and you get a chance to share your experiences with all the people who read that newspaper." His long and illustrious career as a photographer began with his first newspaper job at the Recorder Ledger in Sunland at the age of 16. He took a photo of an injured football player and the paper hired him based on the quality of the shot. After high school and a stint in the Air Force, Mr. Messinger picked up where he left off. He became a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and later a freelance photographer for various newspapers and magazines. He’s covered almost every Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena, even shooting from his rented loft on Colorado Boulevard. He's flown in the Goodyear Blimp, witnessed the destruction caused by the Northridge earthquake and covered the Charles Manson trial and riots in East Los Angeles. While covering a protest at Los Angeles City College, Mr. Messinger was run off campus by members of the Black Panthers, who tried to take his camera. Another photographer from the Los Angeles Times shot the altercation, and the shots were published in the Times. His most memorable story came on May 17, 1974. The Symbionese Liberation Army, the urban guerrilla warfare group that kidnapped Patty Hearst, got into a shootout with the Los Angeles County SWAT team. Mr. Messinger recanted a story about hearing a SWAT radio call asking for backup because they were out-armed by the group. "To hear SWAT send out a call like that, it made the hair stand out on the back of your neck," he said. During the shootout, he took an iconic photo of a father and his 3 children ducking for cover under a news van. The shot was published on the cover of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Throughout his career, Mr. Messinger also got to meet people he admired very much, such as songwriter Hoagie Carmichael, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. "One day you'll be eating the tear gas, the next day you'll be shaking hands with the president and on another day you'll be having tea and finger sandwiches with the little old ladies while listening to Hoagie Carmichael play Stardust for you," Mr. Messinger said.
At a celebrity shoot at Mann's Chinese Theater, Mr. Messinger talked about another perk of his job. "Here I am photographing Raquel Welch. I thought I just died and gone to heaven," Mr. Messinger said. "And I feel this tap on my shoulder. This was kind of annoying. I look around and it's the PR guy. He said, 'When you're threw with Ms. Welch, I have Ursula Andress here for you.' Then I knew I had died and gone to heaven." His photographs have been published in US News & World Report, Newsweek, Der Stern in Germany, Paris Match in France and in newspapers all over the world. In his later years, Mr. Messinger became more involved in Public Relations photography, working for Karate Illustrated Magazine, Black Belt and Los Angeles City College. He ended his career at Los Angeles Trade-Tech College working in the photo lab and teaching about Public Relations photography. "I think when I was younger, I liked editorial better because that's where the action was," Mr. Messinger said. "But now I think I enjoy the PR work better because you have a little more time to really work a picture and study it and make something that you really like. It's not so much gun and run." Mr. Messinger served 2 terms as President of the PPAGLA and spearheaded an effort by the organization to write the Media Guidebook. The book outlines the legal rights of members of the press for access to events and disaster areas beyond that of the general public in order to gather the news. "As new police and firemen come on, they need to be reminded of what their responsibilities are," Mr. Messinger said. "And their rights. The news media has as many responsibilities as they have rights. It's a 2-way street." Originally published in 1992, the book has become a standard point of reference for both government and media agencies. Last year, Mr. Messinger finally retired but still remains active. Four years ago, he got his pilot's license and became a member of the Foothill Flying Club. He still photographs these days at events like the Cable Air Show, but he does it just for fun. An award ceremony will take place tonight at the PPAGLA's annual banquet at the Glendale Moose Lodge. "He's had an outstanding career and done great work for the organization," said Jim Ober, a Board Member and past President of the PPAGLA. "His work on the Media Access Committee lead to the guidebook which is still used widely by police agencies and has really helped the cause of the media." —Tony Krickl |
