One of my closest photography friends, and former classmate, sent me the New York Times article about the Los Angelea based photographer Julian Wasser who passed away on February 8th. It is an outstanding read about a photographer who had incredible access to document an epic period of Hollywood and Los Angeles history.

Penelope Green wrote the New York Times article on Wasser and its one of the best photographer obituaries I have read in a while. I didn’t know as much about Julian Wasser as I should have, especially since we have photographed similar topics in Los Angeles, although during different time periods. I found it interesting to learn that Wasser accompanied Weegee when he photographed crime scenes in Washington DC but what I loved most was the quote from a 2019 TV interview that Green found. Wasser told this story about his childhood: “Every night I would climb out my bedroom window and steal my father’s car when I was 12 and take pictures, and they’d be on the front page of The Washington Post, my father would say, ‘Look, there’s another Julian Wasser in Washington.’ I said, ‘Yeah, Dad.’” This is beyond epic and something I can’t ever see happening again, those days are gone.

I really focused on how much access Wasser had back then and how much things have changed even though almost everyone carries a cell phone with the capability to capture amazing images and video in almost any lighting condition. Even when I started photographing seriously in the 1980’s I was able to get places with my cameras that I would have a hard time getting permission to photograph today, especially if I was starting out. I recognized a lot of Wasser’s photographs once I started researching for this post, sorry I did not get a chance to meet him, would love to see my prints on a gallery wall with his work one day (Along with a few of my other favorite LA Photographers).

The links below are a few other resources to learn more about Wasser’s work:

Julian Wasser’s Website

Los Angeles Times Obituary article

Alexi Celine Wasser’s Instagram - Julian’s daughter made a wonderful post about her dad after he passed away. A great read.