Link to NY Times Obituary with no paywall
Tying up loose ends & beating on my own drum
David Finlay Breashears (December 20, 1955 – March 14, 2024)
Some years ago when I was teaching photography in a downtown place Called VanArts I had a student whose last name was Strand who asked me, “Alex can you show us a photograph of someone you photographed who is still alive for a magazine that still exists?”
His question floored me and I did not answer. I am 81 so my friends, family and people I photographed are meeting their oblivion with a repeated frequency.
One of those friends, writer Mark Budgen, about 23 years ago told me, “Alex you need not go to that joint on Broadway and Granville to buy the New York Times. You can get a subscription and it will be delivered to your door."
That ushered in a custom I had with my Rosemary where with little exception had us enjoying a daily breakfast in bed with the NYTimes and the Vancouver Sun. With her gone 3 years ago I keep the tradition. I must add that Budgen’s suggestion is that not only am I up to date with what is happening in the world but I have also gained and education in the arts.
It was today that I read the fine obituary of David Breashears by Clay Risen in my NYTimes and I well know, that locally and not in too many other places, would I have found out of this man's death.
For me meeting the man and taking his portrait brings memories of going to an early month end reunion of contributors (called a pissup) at Vancouver Magazine in the late 70s. I was new and awed by people that were working there. One was American photographer James laBounty. I asked him who he was. He answered, “I am a conceptual photographer.” I turned around and thought, “This guy is full of ….”
I was not too long after, that I not only understood the concept of his conceptual, but I also started doing my own versions. I did involve going to the library (no internet) to research the subjects I was assigned to photograph. By the time I was assigned to photograph David Breashears in June 1999 for the Globe and Mail, I was fairly well known for my brand of conceptual photography.
How I came to use that in my portrait of Breashears is in the link below.
And should I have the unlikely opportunity meeting Strand and of answering his question now I would say, “Strand while Breashears is now dead, the NYTimes and the Globe and Mail are much in existence."
