Seattle photographer David Azose died this past October after a long battle with cancer. Azose, a well-known face behind the counter at Ivey Imaging photo lab, retired in 2005.

The American Society of Media Photographers’ Seattle chapter held a special tribute presentation of Azose’s work on February 5 at their member slide show event.

Marty Forscher, who was 87 at the time of his death in October 2009, was a renowned camera repairman and the owner of Professional Camera Repair Service in midtown Manhattan.

His industry celebrity was marked by his distinguished clientele — photographers such as Richard Avedon, Joel Meyerowitz, Annie Leibovitz and Mary Ellen Mark.

In addition to repairing cameras, Forscher was known for his inventions, such as the “Pro-Back,” a Polaroid attachment...

Social documentary photographer Roy DeCarava, lauded for his advocacy of young African-American photographers and art, died last October at the age of 89.

DeCarava began his photography career early, taking on gigs as a teenager to earn money. He later attended the Cooper Union School of Art in New York and George Washington Carver Art School.

In addition to his photographic work, DeCarava produced many paintings and silk-screened images early in his career. He fully transitioned into photography after a friend put one of DeCarava’s photos on display in...

Julius Shulman, the architectural photographer known for his commercial images of modernist buildings in California, died of natural causes on July 15 in Los Angeles. He was 98.

Born on a farm in Connecticut, Shulman only dabbled in photography until he was 25, when he began taking pictures of buildings for architect Richard Neutra.

Through Neutra, Shulman met and worked for other industry architects, such as...

French photographer Willy Ronis, known for his humanistic photographs of postwar France, died of natural causes at age 99 this September in Paris.

Influenced by black-and-white photographers Alfred Stieglitz and Ansel Adams, Ronis portrayed scenes of the common worker, factory strikes and everyday Parisian street life.

A native Parisian, Ronis was born in 1910 to a father who ran a photography studio and a mother who taught piano. Young Willy developed an interest...

Noted Bay Area photographer and educator Don Worth died at his home in Mill Valley, Calif., on March 18. He was 84.

Long considered a master printer, Worth specialized in black-and-white images of tropical plants and large-format landscapes. For more than 30 years, he taught photography for many years at San Francisco State University...

Noted photojournalist and master printer Pirkle Jones died on March 15 of heart failure in San Rafael, Calif. He was 95.
Famous for his portraits of migrant farm workers in the 1930s and leaders of the Black Panthers in the late 1960s, Jones was known for his striking social and political imagery. He worked closely with photographers Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams, who helped hone...

Helen Levitt, an American photographer noted for her black-and-white images of New Yorkers during the 1930s and 1940s, died in her sleep at her home in Manhattan on March 29. Levitt was 95 years old.

Born in Brooklyn in 1913, Levitt first turned to photography after dropping out of high school in her senior year. Looking for more inspirational activities, she began work as a photography assistant for...