❖ SCAYLEA: 50 YEARS of Honest History Records

Josef Scaylea
Courtesy of Josef Scaylea.com

Josef Scaylea spent a half-century photographing the scenery and faces that make the Northwest a rich, diverse place.
      His work behind the camera included 35 years at the Seattle Times, most as chief photographer, seven books, and more than 1,000 photography awards.
      I was highly overrated," Mr. Scaylea said in an interview, the twinkle in his eye indicating he was at least half-kidding. "I was very fortunate."
      So, too, were readers of The Seattle Times, where Mr. Scaylea's work, beginning in 1947, helped to bring magazine-style photography into weekend sections, onto the front page and, for years, onto a designated picture page.
      "Most any photograph can look good if you blow it up to eight columns," Mr. Scaylea joked.

Josef Scaylea
Loved to capture life below the
Montlake Bridge, Seattle, WA.
Dated August 1950
Low res scan from an original photograph from
the archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Those who knew Mr. Scaylea best credit his success to the dedication and hard work, not luck. Luck couldn't account for being named West Coast Photographer of the Year 10 times, and being named one of the 10 top Press Photographers of the Nation––also 10 times.
      He pioneered pictorial photography and portrait photography for us," said James B. "Jim" King, retired Times executive editor. "He would go on a pictorial shoot and he would be given two or three days. People would say, 'Where's Joe?' But he would always bring back something great."
      Raised in South Glastonbury, Connecticut farmland by Italian-born parents, Mr. Scaylea developed an interest in photography as he wandered the hills and fields, captivated by the interplay between weather and terrain. Dense, textured clouds were among his favorite features.
      After attending a photography school in New York, he found that with a large number of photo-oriented magazines and trade publications in those days, markets were plentiful for photographers.

Lake Washington 
Josef Scaylea
Black tug, orange trim, 13 April 1952.
Click image to enlarge.
Low res scan from an original photo from the archives
of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      "Every big company had its own magazine. I did some work for Ford Times. You take a scenic photograph, and if they threw a new Ford in with it, that would help."
      Drafted into the military two days after the Pearl Harbor attack on 7 Dec 1941, Mr. Scaylea shot aerial battles in the Pacific for the Army Air Corps, footage over Japan, Okinawa and the Philippines that continues to show up in television documentaries. Stationed at Paine Field and Moses Lake, WA he discovered the great Northwest, vowing to make it home. He never left his Northwest home until he died at age 91.
      One Seattle Times photo that helped put Mr. Scaylea on the map was an overhead view of the UW crew team, shot from the Montlake Bridge. Look magazine named it the 1954 "Sports Photograph of the Year."
      Other magazines that published his work include Newsweek, Sports Illustrated, Life, and the Saturday Evening Post.
      Mr. Scaylea had suffered from heart disease and told friends that he had enjoyed his life and was ready to let go. And he demanded of a reporter "Don't make me look like a saint."
      Interpreting that remark, Mr. Scaylea's friend, nurse, driver, and business partner Jill Bennett said, "One could say that Josef's 'sainthood' was focused on shooting a technically precise and keenly interesting picture. He loved his subjects; he loved the Northwest. He was an eccentric––full of charm and an impatience for the ordinary."

Salmon fishing seiner near Pt. Roberts, WA.
Josef Scaylea
October 1979
Low res scan of an original photograph from the
archives of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

      Although he photographed many scenes and circumstances, Mr. Scaylea said he never enjoyed photographing celebrities and avoided it as much as possible. 'I wanted to show real people; a farmer in the Palouse, a horse breaker in the Yakima Valley, a Scandinavian fisherman."

Portrait of Capt. Adrian Raynaud
Falls of Clyde in background, Seattle, WA.
Dated 1963
By Josef Scaylea.
Low res scan from an original photo from the
Saltwater People Historical Society©

      In recent years, Bennett drove Mr. Scaylea to some of his favorite spots so he could continue to photograph them even as his health declined. We'd take trips to the Skagit every spring. Grayland in the summer. Leavenworth in the fall. He'd always say on the way; 'This year's going to be my last trip here.' He said that every year, every trip."
      And he loved to pass along this bit of wisdom to people both in and out of photography; "There are no great photographers," he'd say, "There are only great subjects."
Words by Jack Broom. Seattle Times, 21 July 2004, on the occasion of Scaylea's death at age 91 years. Photograph source as noted.

❖ Yacht PHOTOQUEEN ❖

Photographer Joe Williamson
Original, cropped 1951 photo from archives of
the Saltwater People Historical Scty©

Ivar's Acres of Clams, site of first meeting of the 
Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society.
Tour boat SIGHTSEER on left.
Cropped photo from the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

Joe Williamson, photographer, historian, and captain of small boats was the sparkplug that pushed the five co-founders into a dinner meeting he arranged at his friend Ivar Haglund's Acres of Clams that resulted in the founding of the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society on 1 April 1948. Joe became the first president of the Society and served in that capacity for three terms.
      Joe was born in Seattle. From his earliest days he was drawn to the Seattle waterfront––even to the point of missing his high school graduation ceremonies at Ballard High School in order to take passage on the SS NORTHWESTERN in the spring of 1928. He traveled to Sitka, AK, where he joined the Coast & Geodetic Survey vessel EXPLORER. 
      After his return at the end of the season, he joined the old Merchant's Exchange, where he worked until cutbacks caused by the 1930s depression resulted in his being out of work around 1932. A friend of his, Al Price, who had a photography business, told him to buy a motorcycle––then he would hire Joe to make deliveries and film pick-ups. Al also allowed Joe to work in his darkroom.
      In 1932 Joe married Evelyn Soames. In 1935 he was offered a job in Juneau, AK, with Ordway in their darkroom. He accepted and sailed from Seattle on the SS ALASKA, going steerage. Within a short time, he made arrangements for Evelyn to join him in Juneau. While in the north, Joe's interest in the waterfront ships and shipping led him to explore many Alaskan maritime sites, including the wreck of the Canadian Pacific Navigation's ISLANDER, salvaged in 1934 but still on the beach at Douglas Is. Joe and Evelyn sailed home to Seattle on the ZAPORA early in August, visiting many of the "outports" of south eastern Alaska, en route.
      About 1937, Joe opened his own photoshop on the Seattle waterfront. In addition to selling prints from is own collection, he also developed and printed films for customers. His Marine Salon, located on the upper level of the viaduct connecting Colman Dock with Grand Trunk Dock, soon became a haven for "boat nuts." Joe took the pledge to "photograph anything that would float." In order to assist Joe in fulfilling his pledge, a group of us planned several one-day excursions to Vancouver, BC, the Olympic Peninsula, and Portland, OR, to cover marine scenes (including the shipwrecks of the British freighter TEMPLE BAR and the Russian VAZLAV VOROVSKY, below.)

Wreck of the VATZLAV VOROVSKY
With a load of steel, wrecked on the Columbia R. Bar, 1941.
Photograph archived the Marine Salon Photo Shop, Seattle, WA.,
operated by Joe Williamson.
Original from the archives of the S. P. H. S.©

      Joe moved his shop to the Marion Street Viaduct in 1940. When WW II started and it wasn't easy to take pictures on the waterfront, he began to work with John A. Barthrop who had been called into the Army's Port of Embarkation, and so Joe was able to continue his photography work.
     

Joe and his PHOTOSHIP.

       He acquired a 32-ft Fellowship fast boat that he renamed PHOTOSHIP, and which he used before and during the war. In 1945, he purchased a 48-ft Stephens and obtained a charter to Southeastern AK. During the next seven or eight years, he spent most summers with various charters of his new ship, which he named PHOTOQUEEN. 

   

PHOTOQUEEN, with Joe Williamson,

1 July 1947 at Orcas Island, WA.

This copy was purchased from the Williamson Collection archived with

the Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society©, Seattle, WA.

Please check with them if you'd like a copy of this photograph.

  

      During WW II and after, Joe branched out into commercial photography for legal firms. He moved his shop to the upper level of the Colman Dock before his final move to the street level.

      Joe lost his wife Evelyn in 1960. He closed his shop in 1962, about the same time as he and the former Alice Murphy were married. They moved to Bainbridge Island where Joe had a darkroom built in a new waterfront home at Eagle Harbor. There he continued with photography until he retired in 1980.
      His vast collection of photographs was purchased by the PSMHS and is now housed at the Museum of History and Industry reference library, Seattle WA."
Text by Austen Hemion, a long-time friend of Williamson and one of the five co-founders of PSMHS. 
This piece was published in The Sea Chest, June 1994, a quarterly journal for the members of PSMHS.