Mystery Man?

Twenty Photo-Dawg points if you can tell me who this is without using Google or Tineye.

I'll post the answer, photographer, link, etc. later today, so come back then and see if you got it.

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

RUSTY: "HCB."

Mike replies: No.

Ron Warren: "Norman Mailer?"

Mike replies: No.

Will Whitaker: "Rapper Cee Lo Green?"

Mike replies: No!

As a number of people guessed, that's DDD, also known as David Douglas Duncan, born 1916, in 2006. (Those of you who know him personally, no fair [g]—yes, I'm looking at you, Pierce.) The portrait is by Kristy Wigglesworth for the AP, and surfaced again this week because of the record price paid for one of DDD's Leica M3D's. (You get that, right? Three D.) Duncan is notable in a lot of ways—he was a constant presence in the photo magazines in the 1960s and '70s, he was a friend of Picasso's and a sort of visual biographer of the painter's, and he was involved in a high-profile contretemps with H.C.-B. a few years ago after publishing a number of pictures of Henri he took while they had lunch. Not necessarily in that order. A former Marine himself, he "embedded" (before we ever heard that term) with Marines in Korea and Viet Nam and created two of the finest books of combat photography in the history of the medium, This Is War! (1951) and War Without Heroes (1970). He was also instrumental in bringing Nippon Kogaku (Nikon), and by extension the rest of the postwar Japanese optical and camera industry, to the attention to the wider world, for which he is revered at Nikon.

Comments

[Stephen Gillette]

David Douglas Duncan (DDD), mayhaps? Whose Picasso-snappin' Leica just auctioned off for mega-bucks...

[Gary Miller]

David Douglas Duncan.

My fifteen minutes of fame was when I was about fourteen years old and my father (who wrote about photography) finagled me a spot in the audience of a TV show interviewing him. I was supposed to go up a mic and ask him a question. In a very nervous voice, I asked him something about his Korean War coverage. Probably something very esoteric like "is it better to shoot with the lens cap on or off?"

Since then of course I learned a lot more about him and must say he is one talented -- and lucky -- dude. He always seemed to be in the right place and the right time, whether photographing war or artists like Picasso.

[Mark Crabtree]

DDD.

The recent sale price of one of his cameras was a result of a very rare Leica owned by one of the most famous photographers of his time.

[John Wright]

H.C.B.?

[PWL]

David Douglas Duncan?

[Mark Crabtree]

I hadn't seen the photo you posted, but knew DDD was 96 from the recent auction stories.

Now that I'm allowed to Google, I wanted to share this link to a page I saw years ago, and stumbled onto again recently while reading up on Duncan. I think this gives an interesting first hand story of DDD late in his career.

http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0405/burrows_ddd.html

[L. Young]

David Douglas Duncan?

[Wayne Marshall]

David Duncan

[RUSTY]

HCB

[keru]

could it be henri cartier bresson ?

[JL]

Just a guess, I don't know why, but I'm going to say Francis Crick.

[David Levenson]

Mr M3D...David Douglas Duncan.
Along with McCullin and Nachtwey, one of the finest chroniclers of war. Just look at his classic book on the Korean War "This is War"
His Leica M3D went for $2.2 million at auction this week. Sold not by him - but by a 'collector' to whom he had sold it.....

[Drew Schnieder]

Was just looking through his book. That must be DDD.

[Phil Maus]

Surely it's not HCB? Always heard he didn't like being photographed and I can't imagine he'd be smiling for the occasion....

My second guess would be....an older gentleman of some unknown distinction. ;)

[Robbie Bedell]

I am just guessing here...David Douglas Duncan..

[Dale Mann]

Looks like D.D.D....David Douglas Duncan...former Life Magazine photographer.

[John Krill]

David Douglas Duncan

[Bill Pierce]

David Douglas Duncan, good photographer, good person

[Jim Scolman]

Hi, looks like David Douglas Duncan. Thanks, Jim

[Bill Mitchell]

DDD?

[Printemps]

A. Leibovitz?

[Richard]

That's David Douglas Duncan now in his 90's
photographer for Life Magazine.

[Marshall Arbitman]

D.D.D.?

[David L.]

Da Man with the M3D.

[dan]

here's what Tineye had to say:
0 Results
Searched over 2.2210 billion images.
wow

[robert quiet photographer]

I did not know or heard about him, I have to admit. Now I have learned something, I'll look for mor info about. Thanks
robert

[Stephen Gillette]

Yay! Now...exactly where are my 20 "Photo Dawg" points redeemable?

[Dave Levingston]

I read Duncan's autobiography Yankee Nomad when I was in high school, shortly after discovering photography, and thought, "I want to do that." I never quite did "that" but I did do photojournalism for some years. When he came back from Vietnam and published I Protest he had me as a fan for life.

I also remember seeing him as a guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He was promoting his Vietnam book War Without Heros if I remember right, though it could have been his book on the 1968 election Self Portrait: U.S.A. Carson was making jokes and carelessly tossing Duncan's mounted prints around like a deck of cards, dropping some off the front of his desk. That was the first time (of course) that I heard Duncan's high pitched voice...quite a shock, not at all what I had expected from the man who had been there and done that all over the world.

[Rick Keir]

In 1968 he published a small book called "I Protest!", which opens

For more than the last quarter century I’ve been shot at by any number of extremely unattractive men, the bulk of them Communists. I’m no peacenik, Vietnik, pinkie, Commie, liberal, conservative, kook, hippie, hawk or dove. I’m just a veteran combat photographer and foreign correspondent who cares intensely about my country and the role we are playing - and assigning to ourselves - in the world today. And I want to shout a loud and clear protest at what happened at Khe Sanh, and in all of Vietnam.

It's inconceivable that any journalist could do that today, and still have a career afterwards, but he went on to cover the 1968 political conventions and produce the book that made me love photography, "Self Portrait: U.S.A."

[Robbie Bedell]

By the way I think he is 95 years old!

[HDS]

I've always liked his 1948 photo of Black Avri's cavalry. Does anybody know where or how one can get a print of that? A simple small poster quality reproduction would do. I've looked on and off over the years.

[Richard Alan Fox]

Was it DDD that championed a New York photographer he met selling prints in front of the Time Life building?
If my memory was like a Lytro camera I would be able to recall and refocus the story, but somewhere back about 30 years ago I remember the story of a fellow named George selling BW landscapes of New York (I recall boats under bridges) DDD declared this gentleman to be the worlds best unknown photographer and he was granted his moment of fame and success and a book was published.
I think he used a Miranda.

[Mike Johnston]

"Now...exactly where are my 20 'Photo Dawg' points redeemable?"

Your points earn you FREE ACCESS to UNLIMITED TOP POSTS whenever you want!!!

Such a deal.

;-)

Mike

[Radiopaque]

Got this right because I read you. This surprised me. I guess I do pay attention. Thanks Mike.

[Richard Alan Fox]

Found it.

George Forss, a native New Yorker, is a self-taught photographer who was discovered in 1980 by renowned photographer David Douglas Duncan.

Duncan produced a book of his art called New York, New York: Masterworks of a Street Peddler, published by McGraw Hill. George’s trademark is his black and white photography, which has been shown in some of the most prestigious galleries and museums around the World.

George Forss has been featured in major publications and has been the subject of two documentaries.

[Richard Alan Fox]

Sorry I missed this bit.

George Forss has moved away from his old neighborhood in Brooklyn. His home is now in Cambridge, Upstate New York. Cambridge is an hours drive from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and 30 minutes from Bennington, Vermont. In 1989 George purchased a store front building on Main Street in Cambridge from where he operates his photography business and his own gallery — ‘The Ginofor Gallery.’

[John Robison]

Crazy man.

At least that is what I thought when I saw a photo of him inside a plexiglass nosed under wing tank of a P-38. Talk about going to great lengths to get a shot!