9/15/2008:
L. W. Naegle was a well-known photographer in the Bismarck area for a long time. He owned and operated the Naegle-Campbell Studio here with his wife, Violet Campbell, for 40 years before he retired in 1972. He died four years later.
Naegle was had been instrumental in the formation of a Board of Photographic Examiners so the state could regulate the standards of that profession. He also served as chairman of this board for three years after it was formed; his wife was its secretary. He was a past president of the North Dakota State Photographers Association and was in Who’s Who in Photography. He lectured on photography in several states. As a veteran of World War II, he even served as chief of photography for a 32-state district headquarters of the U.S. Coast Guard in St. Louis, Missouri. Photography was a huge part of his life.
Naegle and his wife also won many awards for their portraiture throughout their lives. They entered many contests. So when he found an image he liked, it was sent in to some contest.
Such was the case with one photo, a portrait he took of a young boy named Jackie Potter. When the deadline for the contest came up, he found it while going through his files. In the photo of Jackie, his chin was tipped down, but he looked up at the camera, his eyes almost shy but also sparkling, his smile subdued but wide; his hat, a beret, was tipped on his head, covering one ear.
He sent the photo in to the annual competition of the Photographers Association of America, but did not hear back from them. Not every photo was a winner, he realized; he “proceeded to forget about it.”
On this day, however, the Bismarck Tribune reported that Naegle had, indeed, caught attention with his photo of Jackie. He had not won first place, but he had won honors for his photo. The picture was hung in the convention hall in Buffalo, New York, alongside other photos accorded the same honors. The Tribune reported that “it is the outstanding recognition that can be given a commercial photographer.”
Moreover, his photo and the photos of others who received honors would be reproduced in a collection of “outstanding photographic efforts.”
They say a picture is worth a thousand words; for Naegle, a thousand pictures and more were worth a lifetime.
Sources:
The Bismarck Tribune, Monday, March 22, 1976, p. 16
The Bismarck Tribune, Friday, September 15, 1939