Click to Enlarge He was an early and tireless champion of the single-lens reflex camera (SLR), writing an extremely popular series of SLR columns explaining their numerous advantages over the then-dominant 35mm rangefinder cameras, including their upside potential for future development. By the early 1960s, it was clear that Keppler had been right, and the 35mm SLR became the camera type of choice among serious enthusiasts and professionals until the dawn of the digital era. His SLR columns continued, offering honest, straightforward advice on a wide variety of topics, always in his inimitably direct homespun style that endeared him to generations of readers.
He was one of the first photo magazine journalists to recognize the vast potential of the Japanese photographic industry and to write extensively about the excellence and technical ingenuity of Japanese cameras and lenses. He first went to Japan in 1956, and returned every two years thereafter, establishing close personal ties with leading members of the Japanese camera industry from corporate heads to senior engineers. All considered him a trusted friend and colleague, and for more than 40 years he gave consistently excellent advice to Japanese photographic companies based on his unparalleled knowledge of the American market and practical camera design.
He established a Mail Order Code of Ethics in response to widespread abuses, and saw to it that advertisers that engaged in shady practices were removed from the magazine. He also set up enforcement procedures to help insure that readers’ issues with advertisers were addressed and resolved.
He assembled a staff of experienced hands-on experts qualified to write knowledgably about subjects including film and processing, darkroom work, lighting, composition, camera and lens design, as well as specific picture taking techniques. He oversaw every piece of editorial content that went into the magazine each month and balanced it with excellent picture portfolios, many by some of the most outstanding photographers of the day.
He developed a layered structure of editorial presentation so that busy readers could access much of the content of each article by just scanning the headlines and picture captions. Readers could then choose to peruse the entire text if the subject interested them, and when they had the time. This profound understanding of the reader and the reader’s needs and wants was pioneering at the time, and looked forward to the concise, content-rich editorial presentation that characterizes much of today’s magazine journalism.
The 20 years that elapsed since Herbert Keppler joined Popular Photography were equally productive, as he had the opportunity to update and enhance many of the concepts initiated and perfected at Modern Photography and bring them to an even higher state of fruition. One of his most significant accomplishments was to bring the benefits of a state-of-the-art, on-site test lab to Popular Photography, vastly enhancing the testing capability of the magazine and consolidating its unequalled reputation as a source of accurate high-level information. Under his masterful guidance, working closely with excellent editors in chief and staff members past and present, Keppler provided the underpinning of the magazine’s format and structure, enabling it, under the leadership of John Owens, the current Editor in Chief, to make a smooth transition to the digital era. Indeed, the fact that Popular Photography is still widely acclaimed as the world’s premier imaging magazine in the digital era is due in no small measure to Keppler’s influence and input.
Herbert Keppler, affectionately known as Burt to his close friends and colleagues, was given countless honorary awards and titles throughout his long and distinguished career—and over the years he was widely hailed as "Mr. Photography" and "The Conscience of the Industry." He was among only a handful of Americans to receive one of the highest awards to be bestowed upon a foreigner by the Emperor of Japan for his notable contribution to the Japanese photographic industry and its phenomenal success in the U.S. He was also presented with "The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Rosette" at a splendid conferment ceremony held at the Japanese Consulate in New York on December 9, 2002, by Ambassador Yoshihiro Nishida, Consul General of Japan.
While Herbert Keppler was certainly appreciative of all the recognition that came his way, there are no official honors given for his two most significant personal attributes—integrity and compassion. What probably mattered to him most is that millions of photography enthusiasts all over the world thought of him as "Kind Old Uncle Burt," the man whose sage, warm-hearted advice and counsel helped them get more out of their photography for more than half a century.
Please visit popphoto.com/keppler for contined tributes and expanded coverage honoring Herbert Keppler -The Editors
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