Jimmy Hare

James H. "Jimmy" Hare (October 3, 1856 - June 24, 1946) was an English photojournalist active between 1898-1931. He was the leading photographer during five major wars, and was the driving force behind "Colliers" becoming a large circulation paper.

Early life

Hare was born in London to George Hare, who, after a successful cabinet making business, becomes a successful camera manufacturer. Hare attended St. John's College in London. He voluntarily left after one year and became an apprentice in his fathers camera shop.

In 1879, Hare and his father have a disagreement when he told his father that they should begin making smaller handheld cameras, which were just becoming technologically feasible. Hare left his father's business to work for another London firm. On August 2 of that same year Hare married Ellen Crapper.

Career

During the early 1880's Hare began to lose interest in camera manufacturing. He took up free-lance photograpy as a hobby and sold his work to various London journals.

In 1889, Hare became a technical adviser for E.& H.T. Anthony & Co. in Brooklyn, NY.In 1895, he became a full-time photographer for Illustrated American Magazine.

On February 15, 1898, one month after a fire destroyed the Illustrated American's headquarters, Hare presented himself at the office of Collier's Weekly proposing to photograph the wreckage of the battleship "Maine", and life in Spanish Cuba. This was his first major job. He captured images of the Spanish-American War (1898), which Collier's, the newspaper he was currently working for, used to build support up for the controversial conflict. His intimate war-time photography was often cited as the reason Colliers' circulation increased momentously.

After the Spanish-American war, Jimmy Hare worked for Leslie's Weekly photographing four more wars: the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Mexican Revolution in 1911, the First Balkan War (which he covered for Colliers again), and World War I for Leslie's Weekly. He became known as the man who made the Russo-Japanese conflict famous, and was adored by his peers and contemporaries.

In 1904, Hare went to the Far East to photograph the Russo-Japanese war. In 1908, he took the first photo of a plane in fight. In 1911, he went to Mexico to cover the Mexican Revolution. In 1912, he went to Europe to cover the First Balkan War for Colliers and the [Illustrated London Sphere.

Hare was profiled by American Magazine in 1913 among its "interesting people", citing "the ability to catch the dramatic elements in the event he is picturing."

In 1914, he learned that Collier's would not be sending him to Europe to cover World War I] , so he contacted Leslie's Weekly to offer his service. He was hired and sent to England.

Other than photographing war, he took many notable photographs of airplane evolution - starting from the Wright Brothers' flight in 1908.

In 1931, Hare retired. In 1939, he was made the honorary president of the Overseas Press Club. On June 24, 1946, he died while staying with one of his daughters in Teaneck, New Jersey.

References

* [http://www.temple.edu/photo/photographers/hare/haretime.html Time Line from Temple University]