ASMP Founding Fathers

Ewing Krainin

Selections from the 1940’s portait series made by Ewing Krainin’s fellow photographers appear as a special tribute to him.

Ewing Krainin by Bradley Smith Ewing Krainin by Herbert Giles Ewing Krainin by Ike Vern Ewing Krainin by Marie Denham Ewing Krainin by Mark Shaw Ewing Krainin by Unknown Ewing Krainin by Nelson Morris

In 1943, during World War II, Krainin who was working in his penthouse studio at 538 Fifth Avenue, made a polka-dot bikini from scarves, put them on model Chili Williams and created a Life Magazine photo spread, which caused a sensation and became a favorite pin-up for our “boys at war.” On October 12, 1944 some two dozen photographers gathered in Ewing Krainin’s New York studio and agreed that a formal photographer’s organization was both wanted and needed. This was one of the first meetings to organize photojournalists, a new breed of concerned visual communicators.” Philippe Halsman, a portrait and editorial photographer who had moved to New York from Paris in 1940, attended that first meeting. Mr. Krainin joined the newly created SMP - Society of Magazine Photographers - in 1944 paying a $25.00 initiation fee and his first $2.00 in monthly dues.

Ewing Krainin was born in New York City, the youngest son of Theodore Krainin, founder of the Hebrew National Sausage Company. From an early age, he had a box camera in hand and finally became a professional photographer. During the 1940s and 1950s, his studio saw a parade of famous fashion models and photographer friends - among them Andreas Feininger who lived in the studio after escaping from Nazi Germany.

In the years after World War II, Krainin traveled on assignment for Holiday magazine and Pan American Airways - producing classic travel articles and posters - among them the first famous color shots (1952) of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria . During the 1950’s, he lived for six months at the Foreign Press Club in Tokyo and then with Jim Thompson in Bangkok. In 1952, he photographed Angkor wat overgrown with vines, before it was re-discovered by tourists. On assignment in Europe, he shot stories from mountain crags, which he climbed carrying a photographer’s load of equipment in the days before miniaturization. One series was shot in Switzerland from a cable car. While Krainin reloaded, one of the cables snapped and he dangled with other passengers for hours, until rescuers arrived.

Ewing Krainin and wife BetteKrainin decided to close his Fifth Avenue studio when Pan Am offered him the post of Director of Photography - a chance to travel constantly! He moved to Hawaii - his idea of a central location - and married one of his models - Bette Finley. In Hawaii, he gathered a group of international traveler friends around him - Doris Duke, James Michener, Claire Boothe Luce, Andre Kostelanetz and his good friend from Holiday Magazine and Saturday Review, Horace Sutton. In later life, Ewing outlived all of these comrades and had the sad duty of scattering Kostelanetz’s and Sutton’s ashes over their beloved Hawaiian waters. After retiring from professional photography, Krainin and his wife founded Shellworld International, which exported exotic shells to collectors around the world.

In a letter of condolence he is remembered by Nancy Gilbert, stepdaughter of founding ASMP member Bradley Smith.

On May 8th, 2004 Ewing Krainin died as he lived - always dressed in khaki shorts and a Thai silk shirt - surrounded by Asian wood-carvings, bark paintings, Chinese ceramics and a silk-draped howdah - a carved wood seat for travelling to somewhere on an elephant. His classic travel photographs are still distributed today by Photo Researchers agency in New York. He is survived by his wife, Bette and his daughter, Cameron.