4 A
❘
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ NOVEMBER 18, 2015
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
E XTRAORDINARY P EOPLE
Joshua Greene
C ATHERINE J. R OURKE
For the Siuslaw News
_____________
J
oshua Greene is a man who
doesn’t need any introductions.
Most people know him as a city
councilor and the son of fashion-
celebrity photographer Milton H.
Greene, whose captivating images of
Marilyn Monroe have dazzled peo-
ple for over half a century.
Yet many don’t realize that the
New York City native is a photo-
graphic trailblazer and artist in his
own right. As president of The
Archives, Joshua developed an
exclusive process to create digitally
remastered prints of his father’s pho-
tographic legacy.
Due to his innovative restoration
techniques, thousands of images now
have an extended life, spanning 200
years versus the average 60 to 75
years of traditional prints.
“I’ve always been good at break-
ing new ground,” Joshua said. “My
work has always been about finding
better ways, whether lighting sets or
restoring photos. I can see the color
and quality of light; it’s my greatest
strength.”
That strength can be found at The
Archives. Stepping into its expansive
space harkens back to New York’s
commercial photo studios, with strik-
ing portraits of 20th century divas,
theatrical track lighting, high ceilings
and large-format equipment.
One almost expects to see long-
legged models prancing before
cyclorama walls and seamless back-
drops, with strobes, Softbox mono
lights, Starlite panels, C-stands with
umbrellas and reflectors, Photoflex
octodomes and large-format
Hasselblads atop giant tripods.
While Joshua once used such
equipment to focus his keen eye on
his subjects, his work now zooms in
on the details of much larger pic-
tures. Photo loupes and sleeves of
Ektachrome slides sit atop table-size
light boxes in between large-format
archival ink-jet printers and flatbed
scanners. And Marilyn gazes down
upon it all with her sassy smile from
epic-size photos mounted on the sur-
rounding walls.
Several F-stops ahead of his time,
Joshua set his own trends, transform-
ing commercial photography into
fine art.
“Lighting is the most important
thing in a photograph,” he said. “I
always prefer to shoot in natural
light.”
That passion inspired his work in
the 1980s with bon vivant author
Lee Bailey in numerous books such
as “Country Weekends,” which revo-
lutionized food photography by trad-
ing stale studio sets for spectacular
outdoor locations. Joshua’s signature
spontaneity and unprecedented natu-
ral approach made him a celebrated
lifestyle photographer, paving the
way for the Martha Stewart era.
“People have seen my work
countless times over the years with-
out realizing it,” he said. “What I
created had never been done before,
in publishing or photography.”
Joshua evidently carries the
“Greene gene” for painting with
light. Recognizing that his father’s
photos had become discolored, he
sought a solution to merge digital
technology with fine art photogra-
phy.
PHOTO BY SHAWN PENROD
Joshua Greene inside his studio at The Archives
“It’s all in my DNA,” he said.
Those genes led him to launch
The Archives in the mid-1990s,
using the advent of digital software
capabilities and an exclusive printing
process to bring new levels of beauty
and color to photo restoration.
“My niche was taking faded
images and bringing them back to
life,” he said. “I had a sense of what
the colors of that era looked like in
order to restore photos similar to the
authentic product of their day.”
Joshua breathed new life into the
Greene photographic legacy, restor-
ing it to its original glory. Now, more
than 10 years later, he is getting
ready to expose another new frame
of this work.
“I’ve come full circle in photogra-
phy,” he said.
With more than 30 percent of the
4,000 archival images never seen
before, “The Essential Marilyn” will
be showcased in a worldwide travel-
ing exhibition as well as an oversize
book. In addition, the original digi-
tally restored film files, remastered
prints and associated copyrights of
the Milton Greene Marilyn Monroe
Collection will be available for sale
privately as a bundle.
So what possessed an erudite
urbanite to trade the Big Apple for
smaller potatoes in Oregon?
Joshua discovered Florence during
a coastal visit in the 1990s.
“The magnificent light is what
impressed me,” he said. “I travel
often and marvel at what we have
here every time I return. Florence
has its own environmental quality
that is so special and makes us all
appreciate it.”
That appreciation led Joshua to
become involved in the community
“to make a difference” as a board
commissioner and city councilor.
“As a city team, we are excited
and energized about the future here,”
he said. “This is a diverse communi-
ty of retirees and creative artists with
fresh ideas.”
What’s left to accomplish for
someone whose babysitter was
Marilyn Monroe?
“I still dream of catching a 30-
pound salmon on a fly line,” he said.
______________________
Catherine J. Rourke is an award-
winning writer, journalist and book
editor who teaches creative writing
at the Florence Regional Arts
Alliance. She may be contacted at
CJReditor@gmail.com.
LETTERS
Heartfelt donation
Wow! My heartfelt congratulations to Mr.
Hardison for the wonderful gift he has given to
our Boys and Girls Club (“B&G Club Stunned
by Major Gift,” Nov. 10, page A1). I am so glad
that this man chose our town as a place to have
a second home, that he could spend time here in.
Our youth will benefit from John Hardison’s
generosity for years to come.
I had the pleasure of meeting the Hardisons
quite by chance on their last night here in
Florence last Monday. I had learned of the news
about the generous gift to the Boys and Girls
Club, as of that Monday morning, and had gone
down to Waterfront Depot late Monday after-
noon for a burger, and while there, struck up a
conversation with the couple sitting next to me.
It was a very nice casual conversation not
unlike many others I have had there over the
years in getting to know people you have never
met before. As we talked, he was telling me how
much he enjoyed Florence and especially
Florentine Estates. Being a resident there
myself, I inquired about which lot, and when he
told me, I realized who he was.
In the course of the conversation, I mentioned
my long-time involvement with the museum.
He immediately thanked me for giving my time
for the museum and how important he felt it was
for folks to be active in their community. That
gave me the opportunity to personally thank him
for his extraordinary gift to the club.
He looked me straight in the eye and said this
to me, “I have been extremely fortunate in life
with my business ventures, and I learned a while
back that I was not going to be able to be around
much longer, and after some time to think, I
realized that I wanted what I had accumulated to
be put into communities that I liked, and for it to
help the most young lives that it could. And I am
now really getting a good feeling about this giv-
ing, because I know I can’t take it with me.”
We shook hands as I told him, “Thank you
from the bottom of our hearts for what you have
done.” There was no feeling sorry for himself
exhibited whatsoever. To the contrary, he
seemed happy and jovial.
I feel really blessed and humbled to have had
the opportunity to meet this very special man
and to be able to thank him personally. Our town
is blessed, especially the Boys and Girls Club,
because of his presence among us for a short
few years.
Del Phelps
Florence
Carson’s delusion
Ben Carson, the soft spoken, retired pediatric
neurosurgeon, has spoken out on a number of
provocative things as he seeks the Republican
nomination.
Perhaps it’s to appeal to “The only thing that
stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a
gun” vote that he claims that if European Jews
had free access to guns, “the likelihood of Hitler
being able to accomplish his goals would have
been greatly diminished.”
Too many campaigning pronouncements
ignore history and fact. University of Vermont
historian Alan Steinways notes that Dr. Carson
cannot cite one “serious work of scholarship …
nor the collective historical memory of any
group that was targeted by the Nazi regime, be
they Jews, Gypsies, the disabled, gay people or
Poles” to support his claim.
Dr. Carson injected guns and the Holocaust
into presidential politics to illustrate why he is
against gun control. In response to calls for gun
control after the Umpqua Community College
shootings, he argued that incipient dictatorships
make it a priority to disarm their citizenry.
The Washington Post identifies Dr. Carson as
“the biggest fan of Nazi metaphors in politics.”
However, here, his Nazi metaphor is totally
inapt. It was not until 1938, five years after
Hitler was elected to power, that the Nazi gun
law requiring police permission for ownership
of handguns was enacted. All other firearms
remained unregulated. Only later — the day
after Kristallnacht, the night Nazi mobs
destroyed Jewish shops and synagogues — were
Jews, less than 1 percent of the German popula-
tion, prohibited from possessing weapons of any
kind.
Prior to this Nazi gun law, the unrestricted
right to bear arms did not protect Jews from vir-
ulent, Nazi-provoked anti-Semitism. Nor did it
encourage Germans to vote against Hitler.
Dr. Carson is simply wrong in saying, as he
does, that “Most people in Germany didn’t
agree with what Hitler was doing.” His opinion
that having guns would have permitted German
Jews to forcibly resist the systematic persecu-
tion by a well-armed police state supported by a
majority of Germans is delusional.
Dr. Carson has his First Amendment right to
stick by his Second Amendment guns. He is
entitled to his opinion as reported by the
Breitbart website that “the current state of our
government and institutions are ‘very much like
Nazi Germany.’” But, as the saying goes, he’s
not entitled to his facts. In fact, the Holocaust
was not enabled by gun control. It was enabled
by Nazi-enflamed anti-Semitism.
Getting the facts right is not brain surgery.
Arnold Buchman
Florence
Hot lunches
I would like to speak on behalf of the seventh
and eighth graders and high school students of
the Siuslaw School District. They are very dis-
appointed that they are not getting a fresh and
hot meal at their lunch break.
I know this because some of the youth I know
speak to me about this issue.
Yes, the food is fresh and hot when it’s served
to the sixth graders, but by the time it gets
served to the seventh and eighth graders and to
the high school students, it’s cold and rubbery.
For this is why I’m standing up and speaking
out for the youth, so that they can be heard.
We, as parents, need to listen to what the
youth are telling us and just not brush it off as
them complaining about the food.
Nancy McGuire
Florence
USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2015 © Siuslaw News
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National
Newspaper Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore.
Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax
541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com.
John Bartlett
Jenna Bartlett
Ryan Cronk
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
Publisher, ext. 327
General Manager, ext. 318
Editor, ext. 313
Advertising Director, ext. 326
Office Supervisor, ext. 312
Production Supervisor
Press Manager
DEADLINES:
Wednesday Issue—General news, Monday noon; Budgets, four days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Monday
1 p.m.; Display ads, Monday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Friday 5 p.m.
Saturday Issue—General news, Thursday noon; Budgets, two days prior to publication; Regular classified ads, Thursday
1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m.
NEWSPAPER SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
In Lane County — 1-year subscription, $71; 10-weeks subscription, $18; Out of Lane County — 1-year subscription, $94;
10-weeks subscription, $24; Out of State — 1-year subscription, $120; Out of United States — 1-year subscription, $200;
E-Edition Online Only (Anywhere) — 1-year subscription, $65.
Mail subscription includes E-Edition.
Website and E-Edition: www.TheSiuslawNews.com
L ETTERS
TO THE
E DITOR P OLICY
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the editor concerning issues affecting the
Florence area and Lane County. Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed let-
ters must be signed.
All letters should be limited to about 300 words and must include the writer’s full name,
address and phone number for verification.
Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is
not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received.
Libelous and anonymous letters as well as poetry will not be published. All submissions
become the property of Siuslaw News and will not be returned.
Write to: Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com