24 replies to this topic

[Richard Jenkins]

One of the great racing photographers has died. Also, on a personal level, he helped with memories for the Richie Ginther book for which I will be forever grateful. RIP

https://f1i.com/imag...qjUkI-HdtUhPKeU

[Dave Ware]

I bought “At Speed” in the mid-seventies. An awesome book for a starry-eyed teenager. Those kinds of photos were simply not available anywhere else.
My condolences to the family.

[GMiranda]

RIP

[Doug Nye]

Oh my - another one goes.  Jesse was a great friend of Jenks's and of Moss, a fellow Porsche fan, and an outstandingly good racing photographer, and a considerable celebrity within the American road racing world.  What a wonderful innings he had... Sincere condolences to his family and many friends.

 

DCN

[68targa]

I am sorry to hear this news, one of the great photographers.  RIP

[ReWind]

His legacy

 

Much to look at.

Edited by ReWind, 17 December 2021 - 18:45.

[JacnGille]

Sad news

[LittleChris]

Very sorry to hear this

[cpbell]

One of the great racing photographers has died. Also, on a personal level, he helped with memories for the Richie Ginther book for which I will be forever grateful. RIP

https://f1i.com/imag...qjUkI-HdtUhPKeU

Sad to hear.

[klemcoll]

A sad end to a wonderful guy. I had the pleasure to do a joint photo book with Jesse and Louis Klemantaski back in the mid-1990s. God rest you, Jesse.

[PCC]

Truth be told, I'd never heard his name before - but I recognized the images. Really wonderful, iconic work. Very sad loss, but so much left behind to celebrate.

[ellrosso]

RIP Jesse Alexander. Great photographer.

[Graham Gauld]

Truly sorry to hear the news. Jesse was one of the nicest people you could ever meet. Great fun to be with and one of my lasting memories was back in 1965 when Henry Manney and I used to cover the Monte Carlo rally hopping between stages in his Lancia. We came to one stage before the road was closed with Jesse and his wife following us in their rental car. We parked, unpacked our gear and then had to wait for over an hour before the cars started to arrive. To pass the time we marked a line on the snow on the road and decided to have a competition to see who could run to the line and then slide on our feet and see how far we could go before falling on our faces in the snow.  Jesse ad I won easily because dear old Henry at that time always wore boots with wavelets of rubber on the sole so when he hit the line and tried to slide he stopped ead in his tracks. I never did see any of the photos Jesse took of this exercise   He was truly one of the great motor racing photographers and was always modest about his achievements.

[Odseybod]

Shame about the boots - otherwise, I would have expected trained ballet dancer HM III to run rings around the competition, with a couple of pirouettes or entrechats thrown in for good measure.

 

RIP and condolences to Mr Alexander's family and friends. Dependably wonderful pics.

[d j fox]

Truly one of the great photographers
RIP . Condolences to his family and friends

[raceannouncer2003]

Very sorry to hear this.  It was always great to see Jesse and his exhibit at Monterey.  Some of my favorite racing photos...

 

 

2004 Monterey, Jesse chatting with Jochen Mass

 

Vince H.

Edited by raceannouncer2003, 19 December 2021 - 06:40.

[sstiel]

Is his work available online? Sincere condolences to family, friends and colleagues.

[Richard Jenkins]

Is his work available online? Sincere condolences to family, friends and colleagues.

Read the sixth post (by Reinhard).

[klemcoll]

Here's a photo of (from the left) Phil Hill, Jesse, Masten Gregory, Richie Ginther and Lance Reventlow at Le Mans 1957. Photo by Yves Debraine and ©The Klemantaski Collection.

 

[JoBo]

In the pre-digital aera many moons ago, I bought from him some prints of shots he took in the 1950s. There were also some other great photographers like Cahier, Manney, Sitz, Tronolone etc. They call themselves journalists. Jesse had a great eye for composition and atmosphere. For me he was the artist amongst all these fantastic snappers...

 

Now his shutter is closed forever. Jesse, may you R.I.P.!

 

JoBo

[P0wderf1nger]

I appreciate that, unless you subscribe to The Times, you may find that today's Jesse Alexander obituary is behind its paywall. Nonetheless...

 

https://www.thetimes...tuary-b0hhss07h

 

It starts with reference to that Jim Clark portrait on the Spa rostrum in 1962.

 

Paul

 

[Doug Nye]

Jesse and Pat Alexander with Jenks - the morning after he had navigated Stirling Moss to win the 1955 Mille Miglia...

 

Photo via: The GP Library

 

 

DCN

[Roger Clark]

Denis Jenkinson’s Porsche Past and Present describes his friendship with Jesse Alexander and has a photograph of Alexander’s house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, overlooking the Matterhorn. I am still envious of their life chasing the racing circus in what seems like a convoy of 356s.  DSJ got his Porsche in 1955 so this must have been early days. 

[rl1856]

PR and marketing can have peculiar effect on the legacy of an artist.  When one thinks of iconic photographs of top level racing between 1950 and 1980, JA's images are in just about everyone's top 10 lists.  Unfortunately he has not enjoyed the level of recognition achieved by others who may have possessed less talent, but cultivated a higher public profile.  I treasure the images he captured and that appeared in publications, along with my copies of his books.

[Doug Nye]

Jesse was an exceptional motor sport photographer.  Amongst his American contemporaries I always think Tom Burnside stood out.  In Europe during the same era Yves Debraine was exceptional, Louis Klemantaski of course was outstanding, especially from his earlier (pre-war) start. 

 

I always feel Jesse was ill-served by the books dedicated to his work and he was always, to me, incredibly vague about the who/what/when of the cars/drivers/races/events/personalities featured in his wonderful work.

 

But where old-time motor racing photographers are concerned, for sheer technical excellence and quality, I always feel there has been no frontline equal for George Monkhouse.  

 

In the 1930s Robert Fellowes was more artistic (and it's obvious he walked a helluva lot further around the circuits than somewhat portly George) but Fellowes lacked the state-of-the-art equipment which George handled so adroitly.  After all he was (I believe without checking) assistant chief engineer of Kodak UK (which certainly helped).

 

DCN