In Memoriam; Al DeBat: Prominent Photo Editor And Writer 1931-2008
Alfred
Louis DeBat, a leading authority on digital imaging and traditional photography,
passed away on Sunday, March 30th, after a lengthy battle with cancer. A graduate
of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, DeBat traveled
extensively as a photographer and served as editor-in-chief of several prominent
imaging publications, including Professional Photographer, Photomethods, Darkroom
Techniques & Creative Camera, and Digital Imaging Digest.
DeBat was editor-in-chief of PPA's professional journal, Professional
Photographer, and director of publications for PPA Publications, which encompassed
Photomethods, for nearly a decade. It was during his tenure at PPA that DeBat
spearheaded the evolution of Photomethods magazine from an industrial photographic
publication to the first digital imaging magazine in the US, PHOTO>Electronic
Imaging (PEI), launched in 1991.
After leaving PPA, DeBat began working for the publications division of the
Photo Marketing Association (PMA) in Jackson, Michigan, in a variety of capacities.
He was a senior editor of Photo Marketing Magazine (now PMA Magazine) and was
the first editor of DIMA Digital Imaging Digest newsletter, a PMA publication.
In 2004, he was named senior editor of the PMA Prints-Are-Memories website,
which also serves as the PMA Editorial Bank.
Sought-after as a digital photo expert, DeBat most recently served as technical
editor for major book publishers and edited several digital imaging and photographic
volumes.
Following his graduation from Medill, DeBat worked at several Chicago-based
publications, including Printer's Ink, Furniture Manufacturing & Design,
Rogue, and Playboy, where he was a photo editor and director of foreign editions
for a decade. In the late '70s, he was assigned to manage Playboy's
expansion overseas into several foreign language editions, including Germany,
France, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia.
His foreign assignments helped spark a lifelong love of travel, during which
he toured more than 175 countries around the world.
DeBat was a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and
the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). He was also the editor of the
local ASMP, Chicago/Midwest, publication, The Loupe, which won first prize several
years for best chapter publication. He was senior editor of the Photo Marketing
Association International's photo information website www.Prints-Are-Memories.com
and has many articles posted on TakeGreatPictures.com. A celebration of DeBat's
life is scheduled for late this summer.
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