Leonard McCombe

McCombe was born on 1 June 1923 on the Isle of Man, and grew up in Port Erin.[1]

He became a professional photographer working on the Isle of Man at the age of 16.[1] He moved to England to work for Picture Post from 1943 to 1945, covering the allied advance across Europe to Berlin.[2][1]

In 1941, he joined the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) as a junior member. He became an Associate[n 1] of the RPS in 1943 and a Fellow[n 2] in 1944. At the time he was probably "the youngest Fellow in the history of the Royal Photographic Society".[3]

He moved to the United States and started working for Life at the age of 22 in 1945.[3] He continued to work for the magazine until its closure in 1972.[4]

While working for Life, McCombe produced his most notable work, "Career Girl: Her Life and Problems" (3 May 1948), which documented the life of 23-year-old Gwyned Filling, "a young college girl trying to make a start on an advertising career in New York".[5] McCombe's photograph for Life (22 August 1949) of cowboy Clarence Hailey Long inspired advertising agency Leo Burnett to create the Marlboro Man advertising campaign.[2]

Of his process, McCombe stated:

This is the way it usually happens. You come in cold to an unfamiliar situation, where nobody knows you. The scenes you had imagined often turn out to be non-existent. "What's going on?" you ask yourself. "Where's my story?" It's like being on the outside of a shop window looking in. Somehow, you have to break through the glass.[6]

With his wife, Gertrude, McCombe started the Gertrude and Leonard McCombe Foundation for wellness and cancer treatment.[n 3] Gertrude was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014. Whilst caring for his wife, Leonard himself deteriorated, with suspected mesothelioma.[1] He died in 2015, and Gertrude died in 2018.[7][8][1]