THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF HOWARD SIEGEL, A.K.A. “HAWK.”

One of my very best friends was a guy named Howard Siegel, to whom I gave the nickname “Hawk.”  Howard and I became friends in the early 1970’s.  We originally met at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio, where we grew up.  We were both avid autograph collectors.  We kept running into each other at Reds games at Crosley Field and Royals games at the Cincinnati Gardens.
    
Before long, we ended up becoming very close friends, which lasted for decades.  We shared a lot of common interests, including autograph collecting, rock & roll music, and taking photos of celebrities.  In the early 1970’s Howard and I shifted our primary focus from getting autographs to taking photographs and from sports figures to rock & roll musicians.  We began taking photos with “Instamatic,” type cameras, later changing to higher quality 35 mm cameras, with Howard leading the way on that switch.   Sometimes I took photos without Howard present and vice-versa.  But we often took photos together of the biggest names in rock & roll, sometimes traveling out of town to do so.
 
Howard did not have any formal training in photography but was an excellent photographer.  He took some classic images of Elvis, The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen and many more.  Howard moved from his hometown of Cincinnati to New York City in the fall of 1981. After he moved, we only saw each other every few years but stayed in touch by phone often.
 
Unfortunately, Howard passed away totally unexpectedly in late November, 2014, at the age of 58.  I was told that Howard passed away in his sleep in his New York apartment due to coronary disease.  Howard’s passing was quite a shock.  Though his brother, Tom, had passed away a few years earlier from cancer at the age of 57, both of his parents lived  long lives, passing away in their ‘80s  and ‘90’s.  I was not aware of any health issues Howard may have had.
 
Howard passed away in New York with no family there.  He kept his original photos and the negatives to those photos in a storage facility in New York.  Unfortunately, Howard did not leave a will, nor did he provide any information regarding this storage facility to his relatives in Cincinnati or me.  As a result, it is my understanding that all of those items got thrown out.
 
Howard’s unexpected passing was tragic as was all of his original photos and negatives getting thrown out.  I believe it would have also been tragic if the public never got to see some of the wonderful photos he took.  The only good news to come out of all of this is Howard and I often exchanged copies of each other’s photos and I am fortunate to have copies of some of Howard’s best photos.  Howard was like a brother to me so I have established this site to showcase some of the best photographs that he took.
 
I do not have copies of all of Howard’s photos, but I do have most of the better ones taken before his move to New York when the majority of his photos were taken.  Howard pursued The Beatles heavily and was able to get a number of items signed by them.  I was able to get copies of some of these items and have posted them here along with the photos.
 
Howard talked about one day offering signed and numbered limited edition copies of his photos.  Sadly, that is no longer possible.  I regretfully have to announce that for fans who may have interest in obtaining copies of these photos, since I do not have the original negatives to them,  I am NOT able to provide any copies/enlargements etc., of ANY of these images.  No exceptions!  Though it is my hope that people will enjoy these photos for years to come on this site.

T. Alan Hartman