Albert R. Fennar (1938 - 2018)

Al was born in New York City, NY and raised in Englewood, NJ. While attending Dwight Morrow High School, Al was an avid tennis player and co-founder of the local doo-wop group, the Avons. Upon his graduation, Al joined the US Air Force where he learned photography and worked as a Photographic Interpretation Specialist. It was during his service at Yokota Air Force Base in Japan, he decided to pursue photography as an art after seeing an exhibit by Eikoh Hosoe at the Konishiroku Gallery in Tokyo.

Upon his discharge and return to civilian life in 1960, Al became a film technician at Slide-O-Chrome, a photo lab where he met like-minded photographers. His friendship with 14 other photographers developed into the founding of the Kamoinge Workshop in 1963. With the civil rights movement and black consciousness in the forefront, it was the mission to photographically document the black experience and turn what was perceived as a negative into a positive. As co-founder, Al’s experience led to a lifetime of fine photography and illustrating “the beauty of everyday, the mundane, and places often looked at, but seldom seen.”

Al also had a career at NBC's Global Operations in the New York City area which spanned decades. He rose from the ranks of an archival librarian at the company's New Jersey operations to become a Film Editor and Videotape Engineer at NBC and WNBC's headquarters in New York City. He helped shape audience visual images on worldwide and local area interests. He worked with television anchors, reporters, producers and documentarians, bringing the latest news and investigative analysis to thousands on the Today Show, Nightly News, and NewsCenter4. Al was one of the first Black men hired by the network, helping to pave the way for women and men who would follow. His eye for video images was developed by his love of photography, which brought him recognition and awards among those who shared his interests. Throughout it all, Al remained humble...a character which made all who knew him, appreciate his talent and love him.