Photographer captured Wichita’s history – one frame at a time

The historical archives of Wichita are filled with Howard Eastwood’s photos, as are countless living rooms, offices and businesses across the city.

The prominent Wichita photographer died Monday. He was 85.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 1356 N. Broadway.

Mr. Eastwood was born on March 23, 1931, in Wichita. He grew up in various communities in Kansas and Oklahoma.

It was in Hutchinson, as a high school student, where he became involved with the photography club and started developing his own film, according to an Eagle story in 1986.

In high school, he worked as a Dillons bag boy for 50 cents an hour, using what he earned to purchase photography equipment. He expanded his knowledge of photography while working at college newspapers and yearbooks at Oklahoma City University and Wichita State University, earning money by selling candid pictures of campus activities.

“He was forever in the dark room, experimenting and learning a different art form,” said his daughter, Gail Johnson. “He grew from a king of the light meter and knowing everything that was measured to learning about digital photography.”

In his early days of photography, Mr. Eastwood worked for various commercial photography studios and at The Eagle. In 1958, he bought out one of the studios he had worked in, Jerry Rogers Inc.

His studios through the years were at his mother’s duplex at 401 S. Pattie, in a basement studio at Twin Lakes and finally at Indian Hills Shopping Center at 2425 W. 13th St.

Mr. Eastwood took yearly portraits of Admiral Windwagon Smith for the Wichita River Festival, U.S. senators, Wichita mayors, City Council members, county commissioners, prominent Wichita families, weddings and more.

Florist J.R. Koontz said he became acquainted with Mr. Eastwood during the 1960s, when they would often work at the same weddings.

“He was one of the top wedding and portrait photographers in the city,” Koontz said. “He was a real talent and artist and one of the old guard photographers.

“He took some very prominent people’s portraits and was able to capture their true personality in portrait – and that’s the mark of a real artist.”

Some of his portraits included aircraft pioneers Dwane and Velma Wallace; the Carney brothers, who created Pizza Hut; and former U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker.

In 1986, Mr. Eastwood won the Kansas Professional Photographers of America fellowship award, honoring people who promoted the organization and helped other photographers.

He and his wife, Donna, were married for 61 years. She died in August.

“Everybody just loved he and his wife,” Koontz said. “They did everything together.

“They were salt and pepper – right and left shoes. You just can’t walk far without missing the left shoe.”

Mr. Eastwood is survived by his son, David; daughter, Gail Johnson, and her husband, Marty; and grandson, Zachary Johnson.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 7:03 AM with the headline "Photographer captured Wichita’s history – one frame at a time."