Robert O

Robert O. ’Tis said that some cultures, especially in the early days of cameras, believed a bit of your soul was stolen when someone photographed you.

In the case of Robert O. Johnson the opposite is perhaps more likely. Through the process of taking a picture, he may have gifted a bit of his soul to his subject in the photo, and it lingers there in the paper until the last of the chemical-induced image fades away to nothing.

“I absolutely think that’s the case,” agrees Marsha Yeilding, daughter of the Albertville photographer.

Known as Robert O., for 61 years he photographed people and events across Sand Mountain and beyond – including portraits of Alabama governors, President Jimmy Carter and his mother – thus perhaps sharing a bit of his soul while touching the lives of legions.

“I would say it had to be thousands he touched by the time you take into account all of the class pictures and all of the large groups and weddings,” says Dennis Burgess, a long-time friend. “It was easily in the thousands. The stamp he placed on Albertville history cannot be measured. I look back in time, and it’s hard to fathom.”

If Robert O.’s photography touched many lives, then the flash did not fire far from the camera.

His father, J. Willie Johnson, moved to Albertville from St. Clair County days after the “cyclone” of 1908 turned much of the town into matchsticks. As reported in the first part of this two-part story, J. Willie came to open a photography studio, and for at least 40 years shot pictures of countless people and events across Sand Mountain.

Robert O., the youngest of his five children, worked in the studio as a young boy.

“At first I didn’t like it much because I had jobs like sweeping and cleaning up,” Robert O. said in a 1991 story in The Sand Mountain Reporter.

That changed.

After graduating from Albertville High School in 1942, Robert O. served in World War II aboard a submarine tender. Story by David Moore Photos provided by Dennis Burgess and Marsha Johnson Yeilding

It was years before he talked about the war, says Marsha, now of Vestavia, and even then he never mentioned any interest in photography during WWII.

“But he always knew he would come back and go into that business,” she says.

In 1946-1948, he studied photography at what was part of the former University of Chattanooga, then returned home to work with J. Willie.

Wedding photos were a staple for them.

“When I first started, my biggest territory was Gadsden in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s,” Robert O. said in a Gadsden Times story printed for his retirement in March 2009.

Gregarious by nature, Robert O. enjoyed shooting these and other social engagements, but he absolutely loved shooting school photos, especially for his alma mater.

“Whether they were portraits of students, clubs, events or sports, he was at the high school every day shooting pictures,” Marsha says. “I think his lifeline was young kids … they kept him young.”

Albertville’s yearbook, “The Mountaineer,” was a beneficiary of Robert O.’s photography from 1948- 1989.

“The yearbooks won a lot of state awards with his professional photography in them,” Marsha says.

His work was appreciated. In 1998, AHS honored the photographer for 50 years of service. And in 2011 he was inducted into the inaugural class of the Albertville High School Hall of Fame.

Two other avenues through which countless people came face to face with the lenses of Robert O.’s Crown Graphic, Hasselblad and Nikon cameras were The Sand Mountain Reporter and the former Albertville Herald.

His photos in this story came from his years at the Herald. When it was absorbed by the Reporter in 1964, at least some of the Herald’s archives went to Jack Thompson, who took over the building for his print shop, says Dennis.

Jack and Dennis, a former director for Adams Funeral Home, were friends. Knowing Dennis’s love of local history, Jack later bequeathed to him 100-150 of Robert O.’s photos from the Herald.

“I took over his picture archives,” says Dennis, who shared the images with GLM. “As long as they fell into good hands and they would be taken care of, which I have sought to do.”

Dennis was also friends with Robert O., making the transfer all the more fitting.

Robert O. also provided news, sports, social and advertising photos to the Reporter for years and was close to former publisher Pat Courington and newly named publisher Shannon Allen, a longtime sports editor.

Interestingly, Marsha says, her father wasn’t paid for his many newspaper photos. Rather, he did it to market himself and was glad to work for photo credits and free ads for his studio.

For the record, “O.” stands for Owen. Robert Johnson, Marsha

Robert O. has two children, Bob, the youngest, who lives in Atlanta, and Marsha, above. For her dad’s 90th birthday, she card-bombed him. “I went to Dollar General and bought every cheap card,” she laughs. “I gave them out to people and said mail them to his house.” Delighted, he ended up with about 150 cards. “It was like something he would do to make people happy,” she says. The photo at left shows Robert O. dancing with Virginia Hodges of Hartford, which is near Dothan. According to Robert’s nephew Randy Johnson, they met in 1947, got engaged at Christmas 1948 and married July 1949 shortly after the photo was taken. Virginia was supportive of Robert O. over the years, helping him in the darkroom at night, working as his receptionist and managing the business side of the studio for him. Virginia died in 2006. “She was,” Marsha says, “the sweetest, most giving and unselfish person to all of us and my children.”

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State Farm Bloomington, IL 2001294 theorizes, is a common name, but as a way to market himself her dad decided to go by Robert O. (J. Willie probably also influenced the use of his initial.)

As far as Marsha knows, her father was the first to shoot what later became an almost standard photo of a wedding party jumping up in the air.

“Marketing” his East Main Street studio – where friends often came to chat – he often daubed messages on his windows with white shoe polish, such as greetings to a bride coming in for pictures.

A big Auburn fan, Robert O. got a lot of mileage out of a Bear Bryant quote – “I hate it for the seniors” – one year after they lost to Auburn. It later appeared on his windows whenever Bama lost … anything to draw attention to the studio.

“Being innovative kept him going business-wise,” Marsha says. “He knew he had to promote himself to make a living. He worked hard, seven days a week, to provide for his family. He made an average wage, but it turned out OK.

“His profession gave him a lot of pleasure.”

There were, however, times Robert O. was at least mildly put out.

At one wedding the pastor presumed to offer him some photography advice. Proud of his professionalism, Robert O. pointed out that he’d not offered the pastor any advice on how to conduct the ceremony.

As personal cameras grew common, he would pose groups of kids for a picture only to have mothers gather behind him to shoot, too.

“He wanted everyone focused on his camera and not their mom’s,” Marsha says.

“It will take me five minutes,” Robert O. would tell them. “Please let me get my shot and you can shoot all you want to.”

When thinking of her father, one of the first things that comes to Marsha’s mind is the big heart he had for Albertville.

“He loved the community most of all,” she says. “He was so involved and came in contact with so many people at the schools, clubs, events and sports.”

Randy Johnson, a cousin in Albertville, readily agrees.

“Robert O. always has sung the praises of Albertville,” he wrote in a biographical sketch for his uncle’s AHS Hall of Fame induction. “If asked, he tells people Birmingham is 79 miles south of Albertville and Huntsville is 49 miles north of Albertville. Every place is ‘from Albertville,’ not vice versa.”

Randy’s bio requires 188 words to cover Robert O.’s civic involvement.

Much of Robert O.’s work was done in the studio, where he shot portraits of people such as Bessie Marbut, secretary to a local attorney, and Dr. Shelton Appleton, top right. He was also accomplished on location. At left is his photo of Hogan Jackson Sr., with a photo of his late wife, Mozelle. Hogan established the Bank of Albertville, Farmers and Merchants Bank in Boaz and the Bank of Arab. He was also the grandfather of Kate Jackson of Charlie’s Angels.

Briefly, it spanned from a term on the city council to chairman of the Municipal Utilities Board, the city’s first Red Cross blood drive and its United Givers Fund. He was a member of the Civitans, president of the Lions and four-time president of the Jaycees, whose state convention he brought to Albertville, a first for a town of its size.

He was a devoted, lifetime member of the First United Methodist Church, having grown up across Glover Street from it.

Robert O. did not shoot the photo of the Albertville Chamber of Commerce’s 1993 Citizen of the Year Award. He was the recipient.

When Robert O. closed his studio and retired at 86, it ended Albertville’s oldest continuous business – 101 years – under

the same family name. After decades of shooting so many photos, of being so involved in the community, Robert O.’s retirement cut him off from a lot of people, Marsha says.

“I dread it, I just plain dread it!” he said in his retirement story.

Being a positive sort of guy, Robert O. made the most of it. He met his buddies for daily breakfast at The Sandwich Host.

Being a curious sort of guy, he signed up at the Marshall County tech school to learn about digital photography. He bought a computer, learned all about them and stayed connected with people.

But he quit shooting pictures in his retirement.

Fortunately, Marsha says, boxes exist of old family photos he shot. Before snapping the shutter, Robert O. never once let out a “Say ‘cheese!’”

“He would do something funny to get our attention,” she says. “The sad part is he was never in the pictures.”

More akin to tragic than sad, when her dad closed his studio, he literally destroyed all of his old prints and negatives.

“He did not want them falling into the wrong hands … being used without permission, say on greeting cards,” Marsha says. “He contacted the historic society people then and there was no real interest.”

So she helped him tote his life’s work out to a big garbage can behind the studio and burn it all.

“But he looked at every single thing before it went in there,” Marsha says. “A trip down memory lane.

“I was amazed at the scope of his work. He knew he was recording history, and that was one of hardest things when he closed.”

Robert O. died April 24, 2013. He was 91.

It’s now become a thing for Marsha’s generation – including her AHS Class of 1970 – to post old photos on Facebook.

It’s always interesting to her when she sees one of her dad’s pictures pop up. It’s interesting to others, too. Perhaps that’s because somewhere in those images a bit of the photographer’s soul yet lingers.

Robert O. shot the portrait at top of J.J. Benford, editor and publisher of The Albertville Herald 1934-1964. All of the other photos on this page were shot by Robert O. probably for the Herald during the latter part of Benford’s long run at the paper. Continuing clockwise from center left are: Walter Decker, a colorful character –and big Bama fan –from a prominent Albertville family who enjoyed eating at the former Food Basket; receiving an honorary pin is George Nixon, who ran the local Standard Oil Co. for years; the Toys for Tots promo was shot on West Main in Albertville, possibly for The Boaz Leader; Betty Thomas poses for a photo likely bound for the social pages; and Dorsett Davis arm wrestles with Deleon Hooper. “They always had an arm-wresting competition between them,” says Dennis Burgess, who today owns the prints on page 59-61. “Usually Dorsett Davis would wind up winning.”