THE BIRTH OF PAI
Step into our time machine. It’s 1952 and a bunch of guys are having lunch at the Palm restaurant, a steak house famed for its pricey beef, sawdust on the floor and casual atmosphere. The same group eats here every week and its called Ralph Baum’s lunch (Ralph was founder of the Modern Age Lab). It was formed with no purpose in mind, no aims, no coordinating committee, no speakers, no constitution, no dues. Just a bunch of guys like any other who happened to be in the photographic industry and liked each others company. There was only one rule, NO SHOP TALK. If you broke the rule you had to buy everyone a round of drinks.

It started out with eight or ten at one round table. Some of the early attendees were John Faber of Kodak, Arthur Rothstein of Look, Bill Sum- its of LIFE, John Adams of Graflex, Jacob Deschin of The New York Times, Ed Wergeles of Newsweek, and Milton Freier of Leitz. A high power group. But as word of the convivial atmosphere spread, a round table for 10 was too small. Besides, the group often stayed late in the afternoon, the noise level grew and it interfered with dinner preparations. As a result, the Palm suggested that the group take their luncheon elsewhere.
A number of new venues were tried, leaving a trail of restaurants to accommodate 30, 40, 50 regulars and their guests. The Beverly Hotel, Johnny John- ston’s, the Absinth House, Danny’s Hideaway, Rosoff ’s and the Belasco Room at Sardi’s. They all recovered but the search for a suitable home went on. The National Arts Club was still some years in the future.
Left: Ralph Baum
By 1957 the German photo- graphic industry had emerged from the destruction of World War II and Photokina, a biennial series of trade shows had been established in Cologne. A number of Baum’s luncheon group were going to Pho- tokina and Milton Freier of Leitz and John Baber of Kodak said, Why
not? Let’s get a group together, charter a plane, and go. Easier said then done. To charter a plane at dis- count rates you had to be incorporated, have a stated purpose, a charter, elected officers, and a paid membership of at least 100. So much for casual luncheons. The group had to have a name. Some suggested Photographic Associates, Inc., while oth- ers said Photographic Administrators, Inc. Admin- istrators won out, although not everyone agreed. In later years it was changed to Photography & Imaging, Inc. But it was simply referred to as PaI.

   The first officers of the newly named PAI were Bill Sumits of LIFE as President, Morris Gordon of Western Electric as V.P., Ralph Baum of Modernage as Treasurer, and John Faber of Kodak as Secretary. Aside from his duties as Treasurer, John Faber de- signed a distinctive “Busy Bee” icon for membership cards, letterheads, and coffee mugs. Unfortunately the coffee mugs for use at the luncheons became collectors items and were never returned.
On the evening of January 24, 1958, Faber, Baum, Keesing, Freier, and Baughton of TWA met in the LIFE offices to iron out last minute details of the Photokina flight. The next day 200 PAI members, wives, guests and others, were feted to a bon voyage cocktail party at the airport thrown by Ed Hannigan of U.S. Camera. The TWA Jet Stream Constellation four-engine prop plane to Cologne was scheduled to leave at 8:00 pm. By the time the 74 PAI members and their guests took off at 11:30 pm, the bar bill had soared and they were feeling no pain.
After saturating themselves at Photokina, the PAI members and their wives headed out over Western Europe sightseeing and shopping. Some of the scheduled events were E. Leitz in Wetzlar and Kodak in Stuttgart. To cap things off a cocktail party and dinner were arranged by John Faber and Kodak in the Eiffel Tower. The whole experience was greeted with such enthusiasm by those who had gone and those who wished they had, that Photokina was scheduled again in 1960. This time on one of the new KLM jets.
During subsequent years PAI was joined by many distinguished photographers, heads of industrial photo departments, manufacturers, magazine edi- tors, photo reps., and gallery and museum person- nel. The Photographic Administrators Award for Special Recognition was made to Eddie Adams, Cornell Capa, Jacob Deschin, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Harold Edgerton, Fritz Goro, Philipe Halsman, Victor Kep- pler, Carl Mydans, Arthur Rothstein and others for their unique contributions to photography.
The one great revolution that affected the photo- graphic industry and PAI was the coming of digital. Even a crude early model camera with less than 1 MB resolution could sell for thousands of dollars. The die was cast and technology and social interactions would never be the same. Photographers no longer had to take their film to a lab to be processed and proofed; they had it all on a little card. And in a rela- tively short time, they could make their own archival ink jet prints on a reasonably priced printer. Photoshop had landed giving birth to improve- ments in each succeeding version...CS, CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5 (keep counting). Retouchers with a life- time of training were out of work. Labs with loyal customers closed. The photographers who waited for their work there and gabbed with fellow photog- raphers were without company. The whole thing had changed. Photography had become more insu- lar. A sense of community was lost. Friendship and fellowship were diminished. Everyone was a pho- tographer. Buy a point-and-shoot and shoot a friend’s wedding. Why not?
PAI was always about relationships as much as technology. The opportunity to meet old friends and make new ones is still paramount in its Thursday luncheons at the historic National Arts Club.
—Bob Sharpe