Leo Millard Holub (November 25, 1916 - April 28, 2010) was an American designer and photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in landscapes (especially of Yosemite) and architectural photographs. Born in Decatur, Arkansas, his family gradually moved westwards in his childhood, eventually settling in Oakland, California, where he attended school. Holub worked odd jobs as a youth, including as a printer's devil and a blacksmith's apprentice in a gold mine. He eventually was able to save enough money to attend the Art Institute of Chicago in 1935, but returned to California after one year and attended the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). There his studies ranged widely, including learning industrial design from Joseph Sinel (1889 - 1975). Around this time, Holub met fashion illustrator Florence Mickelson, and the two married in 1940, having a son in 1942. Unable to stop taking pictures of the baby, Holub was inspired to make a career out of photography, but was waylaid by the Second World War, when he served as a ship's rigger in the U.S. Navy. After the war, Holub worked as an illustrator, designer, and publisher for a variety of commercial firms in the Bay Area and taught at his alma mater, while also attending workshops in Yosemite with Ansel Adams (1902 - 1984), with whom he became a lifelong friend. In 1960, Holub began a job with the Planning Office at Stanford University, and in 1969 founded the university's photography program in the Department of Art, teaching there for several years afterwards. In the early 1980s, he left Stanford to pursue several projects, including an extensive project of photographing contemporary artists with their works, now held by the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford.
