sean shaver

[Memphisgurl]

hey, does anyone know who sean shaver is? i only know he was elvis' photographer, i heard he was dead!/just died
is that true?

[KPM]

Yes he died. He took thousands if pictures and video of Elvis. So much that alot has yet to be developed. Thousands of pictures he took were stored in a safe which he lost the combination to. It was moved to a barn and the barn burned down destroying the undeveloped photos. Fans owed him a big thanks for his photos.

[Leroy]

Where did you heard the news about Sean Shaver's (supposed) death? There's nothing to find on any Elvis related site. It's my believe that if he passed away this is important enough to be announced on the net. Like you said he took thousands of pictures and therefor a true asset to the Elvis world. So many many members of Elvis' inner circle did pass away and they were all mentioned. All but Sean Shaver.........

[RS277]

Sean Shaver is alive and well and his photo archives are all accounted for. Rumors such as these circulate around the Elvis world from time to time. Last year it was rumored Al Strada had passed away. He too is still among the living.

[Tommy]

Thank you for clearing that up. Glad he didn't pass away,

Tommy

[KPM]

THIS WEB PAGE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF SEAN SHAVER AND TO HIS OBSESSION OF CAPTURING THE NUMBER ONE ENTERTAINER OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ON FILM. SEE THROUGH THE EYES OF THE MAN CALLED ELVIS' "UNOFFICIAL OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER."
Sean Shaver spent a good deal of his life trying to get Elvis Presley on film. He said it was his hobby, but I think it was more than that. I would call it an obsession. Elvis fans everywhere are glad he spent so much of his life getting Elvis on film. I, for one, am very grateful. Sean shot so much

I got this from a site called Sean Shaver The King IN Focus I presumed from the dedication TO THE MEMORY OF SEAN SHAVER, tht he had died. I have tried to find other info on his death but can not even find his web site
Here is another item form this web site
It took heavy equipment to pick up and have the safe moved to a major city where a professional safe cracker could begin work on it. After two days the now rusty door was ready to be gently pried open for the first time in two decades. Sean was on hand to be the first to put his hand inside the over 100 year old safe. When the door was opened a few inches Sean reached inside and pulled out the box with almost 2,000 clipped negatives still sealed airtight inside. These are easily some of the most precious pieces of history of the 20th century

Two new books and many of the photographs on this website are from this Tupperware box. The next job was to catalog his massive collection. If any of you ever met Sean you know him to be one of the worlds most disorganized people. Against his will all the film was moved to a stone building to begin the cataloging. The first film cataloged was the Tupperware treasures. As film was cataloged it was moved to a film vault for safekeeping. Somewhere around the half way point in this work the unthinkable happened. During a freak lightning storm a tree near the building was struck and the fire leapt to the wood roof of the stone building and within moments the whole place was ablaze. Everything in the building was lost. how many precious memories burned that afternoon? Probably around 60% of all the film shot by Sean was destroyed.

I hope he is alive and this is a mistake of some kind.

[KPM]

Heres an interview from Aug.05 with Ernst Jorgenson on the subject of Sean.

E.J - There's one thing I'd like to add. There is a little element within the Elvis world of "See what I've got and you can't have it" and sometimes we can't find the right people. We met a guy yesterday who popped some photos at us from events where we thought nobody would have a picture of anything like that - and of course that helps us when we find stuff like that. On Spring Tours '77 we tried to fine Sean Shaver since he has got the photos and we communicated with his answering machine and his e-mail but we didn't get any replies. We had committed to the release and we tried other avenues.
There are so many pictures with so many collectors but we don't have them ..

R.S - If anyone knows Sean Shaver - I have endeavoured to contact him and share things with him over the years but it has never materialised. If he wants to contact me I tell you that my phone is always waiting for the ring. Talking historically, going back 7 or 8 years, there has been a dialogue going between us but unfortunately nothing ever materialised. It's his prerogative

E.J - This is an invitation

[Leroy]

Trying to find more on this I did found the website you're talking about and yes, reading the the phrase "dedicated to the memory of" would lead you to believe he did pass away. So I do understand the confusion. But nowhere on that site it says he passed away. That's the strange part. Normally you would expect the day of birth and the day of death but nothing of this can't be found at all. Also the piece you added with the request of Ernst's feeding the confusion. I do hope an answer will come soon.......

[KPM]

Yes I looked over it also and it speaks of him in the past tense, but gives no story or reason as to why. I e-mailed the woman running the site and asked her if he had passed away or retired. No reply yet. The Ernst interview seems to indicate that he is not responding to recent e-mails or calls as of August05. He use to have a web site, I remember visiting it a couple years ago looking at a section on Elvis and karate on stage, but now can not find it.

[KPM]

I noticed on the site The King in Focus 2 new books are mentioned by Sean
I Shot Elvis and Frozen in Time. Evidently they were never published, at another site I ran into it mentions that the "I Shot Elvis" book was announced 10 years ago and still not out? Maybe he is dead.

[KPM]

Went to another forum to see if anyone had any idea about Seans status and no one has any info. The King In Focus site I e-mailed about a week ago to ask if he had died and have got no reply form the lady who runs it. I think he must have died.

[RS277]

Well, I applied my great detective skills into this mystery and here is what I found out. NOTHING, absolutely nothing. So much for my skills I quess. Anyway, after emailing friends involved closely with the Elvis World to include a personal friend of Shaver's. I was told he has not shown up during Elvis week in Memphis in some time. The last they knew, Shaver had moved to New Mexico with his new wife and young son. The fire in the barn story, destoying Elvis pics and negatives is true. Shaver was also having some type of health issue, not sure what it was. So for now, I quess it's going to be one one of those great Elvis mysteries. If any new information comes to light, I'll be sure to share.

[RS277]

I just spoke to a close friend of mine who is a aquitance of Shaver's. Shaver is alive and well and living in New Mexico. Bad news is, Shaver has suffered some head problems. Appearently, his barn never caught fire, he sold his negatives to a guy from Canada. The website that speaks of him in "past" terms is made by his wife or girlfriend. It seems Shaver offered and sold a large amount of his books then couldn't deliver the product, so I quess the thought process was to believe he passed on. This came ffrom a reliable source and puts the mystery to rest for me.

[jans]

The website that speaks of him in "past" terms is made by his wife or girlfriend.

I don't think this is true.
Her name is Suza Carpenter.
In Febr.2005 I asked her by e-mail why there was never a VOL.I of the Elvis Book series, if Sean was still working on the book "I Shot Elvis" and if she was still in contact with Sean.
This is the answer I got from her:

Yes Sean is still doing I Shot Elvis. I only see him when a book or
photograph needs autographed. Sean wrote volume 1 of the Elvis Book series
and it was partially printed but never finished because the printing company
went out of business and wasn't able to finish the project.
suza

[KPM]

See what I mean, its a strange- hes so hard to track down, and find out what has happened to him. I think we need Colombo.

[the colonel]

this story is not at all true, SEAN is ALIVE, but he hasn't bin well for years, he had suffered a small ANURISUM[my spelling is not perfect guys] over 8 years ago, the books he promised to publish 'I SHOT ELVIS was delayed, now in its eighth year because of the stroke that has taken his mobility etc... Anyone who knows SEAN knows that he rarely replies back to them, [I would know since i had bin with both him and JUDY PALMER, LEN LEECH , at many shows} And i know (edited because of unnecessary comments on other members - Sonny) I just like helping those fans who were not there. If you would like more info on shows, etc.... get it from my page THE CRAZY CANNUCK i've included some of SHAVERS photos. Anyway hope this helps.

[KPM]

Its amazing you even got an answer let alone an order. I e-mailed a couple times and got ZIP. He is a strange one. If he died maybe someone is selling his pictures AS IF he is alive? Mystery

[Leroy]

Although Sean Shaver was a guy who took very great pictures and released a couple of fantastic books he's also a guy who's toying with the truth. We all know he modyfied some pictures and made up a story around them. Here's a story that was printed in a Belgium magazine a few days ago.

??.but the master of fakes is probably Sean Shaver, one of the photographers who followed Elvis like a groupie back in the seventies. He never had backstage access and was only able to get a spot in front of the stage if he tipped the usher enough. In Vegas Emilio gave a way front row seats for $ 100,- each. This way Sean Shaver was able to shoot perfect pictures that made him a wealthy man. Wealthy because the pictures Sean took belonged to the best and people were willing to pay a lot of money. The eyes of the fans never stopped blinking when Sean release two immense books halfway during the eighties; ?The Elvis Book II & III?. Not only gave these books an overview of Elvis career, he also did this with pictures nobody ever saw, complete with unknown stage wear.
There was a picture of Elvis wearing a two-piece with a green shirt. Even the TCB-boys were shocked; they never saw Elvis wearing green on stage, not even a shirt.
?Elvis didn?t like green on stage because if you light it with red you?ll get a dirty brownish colour?, says John Wilkinson.
But where did this picture come from? Very simple: from Sean?s computer. Funny maybe but also misguiding and fake. It was done so good and proper that even a detailed eye could not see any difference.

Question is why? Pure out of commercial point of view because a picture with an ?exclusive suit? could only be bought from his collection. The German magazine ?Graceland? published an article before about this fake stuff and saw another possible reason for this modifying: during a fire a large part of his collection got lost. This could be a way to compensate for what he lost.

Once known Sean was a hanger-on soon other modified pictures began to surface. Sean also was not afraid to modify stories. The watch and TCB necklace he?s showing in his book ?The Life Of Elvis Presley? was never worn by Elvis. ?Sean was a hanger-on?, remembers Ed Bonja. ?He knew he had to stay out of our way. Only one time it almost went wrong. He introduced himself to one of the guys in a souvenir stand as being the official Elvis Presley photographer but did not know he was talking to my brother. When he found out he turned pale and never showed up again.?

Lying is one thing but messing with pictures it something else again. Turn the pages of ?The Life of Elvis Presley? and you will find several pictures of Sean with Elvis. There?s one picture of Elvis dressed in a red coat in front of a carpet with Sean standing next to him and a couple of pictures taken in February 1974 in Las Vegas. Sean is standing in front of a door with Elvis next to him. On first sight a normal picture?.. until the real picture surfaced. What happened? On the real picture there?s no door at all; Sean had managed to add himself with door into this picture.

Do you think Sean would improve his act after being unmasked? Not at all! In August 1997 Sean handed out flyers for his soon to be released new book. On the cover a completely new and unseen picture. Perfectly symmetrical: even the fingers are real mirrored. The suit he?s wearing is also brand new. Short fringes are hanging down from the arms. Never seen before! Yeah right! As we approach Sean and asked him where he got this picture his reaction was clear: ?It?s one of the pictures I recently re-discovered. Elvis had worn this suit only once in Los Angeles but the fringes got entangled in his guitar. Bill Belew cut off the fringes to a reasonable length.?
Sounds fair, doesn?t it?
How surprising when another picture surfaced with Elvis in exactly the same pose without the half length fringes and his right hand covered by the head of a visitor. Quickly the true story came running around the corner. Sean modified the picture. He added the fringes, copied the left arm and mirrored it. Completely fake. A pity because what good is it to hurt the truth. A pity also for the great books of Sean: they belong to the most sought after and are really of a high standard except for these fake pictures.

With this in mind you have to watch out. With the latest computer techniques its possible to modify pictures as you wish. Before you know it you are looking at a picture that has never been taken. One of the latest versions is a picture of the ?Prehistoric Bird? with blue sleeves. On one picture the sleeves are red or green and on another they?re white like the suit itself. Three times wrong. There even are picture where the guitar is changed from brown into black and vice versa.
Let?s say these Photo-shop pictures are a compensation for the fact that Elvis will never be pictured again. The ones who modify these picture for home use strictly will do no harm. Once these pictures get out in the open, or worse?will get sold they will serve Elvis in a very bad way.

Bill Belew, recently guest of honour in Rotterdam puts it this way: ?I don?t care about black and white pictures being colourized. The modern techniques are making it possible to do it very realistic. But that has to be the last step. Once you?re going to mess with colour pictures you will change history and that?s completely unacceptable. I have made these suits for Elvis in a colour that suits him the best to made him look the best. If I see pictures with combinations of colours that don?t combine it gives me headaches. Then I start thinking; why can?t they leave him alone? He was handsome enough without this computer bullshit??

To conclude this: even RCA was not always consequently. Many album covers got modified. On the cover of ?From Elvis Presley Boulevard? he was made thinner, this also happened with the cover of ?In Concert? where his chin got removed. And finally the cover of ?Moody Blue? where a right hand was added that not appeared on the original picture.

Elvis: you do not believe what you?re seeing??

[Leroy]

Yes, that's right. Last year this picture surfaced and on many sites it was announced as being a picture which revealed a new suit. But if you look close you can see that some parts are very sharp and parts are blurry. The suit has been made up. But....this is not the work of Sean Shaver. This is a so called "Photo Shopper".

[Leroy]

Jouni, I can't even start to tell you how happy you've made me with posting the original picture. I couldn't find it anywhere. Thank you very much.

As for the fake one, if it really is a Sean Shaver product than he delivered a very sloppy job.

[bogarcon]

hey, does anyone know who sean shaver is? i only know he was elvis' photographer, i heard he was dead!/just died
is that true?
I know Sean for many years, since 1972, when I became a member of his ``house of Presley`` fc (he change the name later for ``El`s Angels EPFC``) and saw him the last time in Memphis in 1997 at the Ramada Inn Covention. To me, I always did good trade with him and good ``buys``...but after a while and a very strange story about a book that he was going to sell but never published..I think..this strory and others ``talk-talk`` change my mind about him and I never saw him or talk to him since `97...have a nice day, bogarcon.

[JudyMcKinn]

This looks like an old post, but I wanted to toss out something. I met Sean about 1968 or so, when I joined his Elvis fan club. He contacted me because I had made some comments he only thought a serious fan would know. I met him several times after that, both at his home, and he came to mine. We traded Elvis products. When I met him, he didn't have a camera, or know how to use one. When Elvis appeared in Kansas City, (what was the year, 1969 or so?) Sean had a section of front row seats, and gave me one of them, so I could take pictures for him, with my 35mm camera. He had borrowed a movie camera from a friend and hoped to get some good pictures with it. I explained about 35 mm cameras, telephoto lens for better close-up pictures of Elvis on stage, etc, and he became very interested in getting a 35mm and learning to use it. He apparently did.
About 1977 he came out with a beautiful book, "The Life of Elvis" A few of the pictures in it are ones I took. He has autographed the book to me "To Judy. Thanks for getting me into photography. Sean Shaver"
Anyway, I haven't any contact with him since around 1977, as I had married and Elvis died. He stopped the Elvis fan club, as he said with Elvis dead, there wasn't much news. He started one for someone else--I think the Suprimes, but not sure.
Just wanted to note that his noteriety with Elvis photographs has gotten out of hand--he only started taking photos around 1969 or so. He never traveled with Elvis, and only took photos when he could, like any fan. However, he went to so many of Elvis' concerts, etc, that he did acquire a lot of photos. He also acquired a lot of photos from others. He has some a friend gave me copies of, from when Elvis was on Lousiana Hayride, taken in the parking lot talking to fans. He has some I took when Elvis took a train from memphis to CA to be on the Frank Sinatra Show, when the train stopped in Dallas, where I was working at the time. And he has photos I took when Elvis appeared at the Houston Astrodome, --the entertainment in the middle of the World Championship rodeo, and photos I took when Elvis appeared in Dallas, and in St. Louis. Anyway, hope that will clear up some of this.
I, too, would like to know more about what happened to Sean. Judy

[MIElvis]

For those of you who ever dealt with sean shaver you know that you would never hear from him, and if you in fact ever did get a book it took months or even a year or longer.

[srj1967]

For those of you who ever dealt with sean shaver you know that you would never hear from him, and if you in fact ever did get a book it took months or even a year or longer.

Not necessarily true. I was in contact with him during the 80s and early 90s. Yes, he took his time sending books, but he always sent them as soon as they were published, and (for the most part) they were well worth the wait.

There is no way Sean would've intentionally taken payment for a book a not sent it. Also, he was dealing with a lot of personal illness back in the day, so cop him some slack.

If you're suggesting you sent money for a book and it never arrived, then I'd suggest it got lost in the mail or the payment itself went astray.

Sean may have faked one or two pics in his life, but (unlike that ghoul Paul Lichter) he was certainly no rip-off merchant.

So, has anyone managed to confirm yet if he's alive or dead?

[Leroy]

This looks like an old post, but I wanted to toss out something. I met Sean about 1968 or so, when I joined his Elvis fan club. He contacted me because I had made some comments he only thought a serious fan would know. I met him several times after that, both at his home, and he came to mine. We traded Elvis products. When I met him, he didn't have a camera, or know how to use one. When Elvis appeared in Kansas City, (what was the year, 1969 or so?) Sean had a section of front row seats, and gave me one of them, so I could take pictures for him, with my 35mm camera. He had borrowed a movie camera from a friend and hoped to get some good pictures with it. I explained about 35 mm cameras, telephoto lens for better close-up pictures of Elvis on stage, etc, and he became very interested in getting a 35mm and learning to use it. He apparently did.
About 1977 he came out with a beautiful book, "The Life of Elvis" A few of the pictures in it are ones I took. He has autographed the book to me "To Judy. Thanks for getting me into photography. Sean Shaver"
Anyway, I haven't any contact with him since around 1977, as I had married and Elvis died. He stopped the Elvis fan club, as he said with Elvis dead, there wasn't much news. He started one for someone else--I think the Suprimes, but not sure.
Just wanted to note that his noteriety with Elvis photographs has gotten out of hand--he only started taking photos around 1969 or so. He never traveled with Elvis, and only took photos when he could, like any fan. However, he went to so many of Elvis' concerts, etc, that he did acquire a lot of photos. He also acquired a lot of photos from others. He has some a friend gave me copies of, from when Elvis was on Lousiana Hayride, taken in the parking lot talking to fans. He has some I took when Elvis took a train from memphis to CA to be on the Frank Sinatra Show, when the train stopped in Dallas, where I was working at the time. And he has photos I took when Elvis appeared at the Houston Astrodome, --the entertainment in the middle of the World Championship rodeo, and photos I took when Elvis appeared in Dallas, and in St. Louis. Anyway, hope that will clear up some of this.
I, too, would like to know more about what happened to Sean. Judy

Thank you Judy for your reply. Very interesting piece.

[Jumpsuit Junkie]

The fans and the general public are happy with Images that have been manipulated. In this day and age especially as there are never going to be any new Images taken. The public do not however like fake or misrepresented photo's for monetary gain!

As Leroy has already stated, the record companies have been manipulating Elvis' Image for decades mainly for artistic reasons or to touch up pictures to improve Elvis' Image.

Thankfully there are those people who are dedicated fans who are there to debunk the fakes and ensure the industry stays true to the originals..... there will come a day when there will be few people in the know to point out those fakes :supriced:

[ksimms2]

wow...Judy...thanks for telling us your story....sounds to me like you are the real photographer here....as for photo's of Elvis...I have been buying off ebay - but only originals if I can help it - but have also found and contacted Bob Heis another photographer who took fantastic shots of Elvis in concert and order from him direct - he prints from his original negatives. I've never had any dealings with Sean's photo's to my knowledge.

[KPM]

Not necessarily true. I was in contact with him during the 80s and early 90s. Yes, he took his time sending books, but he always sent them as soon as they were published, and (for the most part) they were well worth the wait.

There is no way Sean would've intentionally taken payment for a book a not sent it. Also, he was dealing with a lot of personal illness back in the day, so cop him some slack.

If you're suggesting you sent money for a book and it never arrived, then I'd suggest it got lost in the mail or the payment itself went astray.

Sean may have faked one or two pics in his life, but (unlike that ghoul Paul Lichter) he was certainly no rip-off merchant.

So, has anyone managed to confirm yet if he's alive or dead?
I tried to track him down a few years ago. I was told he was dead,-"that he wanted people to think he was dead" because he got into some trouble with orders not being sent out-that he moved to Mexico and retired from the Elvis pic biz and that he was in Canada retired from the Elvis pic biz. The site which sold his books has not been updated for years (at least the last time I was at it) and there was a cryptic message that the site was dedicated to Sean Shaver who spent so much of his life taking pictures of Elvis. So whether he is alive or dead I don't know. Too many rumors. (I read Ernst Jorgenson was trying to get in touch with him a few years back also.)

[JudyMcKinn]

Maybe the reason no one can find out of Sean is dead or alive is that his name really isn't Sean? When I was at his home a couple times, he had a friend with the nickname "Bear". Bear said somethng to him and called him "Mitch". He said "Call me Sean" and Bear said, in sort of a joking aside to me "he always wants to be called something. I can't keep track. He did want to be called Mitch, and about the time I got used to that, he wants to be called Sean". ??

[TotallyInsane]

Did you use to be Judy Palmer? If so, I tried contacting you from a name and address on the back of some pictures I saw that were taken by you. If it's you, please let me know. I'm interested in knowing if you have any pictures taken in Las Vegas on 12/12/76? I received a scarf at that show and I've been searching for a picture ever since. I also got 3 other scarves but don't think I would have been as easily seen as 12/12/76 since I was on top of a table. Were you there?

[KPM]

Maybe the reason no one can find out of Sean is dead or alive is that his name really isn't Sean? When I was at his home a couple times, he had a friend with the nickname "Bear". Bear said somethng to him and called him "Mitch". He said "Call me Sean" and Bear said, in sort of a joking aside to me "he always wants to be called something. I can't keep track. He did want to be called Mitch, and about the time I got used to that, he wants to be called Sean". ??

Its just odd that so much differing information about Sean has circulated for the last 3-4years. If he has retired from being involved with his pictures or just wants to be left alone-why not just say so. Most people would respect that I think (I hope anyway) But to have this mystery for a few years seems silly.

[Getlo]

I just can't get over the fact that, after all these years, Sean still hasn't published The Elvis Book Volume 1 !

For years, I've had Volumes 2 -4 sitting on the shelf. Excellent books, but there's always been that gap! (I'm anal like that, I like complete sets of things ... )

[medleyofcostumes]

At least you have the other volumes!!

I would like to have a copy myself, but the prices some are asking for a second hand copy are to say the least obscene!