Photographers Arrange Online Print Sale to Benefit Family of San Antonio Artist Reg Campbell

The San Antonio arts community lost an incredible talent on May 15 when photographer Reginald "Reg" Campbell died following a battle with leukemia.

Known for shooting on film in a digital age, Campbell was a fine art photographer who also boasted an impressive client list that included brands and media outlets such as Nike, Target and Texas Monthly.

As news of Campbell’s death spread throughout arts community, 16 photographers from Houston and San Antonio banded together to host a fundraiser to Campbell’s wife and daughter. They assembled a photo-print sale, agreeing that each participating photographer would donate one or two photos,  which would be priced starting at $50 for an 8-by-10-inch print and increasing in price and size from there.

Scott Ball and Josh Huskin, organizers of the annual Four x Five Photo Fest, volunteered to host the sale using their website. San Antonio’s Digital Pro Lab agreed to print and ship any photos purchased.

All of the proceeds will be donated to Cambell’s family, and at press time, group had nearly hit $1,000 its $5,000 goal.

Campbell was in his late 30s when he was diagnosed with leukemia. He began photographing his hospital stays and chemo treatments, calling the series Septua, from the Latin word for seven, an homage to the initial seven weeks of chemotherapy and seven months of intermittent hospital stays.

An avid weightlifter and fitness aficionado, Campbell aimed to capture not only the medical processes and physical changes that accompany such a diagnosis but the need for documentation of bone marrow donors in databases such as Be The Match, the largest marrow registry in the world.

"Thanks for all the love and support y'all," he wrote in a June 2019 Instagram post. "For those that ask 'How can we help?' Please check out [Be The Match] and register, especially minorities. There is not enough minority representation in the cancer world."

After receiving a bone marrow transplant from his sister, Campbell went into remission, but the cancer came back a year later. After another brief remission, the leukemia returned for the final time in November of last year. He died May 15.

Campbell continued to share images during his illness, including black-and-white shots of his daughter and wife. The photos also included hospital beds and chemo sessions — all meant to bring light to what he described as a rollercoaster of a journey.

"Not just any rollercoaster," he wrote. "It was one of those rollercoasters in Dubai that drop your ass from the top of a skyscraper and you land in Middle Earth somewhere fighting orcs and shit. That type."

To view Campbell’s work, visit his website.

Stay on top of San Antonio news and views. Sign up for our Weekly Headlines Newsletter.