Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
A native of Savannah, Georgia, John David “Jack” Leigh II graduated from The Savannah Country Day School and the University of Georgia. He later studied with master photographers George Tice, Eva Rubenstein, and Jill Freedman. As an artist with a camera, seeking out and recording the unique personalities, lifestyles and vernacular environments of the American South was his principle objective.
Leigh was best known for the 1993 cover photograph of the novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Bernedt. The striking photograph, featuring the “Bird Statue” from the Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, was widely considered one of the contributing factors of the book’s phenomenal success. A well know portrait and documentary photographer, Leigh wrote and published six books on photography. His award-winning work hangs in numerous private, public and corporate collections throughout the South. Leigh passed away in 2004 after a long battle with colon cancer and he is fittingly buried in Bonaventure Cemetery.