7News remembers legendary photographer Al McNaughton

BOSTON (WHDH) — Legendary 7News photographer Alan McNaughton died Sunday at Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital at the age of 81. The Brighton native began working at the station that became 7News on March 11, 1964, and continued uninterrupted for 55 years.

“He’s got to be the most dedicated employee Channel 7 has ever had,” said 7News reporter Jonathan Hall.

His employment started just over a month after The Beatles’ first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show and spanned 10 presidents, 12 Massachusetts governors and five Boston mayors, the last of which honored Al Monday afternoon.

“Very sad to hear of Al’s passing,” Mayor Marty Walsh wrote in a tweet. “He was very well-respected and always a pleasure to work with. He will be missed in Boston and beyond.”

Born in 1938, McNaughton predated 7News (by 30 years), WHDH-TV (by 26 years) and even the building that the station has called home since the late 1960s (by four years).

“He knew everybody,” said 7News video archives director Leslie Shocket, who worked with McNaughton in the field as a news photographer in the 1980s. “He knew all the cops, all the firefighters, the EMT’s. Boston is a big market but it’s a small town. He always had a smile and a kind word for everybody.”

McNaughton passed on his passion for news to generations of photographers and journalists and was a strong advocate for female photographers, mentoring Shocket and Susan Sutter, the first female TV news photographer in the Boston market.

“Al was a legend behind the lens and a huge contributor to our newsroom for decades. He was an accomplished photographer and he pursued every story with an infectious enthusiasm,” News Director Linda Miele said. “He developed sources and helped break many stories in his 55 years with our station. But he will be most warmly remembered as a wonderful man who was a smiling mentor over the years to so many people at 7NEWS and across the city.”

7NEWS reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan met McNaughton on her first day at the station in the fall of 1983. She remembers covering a hurricane on Cape Cod with him years ago and finishing the day cold, wet and without a place to stay. Of course, Al had a friend nearby and made a frantic call for shelter. The friend had a spare key under a flower pot and told Al he was welcome to stay.

“Al, as he so often does, just saved the day,” Phillippi Ryan said. “And every person who’s ever worked with him has stories like that.”

“He was probably the most positive person I have ever known,” reporter Byron Barnett said. “He loved his job, loved being a news photographer, never said no to an assignment.”

For the many reporters he worked with, McNaughton’s connections were invaluable. Multiple reporters remembered his seemingly innate ability to get the key interview or video for a story. This was most apparent in courthouses, where Al’s friendly demeanor helped get him numerous tips from court officers, lawyers and even judges.

“One day we went to cover an arraignment in Malden District Court,” 7NEWS reporter Steve Cooper remembered. “I was trying to figure out when the court proceedings would happen. It was at that moment that Al knocked on the door to the judge’s chamber and the next thing I knew, we were sitting in the judge’s office and Al was introducing me to the judge!”

Nowhere was Al’s ability to be in the right place at the right time more apparent than in 2011, when he sneaked away from a throng of photographers to capture exclusive video of Whitey Bulger being escorted out of a Coast Guard helicopter at Plymouth Municipal Airport following the notorious mobster’s arraignment in federal court after years on the run.

“I’ll always remember Al for his one-of-a-kind zeal for TV news,” remembered anchor Adam Williams. “His camera was an extension of his body. And his mind was an extension of genuine character.”

Colleagues remembered Al’s devotion to his children and grandchildren, of whom he spoke often. Away from work he owned horses and loved cars.

While he was mostly known for his work behind the camera, Al earned some recognition in front of it as well. In the mid-1990s he traveled to New York with entertainment reporter Sarah Edwards to film her cameo on the soap opera Another World. Edwards was playing a TV reporter covering a fire and when the director realized the man cast as her photographer couldn’t find the viewfinder, he called in a true pro to take over the role: Al.

“Can you imagine spending 55 years at one job and one station?” anchor Kim Khazei said. “That in itself is quite a feat. He did it all. He will be missed.”

“He thought about how to make the story better in every way,” Phillippi Ryan said. “And he thought about that every day. As a reporter, you’re in the trenches with a partner. Al was always, without exception, the best partner you could have.”

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