Harry Gibson Liles

Born in Norfolk, Virginia to Mary and Harry Elmo Liles. Attended high school at Great Bridge High. Worked as a copy boy at Virginia Pilot Ledger Star while in school.

Graduated from Richmond Professional Institute of the College of William & Mary in 1962. While there he worked for the Richmond Times Dispatch as a graphic artist. He was also involved with Sam Perry in sports car racing.

Then he was drafted into the US Army. He was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma for officer training and left there for Nike Hercules Missile Training in El Paso, Texas and was sent to Fort Banks, Mass. for a top secret assignment.

He married Mary Lou Metzger on June 10,1962. They were students together at RPI.
After his Army service they moved to California Where he attended Art Center College of Design graduating in 1968.
He worked as a photographer for Time-Life, Inc.
In 1970 he joined Sid Avery and Associates as an associate photographer.

In 1972 he started his own studio in Hollywood, California and in addition to still photography; Harry in 1974 began producing and directing TV commercials. His clients included Kellogg’s, Sony, Ford, Chevrolet, Lincoln-Mercury, Toyota, Datsun, Nissan, Avis Rent A Car, Playboy Magazine, MGB, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, and Princess Cruises.
His models included Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Tom Selleck, Micheal Jackson and Gavin McCloud.
In 1978 he received the Gold Caddy from the Detroit Club.
Closed studio in 1984. He started teaching full time at Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara until it closed.
He developed PIE, Pro Invoice Estimate, a software with another photographer to help photographers bid jobs online.
In 1985 he went to New York to create Advertising Photographers of America and was a founding member of APALA.
In 1973 he and Mary Lou had a son, Erik Gibson Liles.
They lived in Calabasas and later in Hidden Hills, California. After retirement they moved to Durango, Colorado

He is survived by his wife Mary Lou, his son Erik, and his two sisters Dori and Nancy..