Holub was born on a bee farm in Decatur, Arkansas, was a toddler in Oklahoma, and later moved with his family to Dawson, New Mexico, and then to Oakland, California, where he attended elementary through high school.
He worked as a printer's devil in Oakland and in the Grass Valley gold mines as a blacksmith's helper to raise money for his education.
[1] In 1986, Bay Area collectors Harry W. and Mary Margaret Anderson commissioned Holub to photograph numerous American artists represented in their private collection.
He traveled from San Francisco, throughout California to New Mexico, and New York, capturing portraits of artists such as Richard Diebenkorn, Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg at their homes and studios.
[1] With news of his death, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University held an exhibition titled "Life & Legacy: Leo Holub Photographs and Contemporary Artists' Prints," which ended November 7, 2010.