Bill Eppridge’s Vibrant Portrait of America in the 1960s: A new exhibition charts the legacy of a photojournalist who chronicled the nation during a turbulent era.

 Via BLIND Magazine

October 10, 2022

“A journalist does not necessarily imply ‘artist’ but you are not going to make your point if you cannot make a picture that people will stop and explore,” said Bill Eppridge (1938 – 2013). As one of the most accomplished photojournalists of the 20th century, Eppridge chronicled the breaking stories of his day, helping to shape the way in which the nation navigated a tumultuous era. Whether documenting the Vietnam War, Woodstock, and the Civil Rights Movement or bearing witness to the tragic end to Senator Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign, Eppridge brought a humanistic approach to reporting. (click for full article with photographs)

The Legacy of Bill Eppridge is on exhibit through November 20, 2022

Springfield Museums All Access: Our time with Bill Eppridge

Bill Eppridge (1938-2013)

Photo by R. David Marks, Courtesy Monroe Gallery

Via MassLive.com
By Holly Smith Bovè The Republican    
November 04, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated November 04, 2013 at 8:14 AM



The staff and curators here at the Springfield Museums were saddened to learn that Time Life photographer Bill Eppridge had passed away on October 3. Bill had recently paid us two visits, both in conjunction with our recent exhibit, The Beatles: Backstage and Behind the Scenes. Bill’s work comprised the majority of that exhibit, and we were honored to have him join us just prior to the opening.

On a cloudy day in March, I met Bill and his wife, Adrienne Aurichio, at the D’Amour Museum for a quick meeting before he was due to tape an interview on WGBY’s Connecting Point. Our brief “hello” turned into an impromptu guided tour of the photos by Bill himself. As a Beatles fan, it was truly amazing to hear his recollections of meeting the Fab Four after their arrival at JFK airport, and how they charmed the press corps with their energy and enthusiasm– a far cry from the “drug fiends” that Bill and his colleagues were told to expect. Seeing a potential bigger story to tell, Bill quickly asked his editors at LIFE if he could stay on and photograph the group. Luckily, they agreed, and Bill’s photographs from those first weeks in the U.S. captured a critical moment in our national and cultural history.

Bill charmed all of us in that first meeting, stopping to chat with staff and even taking a picture with some lucky photography students from Sci-Tech who happened to be attending the exhibit. He, in turn, was transfixed by the Indian Motocycles and Rolls-Royces at the Wood Museum; he had always dreamed of owning a vintage Indian.

Bill guides Holly through his Beatles photos at the D'Amour Museum.  

Springfield Museums 

Bill returned to the Museums in April for a special talk in conjunction with the exhibit, during which he recalled his time with the Beatles and his many other major assignments. He seemingly covered every major news stories of the time – from the Civil Rights Movement to Vietnam, and from Woodstock to Apollo 13. His photos from even one of those assignments would have been the peak of any photographer’s career, but they were all eclipsed by Bill’s haunting photo of Robert F. Kennedy, mortally wounded by an assassin’s bullet, his head cradled by a busboy. Bill spoke with obvious emotion about his time covering RFK’s campaign for president in 1968, and how the candidate inspired a truly diverse group of supporters. On that fateful day in Los Angeles, Bill was only steps behind Kennedy when the shots rang out. Bill was clearly proud of that picture, was haunted by it, and recognized its place in this country’s history.

In an industry where we meet many interesting and inspiring people, Bill truly stood out as one of the most memorable. Wherever he went, he was gracious and accommodating, and he always had his camera at the ready, fully prepared for that next great shot. We at the Museums mourn Bill’s passing, and we feel blessed to have had the chance to not only display his work and meet one of the true legends in his field but also to introduce him to our amazing city and community.

A selection of Bill Eppridge's photographs will be featured in the exhibition "The LIFE Photographers", Monroe Gallery, November 29 - January 24, 2014.

Related: Bill Eppridge: An American Treasure

LIFE Photographer Bill Eppridge: Presidents, Politicians, and Transitions: Photographing Political Campaigns - Then & Now

Via B&H Photo

Speakers: Bill Eppridge

Event Type: Photography

Skill Level: Intermediate

Register here

 Sunday, October 14, 2012 | 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

 

Join legendary Life magazine photojournalist Bill Eppridge as he takes a look back at the politicians and campaigns he photographed in the nineteen sixties and seventies, and talks about how the issues that were happening then are still prevalent in this country today. He will also talk about advances in the camera equipment he uses, and how he transitioned from film to digital cameras beginning in 2001. This is a unique opportunity to learn about history and political coverage from someone who experienced it with insider access.

Many people are familiar with Eppridge’s historic coverage of Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, and his two books on Kennedy. Less well known and rarely seen are his photographs of President Lyndon Johnson during a campaign trip on Air Force One, and assignments covering the fear mongers of the early sixties - Governor George Wallace of Alabama during the Wisconsin presidential primary, and Robert Shelton, the grand wizard of the United Klans of America among other controversial figures of that time. He also covered both the Republican and the Democratic conventions in 1972, the year in which the Vietnam War was dividing the country and Richard Nixon was re-elected.

Eppridge believes that politics is more important than the average person realizes, and that politics shape our daily lives, from health care to farming. He will also discuss the difference in access to candidates then as opposed to now. He went to a rally for then candidate Obama in 2008 to see this himself, and will share tips for covering local political campaigns, something that almost anyone can do nowadays.

Eppridge continues to work as a photographer today and will discuss how the technological changes of the past decades have made it easier for both professionals and amateurs.

Photograph by Bill Eppridge / LIFE / © Time Inc.

Bill Eppridge

 

Bill Eppridge is based in Connecticut where he continues to work on personal projects. He is producing books and exhibits of his recent photographs as well as work from his vast archive. He has been a working photographer for more than fifty years and has covered a wide array of subjects as diverse as the Beatles arrival in America; the Woodstock festival; heroin addicts in Needle Park; the Presidential campaign of Senator Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Olympics; The America’s Cup; Elephant soccer in Thailand, and much more. He was a staff photographer for the original weekly Life magazine until publication ceased in 1972. He later worked for as a photographer for Sports Illustrated for nearly 30 years.

He has been awarded some of photography’s highest honors including the National Headliners Award; NPPA’s Joseph A. Sprague award; The Missouri Journalism School Honor Medal, and was the 2011 Lucie Foundation Honoree for Photojournalism.

Photograph by Adrienne Aurichio

2011 Lucie Awards: Bill Eppridge is Honoree for Achivement in Photojournalism

The Lucie Awards is the annual gala ceremony honoring the greatest achievements in photography. The photography community from countries around the globe will pay tribute to the most outstanding photography achievements presented at the Gala Awards ceremony. Each year, the Advisory Board nominates deserving individuals across a variety of categories who will be honored during the Lucie Awards ceremony. Once the nominations have been received, the votes are tallied and an honoree in each category is identified.

The 2011 Honoree for Achievement in Photojournalism is Bill Eppridge.

Bill Eppridge already owned a Kodak Brownie Star Flash 620 camera when one day an itinerant photographer with a pony stopped by his house in Richmond, Virginia and asked to photograph Bill and his younger sister. Eppridge was only eight but it was then that he decided he wanted to be a photographer - he could have a big camera, travel, meet lots of interesting people, and have his own pony. That was just the hint of a lifelong career in photojournalism covering some of the most important people and events in history.

Born in Buenos Aires in 1938, Eppridge spent his early childhood in Virginia, and Tennessee. The family moved to Delaware when he was 14. A self-taught photographer, he began shooting for his school newspaper and yearbook, and then sports for the Wilmington Star newspaper. Eppridge was only fifteen, but this early exposure to a real newsroom gave him a taste for journalism.

Eppridge grew up during World War II looking at Life magazine. He was entranced by the work of their war photographers, and later influenced by Gordon Parks and Leonard McCombe. Their pictures looked effortless, as if they just happened in front of the camera and the photographers grabbed them. It was that style of photography that fascinated him –an entire story was told with one significant image.

In 1960 Eppridge graduated from the University of Missouri, Journalism program headed by Clif Edom who had begun the famous Missouri Photojournalism Workshop with Roy Stryker of the Farm Security Administration. While still a student, Eppridge was accepted into that workshop twice during his college years. He got a career boost when his photograph of a white horse against a tornadic sky won first prize for pictorial in the NPPA Pictures of the Year competition in 1959. He was twice named NPPA College Photographer of the Year and awarded internships at Life magazine.


Eppridge’s first professional assignment after graduation was a nine-month documentary trip around the world for National Geographic magazine. After that, he began shooting for Life. During the year 1964 while on a contract basis with the magazine, Eppridge was there when the Beatles first stepped off the plane in the United States, and chronicled their effect on this country. He spent several days photographing a young Barbra Streisand on the verge of stardom, covered Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan who was to sing at his first Newport Folk Festival, and immediately afterward he was sent to Mississippi where the bodies of slain civil rights workers Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner had been found buried in an earthen dam. Eppridge stayed for several days and photographed the solemn funeral of James Chaney. He soon earned a place on the masthead of Life.

As a Life staff photographer for most of the 1960s, until that magazine folded in 1972, Eppridge worked alongside many of the legends he had admired while growing up – Alfred Eisenstadt, Gordon Parks, Carl Mydans, Ralph Morse, and Larry Burrows.

Eppridge’s unique style of photojournalism brought him history-making assignments - he covered Latin American revolutions, the Vietnam war, and Woodstock. Eppridge was the only photographer admitted into Marilyn Lovell’s home as her husband, Jim, orbited the moon in the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft. His landmark photographic essay on drug use, “Needle Park- Heroin Addiction” won the National Headliner’s Award. He was given unprecedented access to the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution in Leningrad and photographed the entire Baltic fleet as it was assembled in the Neva River, something that no westerner had ever seen.

One of Eppridge’s most memorable and poignant essays was his coverage of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, first in 1966, and then again on the road with RFK during the 1968 presidential campaign. His photograph of the wounded Senator on the floor of the Ambassador Hotel kitchen seconds after he was shot has been described as a modern Pieta.

After Life ceased publication in 1972, Eppridge joined Sports Illustrated where he continued to use his photojournalist talent to cover both Winter and Summer Olympics; America’s Cup sailing; the environmental disasters of the Mount St. Helen’s volcanic eruption, and the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill and aftermath. His sporting essays and wildlife photography took him around the world to the Arctic, Africa, Asia, and the Alps.

Eppridge has received some of the highest honors his profession bestows – the NPPA Joseph A. Sprague Award, and The Missouri School of Journalism Medal of Honor. He has been a respected force in training a new generation of photojournalists for more than twenty years at both the Missouri Photojournalism Workshop, and the Eddie Adams Photography Workshop. His photographs have been exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of American History; The High Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Visa Pour L’Image, and in galleries and museums around the world.

Eppridge currently lives in Western Connecticut with his wife Adrienne and his cat "Bear". After nearly six decades as a photojournalist he is, even now, never without his camera, and is currently photographing several projects including an essay about the new American farmers - but he still doesn’t own a pony.

Several of Bill Eppridge's historic photographs are featured in the exhibition "History's Big Picture" through September 25. A major solo exhibition celebrating Eppridge's Lucie Award will feature many of his most significan photo essays, and will open at Monroe Gallery of Photography September 30 and continue through November 20, 2011.

Photojournalist Bill Eppridge Has Devoted His Life to Covering "Wars, Riots, and Revolutions"-- and a whole lot more

The News Times

Fairfield Museum hosts photojournalist Eppridge show
Phyllis A.S. Boros, Staff Writer
Published 06:15 p.m., Thursday, May 26, 2011

In this photograph by Bill Eppridge, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy stands in front of a poster of his late brother, President John F. Kennedy, at a Democratic fundraiser at the Ohio Fairgrounds, Ohio, in 1966. This image ran on the cover of Life magazine on Nov. 18, 1966. The renowned New Milford photojournalist is now being honored with a retrospective at the Fairfield Museum and History Center.



Intrepid in his desire to document the world around him, photojournalist Bill Eppridge has devoted his professional life to covering "wars, riots and revolutions" -- and a whole lot more.

In a career that has spanned more than 50 years, Eppridge has managed to capture extraordinary moments in America's political and cultural history for the likes of National Geographic, Life magazine and Sports Illustrated.

His iconic 1968 photos of a dying Robert Kennedy -- lying in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor of the Ambassador Hotel seconds after being shot by Sirhan Sirhan -- are part of the American experience.

Also familiar to millions of Americans are his photos from numerous Winter Olympic games, as well as those from such seminal events from the 1960s and '70s as the Beatles' first visit to America, the Woodstock music festival, the Vietnam War and the funeral of civil right activist James Chaney in Mississippi.

The Life magazine photograph by Bill Eppridge captures the Chaney family leaving for the burial of James Chaney in Meridian, Miss., in August 1964. James Chaney was one of three young civil rights volunteers who went missing in Mississippi in June 1964, abducted by the Klu Klux Klan. Their bodies were found several weeks later in an earthen dam. A retrospective honoring Eppridge, of New Milford, is on view at the Fairfield Museum through Aug. 28


His landmark photo essay for Life that focused on Manhattan's former so-called "Needle Park" inspired the Al Pacino movie "Panic in Needle Park."

And now the renowned photographer has turned his attention to the evocative beauty of old barns found in and around New Milford, where he and his wife live.

More than 65 images from these and other phases of Eppridge's career are now the subject of a three-gallery retrospective at the Fairfield Museum and History Center. The exhibit will be on view through Aug. 28 as part of the museum's Images 2011 celebration.



New Milford photojournalist Bill Eppridge captured this 1971 photo for Life magazine at the start of the Barstow-to-Las Vegas motorcycle race, with 650 entrants, by standing on the skid outside of a helicopter at 500 feet above ground. The photo is included in Images 2011 at the Fairfield Museum through Aug. 28.


In addition to the Eppridge retrospective, Images 2011 also includes the museum's third annual Juried Photography Exhibition, featuring one gallery devoted to more than 70 photos -- all deemed noteworthy by a panel of four judges that included Eppridge --in student and professional/serious amateur adult divisions.

Born on March 20, 1938, in Argentina to American parents (his father was stationed there as a chemical engineer for DuPont), Eppridge spent his formative years growing up in Richmond, Va.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Wilmington, Del.

During a recent telephone chat, Eppridge said that he first became interested in photography at about age 10 for reasons that were anything but altruistic.

"Sibling rivalry -- that's the reason. I have this older sister who has always been a very fine artist. She draws, paints, sculpts -- and I can't draw a straight line. I wanted to do something (creative) so I could compete with her. So I went to her and asked her to show me how to use a camera, and she begrudgingly agreed," he recalled, laughing.

By high school, his interest in photography had blossomed into a full-blown passion. After a short stint at the University of Toronto, Eppridge headed for the University of Missouri's School of Journalism, where he graduated with a major in photojournalism in 1959.

In that same year, while still a student, good fortune would visit Eppridge -- and shape his life for years to come.

"I had this friend who was a horse" at a nearby farm, Eppridge said, as he began a story about shooting an award-winning photo for the cover of this college newspaper's farm supplement.

"This horse knew me . . .Whenever I would drive by, I'd always give him a lump of sugar." So Eppridge headed to the farm to photograph "his friend" when the newspaper's editor announced that he was in desperate need of a last-minute photograph. "But when I got out of the car, I slipped and I spooked him -- and he took off running."

Eppridge had the opportunity to shoot just one photo -- and that photo would become "Stormy, Columbia, Missouri, 1959," a dramatic photograph of a white horse charging through a field with "tornadic" storm clouds in the distance.

That photo won him the National Press Photographer's Award/First Prize Pictorial. And that award, plus the distinction of being named College Photographer of the Year, caught the attention of Life photography director Roy Rowan -- subsequently leading to his long affiliation with the magazine.

"Hard to say whether I made luck happen, or whether luck happened to me," he said, again laughing.

Eppridge said that he has always gotten great joy from plying his art and craft no matter the subject. But he noted that one of the most fascinating periods of his life was spending more than a year on the road with Bobby Kennedy, covering his presidential campaign for Life magazine. He says he came to admire Kennedy enormously -- "I thought he was the right man for the time" -- and documenting his assassination was terribly sad.

But Eppridge said he has remarkable eye-hand coordination (a product he said from playing lots of pinball in college) and shooting those iconic photos of a fallen Kennedy were instinctual.

Renowned in recent years as a teacher devoted to mentoring a new generation of photojournalists, Eppridge says he advises students to "never put that camera down . . . it always has to be with you. And you really, really have to want to do this.

"This is an extraordinary time in history . . . with ideas traveling around the world with incredible speed. It all has to be documented. It has to be done, and as photojournalists, we have to do it."


ANNUAL PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW

More than 650 images from about 220 photographers were submitted for consideration in this year's photography show. From that pool of entries, 71 works from 50 photographers were chosen to be featured in Images 2011 in six categories: abstract, architecture, landscape, nature, photojournalism and portraiture. A regional competition, the event is open to those who work or live in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York.

Joining Eppridge on the judge's panel were photo editor Adrienne Aurichio, of New Milford; photographer Stephen Wilkes, of Westport; and photographer/teacher Thomas Mezzanotte, who was Fairfield Arts Center's 2010 Artist of the Year.

Taking top honors in the professional/serious amateur category is Sandy Gennirch, of Stamford, who presented two works: a nature photo, "Horseshoe Crab Ritual," and an abstract "Dry Docked." Her prize is a 10-day exhibition at Southport Galleries at a yet undetermined date.

Winner in the student division is Daria Lombroso, of New Rochelle, who submitted three portraits while a senior at Wesleyan University in Middletown. Her three photos are titled: "Jaime, White Plains," "Tomato and Cheese Sandwich, White Plains" and "Jorge and Andrew, Scarsdale." Lombroso will receive a professional review of her work by Wilkes.

UPCOMING EVENTS

In conjunction with Images 2011, the Fairfield Museum has scheduled several upcoming events including the following:

Screening of PBS American Experience/"Freedom Riders," about the civil rights movement, post-film discussion with artist Tracy Sugarman; Thursday, June 2, 7 to 9 p.m.; free.

"The Soiling of Old Glory: The Power of a Photograph" lecture by Louis Masur of Trinity College, Hartford; Thursday, July 14, 7 to 9 p.m.; $8, students $5.

Behind the Lens guided tours; Thursdays June 23, July 28 and Aug. 18; 10 to 11 a.m.; included with regular admission.

Family Day, with special activities for children, Sundays July 31 and Aug. 21, noon to 4 p.m.; included with regular admission.

The Fairfield Museum and History Center is at 370 Beach Road, behind Fairfield's Independence Hall (exit 22 off Interstate 95). Hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekends noon to 4 p.m. Admission is $5, $3 for students 6 through 22 years of age and senior citizens; free for children 5 and younger. Call 203-259-1598 or visit http://www.fairfieldhs.org/.

AS TIME GOES BY: Woodstock, August 15 - 17, 1969

A gallery of photographs by Bill Eppridge and John Dominis, “Woodstock: Life’s Best Photos,” was published this time last year by Life.com.

Bill Eppridge, who photographed the Woodstock Music and Art Fair 41 years ago, remembers it as a beautiful coda to a painful decade.

"For me, it was a visual feast, a never-ending succession of moments that is impossible to forget,” he says.

Mr. Eppridge, now 71 and renowned as a teacher and mentor, joined Life magazine as a staff photographer in the early ’60s and stayed until the magazine folded in 1972. He covered many of the most important stories of the time, including the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. It was Mr. Eppridge who made the iconic image of a stunned busboy holding the senator moments after he was shot. He collaborated with the reporter James Mills on a picture essay and article in 1965 that followed the lives of two young drug addicts in New York. (The next year, Mr. Mills published his account as “The Panic in Needle Park,” which was made into a movie in 1971.)

In the accompanying audio slide show, Mr. Eppridge speaks about being accepted at Woodstock even though he represented an established and powerful institution — as Life was in its day. “They knew who I was but they didn’t care,” he recalls.

It was not the first time he’d been accepted under unorthodox circumstances. George P. Hunt, the managing editor of Life magazine, told this story behind “Needle Park” in 1965, when Mr. Mills and Mr. Eppridge briefly became “denizens of the junkie world”:

Eppridge, in fact, came so much to look the part that he was picked up by the narcos in a hotel lobby; they thought he had stolen both his cameras and Life credentials and were about to haul him off when Mills (who looks more like a cop) came up to straighten things out.

©The New York Times

Bill Eppridge: "An American Treasure" is on exhibit at Monroe Gallery of Photography through September 27. See a related review from the Albuquerque Journal here. 

THE ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL - Bill Eppridge: An American Treasure Review "An Eye On The Times"

Sunday, July 25, 2010


An Eye on the Times


©THE ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
By Dan Mayfield

Journal Staff Writer

From the civil rights movement, the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, wars in Vietnam, revolutions in South America and environmental disasters such as the wreck of the Exxon Valdez oil tanker, Bill Eppridge has seen it all.

His favorite work, he said, was following Robert F. Kennedy on the campaign trail. In this image, Bobby Kennedy campaigns in Indiana during May of 1968, with various aides and friends: former prizefighter Tony Zale and (right of Kennedy) N.F.L. stars Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, and Deacon Jones, members of the Los Angeles Rams' "Fearsome Foursome" 

Eppridge is a photographer who started his career with National Geographic, moved to become a staff photographer for Life magazine and later Sports Illustrated, where he was assigned to cover the most important events of the last half of the 20th century. For Life he covered the civil rights movement and was one of five photographers on hand when Robert F. Kennedy was shot. For Sports Illustrated, from 1974 until his retirement just three years ago, he covered outdoor events like sailing, hunting and the Olympics.

Eppridge has a new show of his photojournalism work from the last 50 years at the Monroe Gallery in Santa Fe through Sept. 26.

Eppridge, who grew up during World War II, said he was a fan of the great photojournalism work that appeared in Life and would wait by the kitchen table every Wednesday for the new issue of the magazine to appear in his hometown of Richmond, Va.

"I remember hanging out under our dining room table for the mail just to look at the pictures," he said. "When you grow up like that, it sticks with you."

When he went to high school, he said, his sister taught him to use a light meter so he could take pictures for the school paper. Later, in college at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, he said, he dived headfirst into the business, photographing revolutions in Hungary and Eastern Europe.

"Of course, when you start to do that, your grades slip," he said. But he moved on and when he graduated, was sent on a 27-city trip around the world for National Geographic.

"It's kind of an awesome first assignment," Eppridge said.

Though the company offered him a staff photographer job, he elected to instead take a staff job at Life, his childhood favorite.

At his show in Santa Fe, most of the images are from his Life days.

Bill Garrett, who later became National Geographic's editor, encouraged a young Eppridge to join Life.

"When he explained to me that if you haven't photographed a war, or been in that situation, you don't know what to do with your life," Eppridge said. "You have to know what that experience is and what happens when all hell breaks loose."

He was sent to Vietnam, Panama, Nicaragua and other hot spots throughout South America, and it prepared him for one of the seminal moments of his career. He was about 12 feet behind Robert F. Kennedy when he was shot in 1968 at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

"I know that I was 12 feet behind him when it happened," Eppridge said. "Had I been in the normal position where I should have been, I would have been back-walking 2 feet in front of him when Sirhan (Sirhan) had that damn gun.

"As soon as the gunfire started, I knew what it was. I knew where it came from. I was pretty close to the caliber in my mind. By the time it finished, I knew what had been used. It was things that I learned in wars and revolutions. I knew what incoming sounded like. That instinct, right there, all of those years of working, when it hits that fan ... it goes from your eye to your brain to your finger to hit that button."

His images of the moment, of a busboy holding RFK's hand, to his body lying on the floor, have become part of the American tapestry of images.

His images, too, of the civil rights struggle, such as the funeral of slain civil rights worker James Cheney, are in the show at the Monroe Gallery.

Photographer Bill Eppridge was assigned to cover many of the 1960's toughest issues, including the civil rights struggle. He photographed the funeral of James Cheney, a civil rights worker who was slain in 1964. Eppridge photographed Mrs. Cheney and her son, Ben, at the funeral.

When Life closed, Eppridge moved to Sports Illustrated, where he photographed "any sport without balls."

Casey Stengel, NY Mets Manager, New York, 1962

He spent time with hunters and sailors, and at the Olympics, he said. But he most enjoyed the magazine's rare pieces on the environment. He covered both the post-eruption destruction of Mount St. Helens and the Exxon Valdez oil spill for the magazine.

Once the magazine shifted focus to covering mainly the biggest sports and the biggest athletes, he said, it was time to go.

"The magazine changed, and I was not doing that," he said.

On one of his early assignments for LIFE. Eppridge photographed the Beatles on their 1964 American tour, including John Lennon relaxing on the train from New York to Washington, DC

If you go

WHAT: Photo exhibition by Bill Eppridge

WHEN: Through Sept. 26

WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, 505-992-0800

HOW MUCH: Free



©The Albuquerque Journal

BILL EPPRIDGE: AN AMERICAN TREASURE ON AMERICA'S BIRTHDAY

©Bill Eppridge: Bobby Kennedy campaigns in Indiana during May of 1968, with various aides and friends: former prizefighter Tony Zale and (right of Kennedy) N.F.L. stars Lamar Lundy, Rosey Grier, and Deacon Jones

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce a very special exhibition of photographs by the renowned photojournalist Bill Eppridge. Mr. Eppridge will be our guest at the opening reception in his honor on Friday, July 2, from 5 to 7 PM. Mr. Eppridge will also be in the gallery Saturday, July 3. This is a rare opportunity to meet one of the most accomplished photojournalists of the Twentieth Century. The exhibition will continue through September 26.

Bill Eppridge has captured some of the most significant moments in American history: he has covered wars, political campaigns, civil rights, heroin addiction, the arrival of the Beatles in the United States, the summer and winter Olympics, Vietnam, Woodstock, (see the special 40th Anniversary audio and slide shows from the New York Times and Life), and perhaps the most dramatic moment of his career - the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles. Over the last 50 years  his work has appeared in numerous publications, including National Geographic, Life, and Sports Illustrated. He is the recipient of the 2009 Missouri Honor Medal for Lifetime Distinguished Service in Journalism awarded by The Missouri School of Journalism.

©Bill Eppridge: The Chaney family as they depart for the burial of James Chaney, Meridian, Mississippi, August 7, 1964

Recently, The Beatles! Backstage and Behind the Scenes, a photography exhibition of Bill's images of the band was displayed at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C, before starting a world tour. In 2008, his photographs were included in the exhibition Road to Freedom: Photographs from the Civil Rights Movement 1956 - 1968 at the High Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, later traveling to the Skirball Center in Los Angeles and the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York. Additionally, Eppridge's photographs are included in the exhibitions Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera since 1870; Tate Modern, London; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2010); and A Star is Born: Photography and Rock Music Since Elvis Presley, Museum Folkwang, Germany (2010).

View the exhibition on-line here.

UPDATE: AIPAD PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW OPENS; MONROE GALLERY IN NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW

The 30th annual Association of International Photography Art Dealers Photography Show is now open, through Sunday, March 21. The show is at the Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue (between 66th and 67th Streets).

Friday's New York Times has a review of the show mentioning Eddie Adams iconic Street Execution of a Viet Cong Prisoner, shown in a very rare sequence of three prints. Also on exhibit at Monroe Gallery is the shocking burned master print of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, as shown in this blog.


We have welcomed many of our esteemed photographers to our booth, # 317. Here are just a few highlights, we hope to see you Sunday - John Dominis will be among our guests.

 

Woodstock Reunion: Bill Eppridge and Elliott Landy

Alyssa Adams, widow of Eddie Adams, Adrienne Arrichio, and Bill Eppridge

Dorothy and Guy Gillette

Ken Regan and Bill Eppridge