Originally Posted by
Merg Ross
Hi Bob,
She was an amazingly talented photographer. The May 31, 1937 cover photo of the Golden Gate Bridge is credited to Standard Oil Company. Interesting. I wonder if a photo from her later aerial photography project of bridges made the cover.
When I think of bridge building across San Francisco Bay, her fellow staffer Peter Stackpole comes to mind. He photographed construction of the first two bridges, work that came to Luce's attention and ultimate hiring in the original group of four Life staff photographers. Peter had great respect for Bourke-White's work.
A bit off topic, I met Peter in Darien when he was still with Life, and later lived three blocks from him after he retired to his boyhood home here in Oakland. I got to know him well, and we went through the 1991 Oakland fire together; I was luckier that Peter, he lost most of a life's work, and a home turned to ash.
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