Photo Era Favorite & Why

[Michael Graves]

I'd vote for the EPA era. Some outstanding work came out of a lot of photographers who might not have otherwise reached the heights they did.

[Vaughn]

...Bicycles and cameras a great combo, the era was amazingly innovative...

So was a short 6-month period spanning 1986 to 1987 in the southern hemisphere...in my history book, anyway.

Pancake Rocks, NZ, 4x5 on a bicycle adventure

[John Kasaian]

I'd vote for the EPA era. Some outstanding work came out of a lot of photographers who might not have otherwise reached the heights they did.

EPA or WPA?

[Ethan]

the cenozoic era's got to be my favorite, can't say I know of much photography from other eras though

[Michael Graves]

EPA or WPA?

Heh, heh, heh.... We be typists and sh...stuff.

[Pat Kearns]

I'll continue to let Michael and John duke it out over the EPA or WPA.

I read many books when I first started in photography. The era that struck me the most was the work done by the photographers for the FSA under the direction of Roy Stryker. The images of The Great Depression, The Dust Bowl, and The Migrant Camps solidified the great names of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Arthur Rothstein, and many other photographers.

[Dugan]

Wow, good question...
It would be a toss-up between the 20's-30's-40's Hurrell-type Hollywood studio portraits, and the Brett Weston/Richard Garrod/Oliver Gagliani/ Merg Ross aesthetic.
They stimulate different parts of my brain.

[John Layton]

...in the meantime - Vaughn, please pass the syrup! (as long as its Vermont maple!)

[Vaughn]

...in the meantime - Vaughn, please pass the syrup! (as long as its Vermont maple!)

I only have Canadian, but there's a place there to sit your plate down right there in front.
Don't remember how long it took me to compose this...only cropping was by the negative carrier. Probably long enough for buzzards (if there were any) to wonder if something was dead under that black cloth. I remember thinking about the amount of sky, and if I was going to be able to get some waves in. Oh, man...thirty-five plus years ago!

But how does one get a Place onto a piece of film, along with as much of ones self as one can?

But semi-back on topic. One does have to love (as an American, anyway) the wild west era. My favorite being Peter Britt of Jacksonville, Oregon, who arrive during the Gold Rush. He told a hotel-keeper's daughter, "Madam, if you wish a photograph of a beautiful face, you shall have to bring one." I think he was the only photographer in town...

[Merg Ross]

Wow, good question...
It would be a toss-up between the 20's-30's-40's Hurrell-type Hollywood studio portraits, and the Brett Weston/Richard Garrod/Oliver Gagliani/ Merg Ross aesthetic.
They stimulate different parts of my brain.

The first three are high on my list for inspiration. Thanks for the mention, Dugan. Heard from Dick Garrod a couple of weeks ago, now 97. Wonderful person and photographer. Remember his exhibit in Hayward, Vaughn?