Bill Eppridge

Bill Pierce

Bill Pierce

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Bill Eppridge, a good photographer and a good man, died today. He interned at Life Magazine in 1960, a kid who had just graduated from college. In1965 Life published his story on two young heroin addicts. We were all kids, but here was a kid two years younger than me who had shot one of the best stories I had ever seen for the magazine that everybody wanted to work for. Bill was so far ahead of the rest of us, it was amazing. Over the years we crossed paths on assignment and then teaching at the Eddie Adams Workshops. Bill and I and my son, also a photographer, became friends. We had fun, but I think Bill thought my son was a lot more fun than me. (Most of us oldsters gripe about our health. Bill had some real problems and didn’t gripe.)

Bill was more than a superb photographer. He was a superb human being. Those of us who grew up working on the big mags of the past knew a lot of superb photographers. The superb human thing is a lot more important and a lot less common. Bill Eppridge is one of the best human beings. God bless you, Bill.

http://lightbox.time.com/2013/10/03...pher-bill-eppridge-1938-2013/?iid=lf|around#1
 
Thanks Bill, I did not know him by name but, of course, very aware of his iconic photos. Hate to find out about one the great ones when it is too late but at least you have raised our appreciation of him as a photographer and human being. Sorry for your loss but thank you for the portal to his work which lives on.
 
I had a dvd gifted to me last Christmas that was purchased at the Newseum about Life photographers. Bill was a good one if there is such a thing as a good one. That dvd is great I highly recommend it. Rest in peace sir...
 
Thanks for the link(s).

I did not know Bill Eppridge or name recognition but was familiar with the his work because of the photographs in newspapers and magazines. Enjoyed reading the tributes and viewing the photographs on-line.
 
Just showed his shot of rfk running on the beach with his dog to my spouse and her sister, neither of whom recognized the photograph, that is, the famous subject in a locale just west of where i now live. But this Eppridge photo and many of the others I know as icons, visual information I've never forgotten, and at this point I understand that the way I grew up with Life Magazine is fundamentally different from the way my nonphotographically minded friends and relations did. They don't seem to store images in their memories the same way. Most of what I remember are still images like these, by great photographers, however well or little known they may be.

This personal revelation is meant only to acknowledge how deeply I was impressed by images like these, week after week as a kid of the fifties and sixties, how much i (and probably many of you) was educated by them, how they reconfigured the nerve system of my imagination, and most of all how important it is that images like these continue their visual echo and perpetual presence after their maker is gone.
 
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Just pre-ordered Bill's book "Six Days that Changed the World" from Amazon about when he was "embedded" with the Beatles during their first visit to the US in 1964. I will also probably pick up a copy of "A Time It Was..." about his travels with Bobby Kennedy during his presidential campaign that was tragically ended on June 5, 1968.
 
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