This morning I did some volunteer work for a local library's bookstore, cleaning books. It's not a glamorous job, but somebody's got to do it. Several of the books were old Penguin editions of John Steinbeck's novels. The cover art featured well-known photographers' images. I was especially taken by the man on the cover of Cannery Row (a subject I tackled just the other day), and was surprised to learn that it was by Peter Stackpole (1913–1997). I don't know why I was surprised—except, I guess, that I tend to associate him with photos of the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. But as it turns out, thanks to a show he put on of the bridge photos, he was hired as one of the first four staff photographers at Life magazine, where he worked for 24 years, and many of his images from that gig are portraits, whether of the rich and famous or of regular folks, like this fellow. (His Life archive can be seen here.)Seeing his name reminded me of the wonderful shots of those iconic bridges, and I figured if nothing else occurred to me today, I could always repost a few of those. So, here, for your viewing pleasure, photos taken in 1934–1936. The first are of the Bay Bridge (which took three years to build and cost the lives of 28 workers); the final couple are of the Golden Gate Bridge. What an exciting project that must have been for the 21-year-old photographer.
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