Bill Eppridge (American, born in Argentina, 1938–2013) spent his career close to the people he photographed — close enough that some of the most painful and joyful moments of the 1960s now live in the public memory through his frames.
Early Life and Education
Eppridge was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on March 20, 1938, and grew up in the United States, moving between Richmond, Nashville, and Wilmington as a boy. He started at the University of Toronto, where he ran photography for the student newspaper, before transferring to the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. At Missouri, he twice won the national college photography competition, an early sign of the instincts that would define his work.
The LIFE Years
After a short stint at National Geographic, Eppridge joined LIFE in the early 1960s and became one of its most versatile staff photographers, working alongside colleagues such as John Loengard and John Dominis. He was on hand for the Beatles' first arrival in New York in 1964, followed the civil rights struggle in Mississippi, and covered unrest in Latin America and the war in Vietnam. He became the first photojournalist permitted to travel on tour with President Lyndon B. Johnson, and in 1969 he documented the crowds and spirit of the Woodstock festival.
Eppridge also had a gift for immersive, long-form stories. In 1965 he spent months alongside two young heroin users in a Manhattan neighborhood known as Needle Park. The resulting photo essay earned a National Headliner Award and later inspired the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park.
Robert F. Kennedy
Eppridge followed Robert Kennedy from 1966 onward, and his warmth with the senator shows in pictures of crowds pressing forward for handshakes and autographs. On June 5, 1968, he was steps away when Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. His photograph of busboy Juan Romero kneeling beside the fallen senator became one of the defining images of the decade. He returned to the subject in two books, Robert Kennedy: The Last Campaign (1993) and A Time It Was: Bobby Kennedy in the Sixties (2008).
Later Career and Legacy
When LIFE ended its weekly run in 1972, Eppridge moved to Sports Illustrated, where he photographed the America's Cup, multiple Winter Olympics, and the outdoors he loved. He shared what he knew generously as a teacher at Yale University and at leading photojournalism workshops. Eppridge died in Danbury, Connecticut, on October 3, 2013, leaving an archive that reads as a firsthand record of a turbulent American era.
Available Works at GALLERY M
As a primary gallery for the LIFE Collection, a select grouping of Bill Eppridge works is available online here or by speaking with a GALLERY M specialist today. 