“Bone and Sky.” Circa 1932. Willard Van Dyke, Courtesy of Murray Van Dyke via The New York Times ‘Lens’
In 1967, a 20-year-old photography student named Mary Street Alinder went to the University of Oregon for a workshop featuring several of her idols, four of the original members of the famed Group f.64: Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Brett Weston and Willard Van Dyke. The experience changed her life, starting with her working for Adams for the last few years of his. She was a co-author of the best-selling “Ansel Adams: An Autobiography,” and later wrote a biography, which has just been re-released. In the process she got to know members of Group f.64 and entwined herself with photographic history.
Fittingly, she just published “Group f.64,” the first comprehensive history of the movement. The project took 16 years, which is twice as long as Group f.64 existed. But the result is a thoroughly researched book that investigates the founding and life cycle of one of the most famous collectives in the history of photography. As its members battled the Great Depression while grappling with the evolving role of photography in society, it seems an apt story to tell in 2014.