Adrienne Aurichio on Bill Eppridge & The Beatles

Adrienne Aurichio on Bill Eppridge and The Beatles

Photography editor and archivist Adrienne Aurichio, wife of legendary Life Magazine photojournalist Bill Eppridge, sat down with us at the Eddie Adams Workshop to discuss the work of her late husband and managing his archive. In this video, Adrienne tells the story of Bill creating some of the first photos of the Beatles in the U.S., losing and finding the original negatives, and how those photos took on new meaning and importance years later.


Bill Eppridge, American photographer (born March 20, 1938, Buenos Aires, Arg.—died Oct. 3, 2013, Danbury, Conn.), was a visual historian who captured images of politicians, performers, sports figures, and activists that became iconic relics of some of the most shattering as well as the most joyous moments in history.


Some of his most arresting images were taken on June 5, 1968, when Eppridge—who was covering Sen. Robert F. Kennedy’s Democratic presidential campaign for Life magazine—was just steps behind Kennedy as he exited the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where the senator was fatally shot by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan. Eppridge snapped a series of six images of the fallen Kennedy and the tumultuous aftermath of the assassination, but the most powerful photograph was probably the one in which the slain Kennedy, bathed in an ethereal light, is hovered over by a hotel busboy offering comfort.


Eppridge also covered such events as the Woodstock music festival, the civil rights movement, (notably the funeral of James Chaney, who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan), the Olympic Games, America’s Cup races, and revolutions in Latin America. He also photographed such music legends as Barbra Streisand and the Beatles. In addition to Life, Eppridge worked for National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, and Time magazines. Eppridge in 1996 was the recipient of the Joseph A. Sprague Memorial Award, the highest accolade bestowed by the National Press Photographers Association.

 

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