Photographer Captures Grateful Dead Followers Then and Now on Similar Giant Format Digicam

Photographer Bill Lemke started capturing the Grateful Dead group on a big format digicam within the Eighties when he documented 150 ‘Deadheads’ — because the fan base is thought. But little did he know that it wasn’t the tip of the undertaking.

In 2015, Lemke obtained phrase from one of many Deadheads he photographed telling him how a lot she beloved the picture and urged taking a brand new picture — 30 years after the primary one.

“I dusted off the old tie-dye backdrop and loaded it up with my canopy tent, and my wife and I went to take the portrait,” Lemke tells PetaPixel. “It was such a great experience connecting with people I never expected to see again, that we decided to start searching for the original Deadheads to see if there were any more we could re-photograph.”

Lemke shot the unique pictures with the aforementioned tie-dye backdrop — the signature Deadhead sample — and a 4×5 massive format digicam, which he has been utilizing since 1977, primarily taking pictures landscapes.

“After seeing a Richard Avedon exhibit of portraits, I decided I wanted to document the Deadhead community members in formal portraits against a consistent tie-dye backdrop that was consistent with the music,” he explains. “The first portraits were taken at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin during the summer of 1985.”

Lemke says he makes use of massive format as a result of it slows him down, permitting him to assume extra about composition and lighting. “And, at around $7 per sheet of film, I don’t just shoot in hopes of getting the image I want. I wait until I know it’s going to be right,” he provides, whereas additionally noting the supreme tonal high quality and particulars in comparison with different codecs.

The massive format digicam is about up on a tripod, and he has eight totally different lenses and two totally different bellows to select from.

“I use a handheld light meter and take readings of the highlights and shadows to determine my exposure and development times,” Lemke says. “Everything about the camera is manual, which requires me to truly understand photography… not rely on taking lots of photos and hoping I can make one of them look good with Photoshop. I hand-process all of my own film and make silver gelatin prints in the darkroom.”

Lemke and his spouse have tracked down 42 Deadheads and his pictures are being compiled right into a e book titled ‘Aging Gratefully.’ Furthermore, the topics spoke to author David Gans to shed extra mild on their tales.

“I have never published a book before, and the idea of self-publishing and investing over $30,000 to print 1,000 books that I have no guarantee of selling is a daunting thought for me,” he says.

“So, my wife helped me develop the Kickstarter primarily as a way to pre-sell copies of the book as a reward for backing at certain levels.”

The Kickstarter hit its goal and now with Dead & Company — the remaining members of the unique band — finishing a triumphant 60-year reunion live performance final weekend in San Fransisco, curiosity within the Grateful Dead is trending.

“[It] is a unique subculture that can remind us all of what it means to care for and about one another, to find family among those with common interests, and to live life according to your values (whatever they are),” Lemke says.

“My ability to work with David Gans (author, photographer, musician, and oral historian for the Grateful Dead) to make this project come alive allows me to feel I am leaving a legacy behind of my work as a photographer and of a time when caring for each other was something that really mattered in our society.”

More of Lemke’s work could be discovered on his Instagram and website.

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Image credit: Photographs by Bill Lemke.