Encampment Wyoming by Lora Webb Nichols & Nicole Jean Hill. Published by Fw: Books.
I know this isn't a contest, but I had a stack of books from 2021 on my coffee table and when I started looking through them and trying to come up with which one was my personal favorite of the year, the first thought that entered my head was, “OK, Encampment Wyoming smokes the competition!” An incredible time capsule of a bygone America seen from a woman’s perspective. It’s essentially the same kind of work some of today’s most celebrated photographers endeavor to make but it was done four generations before they were born.
I have a high threshold for nostalgic Americana, and this checks that box but from such a joyous and inquisitive standpoint. Lots of photographers documenting this era did so as reportage, and would often search out the extremes, depicting the very rich or the very poor, the disasters and victims to sell newspapers. This book is filled with portraits of happy people enjoying their time and life. In my humble opinion, this book is a master class of what and how to shoot for a young photographer looking to document their current moment.
Ed Templeton (b.1972) is an American painter and photographer whose work reflects human behavior with emphasis on youth subcultures, religious affectation, and suburban conventions using a cinéma vérité approach embracing chance encounters. Templeton is a respected figure in the subculture of skateboarding, a two-time world-champion, and Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee. His work has been exhibited in museums worldwide including, MOCA, Los Angeles, ICP, NYC, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, Kunsthalle, Vienna, Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, SMAK Museum Belgium, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht. He lives and works in Huntington Beach, California.
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