Page 12 - 2017 Year In Review

Peter Stackpole

Peter Stackpole was already famous for his photographic
essay on the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge in San
Francisco, when he was hired by Henry Luce as the youngest
of the four original staff photographers for LIFE Magazine in
1936. After an assignment to photograph Douglas Fairbanks
spear fishing off the coast of Catalina Island in 1941,
Stackpole developed a keen interest in the mechanical aspects
and challenge of underwater photography. He was one of the
first professional photographers to become an expert using
the Aqua-Lung and he maintained a home workshop where
he tinkered with camera gear and built his own underwater
plexiglass housings to protect his 35 mm Leica camera.

In the 1950’s he became LIFE’s go to man for underwater
photography, covering the filming of 20,000 Leagues Under The
Sea and the exploits of treasure hunters. In 1953 he won one
of the very earliest George Polk Awards in photo journalism
for his eerie, final pictures of competitive free-diver Hope
Root descending into the ocean depths off the coast of Miami
while trying to set a world record in deep-water diving.
Root vanished during the dive, and was never seen again.
Accompanying him on that dive was Coles Phinizy, a young
writer and water sports enthusiast who would go on to make
one of the great contributions to underwater photography.

Peter Stackpole with Esther Williams

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