Encounters with Remarkable Men: A Photographic Retrospective

This book is an autobiographical retrospective of my forty plus years as a photojournalist and portrait photographer. Starting out the the 1960's, I did not plan on making a book, but looking back, I see how this evolved from a natural progression of life events that follow my curiosity about people and my interest in art, politics, spirituality, and culture. At an early age I taught myself photography and set on a path to meet and photograph the people who intrigued me and go to the places that inspire me. Early on, I figured the vehicle to do this would be photography. I remember being influenced by Matthew Brady’s photographs of the Civil War and thought that recording history with photographs was something that I wanted to pursue. I was also inspired by the photographers who appeared Life and National Geographic magazines and so as a teenager, prepared myself for a career in photojournalism. I was influenced by the leading photographers of the time, such as Yousef Karsh, Richard Avedon, and Arnold Newman.

Doug Elbinger's extraordinary career in photography began at the age of fourteen when he developed his first roll of black and white film in soup bowls in his bedroom closet. While still in high school, he photographed the Beatles, on stage with them during their August 1966 concert at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. As a student at Michigan State University ('67 - '71), Doug worked for the The State News, The Detroit Free Press, and United Press International . By age 21, his work had appeared in the New York Times, Time Magazine. Newsweek Magazine, and Sports Illustrated. Highlights of his photo-journalistic career include Robert F. Kennedys' presidential campaign in May 1968 and the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Over the years Elbingers' photographs have appeared in countless newspapers, magazines, trade journals, album covers, and annual reports and web sites.