1964 Memorial Day

June 1, 1964

Memorial Day services were held at the IOOF cemetery in San Luis Obispo. One quirk of newspaper photos from that era is the frequency of stage-managed photos.

Part of that trend was due to the limitations of the equipment. If you only had two sheets of film for your 4x5 camera then you might think of ways to improve the odds of a good picture. A new generation of 35 mm photographers were challanging accepted wisdom of this era.

Today we strive to document real moments and if we don't have that opportunity we make a portrait that everyone can see is a portrait. Manufactured illustrations are labeled as such.

The photo published echoes a famous image transmitted a few months before from the John F. Kennedy funeral and can be seen in the Kennedy Slain post on this blog from November 1963.