VERNON MERRITT III, NEW YORK – SUMMER OF ’69

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Isabella Cecconi

Vernon Merritt III, one of my favorite photographers. His images captured during New York’s summer of 1969 are an everlasting evergreen beauty. Long hair, long legs, bell-bottoms, all are wearing what they want to wear. Everybody’s free, to love and be loved. Kids play in the street, summer is darn hot, the city boils. Girls seem to get their kicks with makeup. As they wear it anywhere. The most important thing is to express yourself and New York looks like a daily celebration of the self. Vernon Merritt III, was a photojournalist who chronicled the Vietnam War and the South during the turbulent 1960s. His photographs appeared in a number of publications including Newsweek, the Saturday Evening Post and Life. At Life, his work encompassed the breath of American life, the lifestyle of the ’60s, the capture of Charles Manson, astronauts,  farmers, sailors. His photos speak for themselves. His images are truly street style photography before it had a name: each one telling a story of this particular era. Vernon was and still is and will always be a true originator.

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