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by Mary M. Cronin and Bruce Berman.
Softcover (6.5×9.3 inches). 191 pages. 2025.
I never heard of Palmer, but he became a color photo guru in the mid to late 1930s and was hired by the US Office of War Information to take photos across the US to rally Americans to support the war against the Axis. This “Strategy of Truth” campaign covered factories and farmland and showed resolve, industrial might, and agricultural bounty.
Palmer took 8,000 photos for the OWI, using a specialized set up with flash and carefully curated trim and attractive workers, bright work clothes, and carefully styled hair and makeup.
Besides the bio of Palmer, you get a layman’s lens-view of how the photos were staged, the techniques involved in focusing in on the pose and machinery or produce, and how these pseudo-propaganda photos were used and disseminated. For example, he often used clothes that were predominantly yellow and red because those provided the best color saturation for Kodachrome film at the time (p95).
One typo: “and170,000” (p85) needs a space before the number.
The book contains 72 color photos and 34 black and white photos.
Palmer made his mark in commercial photography, especially on maritime topics, but also Ansel Adams at work and even was staff photographer at National Geographic for a time. He later went back into commercial photography and film making.
It’s an interesting story — far more interesting than I expected. The color photos highlight the best of the US home front in the 1940-1943 timeframe when he was with OWI. Well done.
Enjoyed it.
— Reviewed by Russ Lockwood
