Jeffery and Hannah in the 1980s and later in the 2010s.
Photographer Bill Lemke began capturing the Grateful Dead community on a large format camera in the 1980s when he documented 150 ‘Deadheads’ — as the fan base is known. But little did he know that it wasn’t the end of the project.
In 2015, Lemke received word from one of the Deadheads he photographed telling him how much she loved the photo and suggested taking a new photo — 30 years after the first one.
“I dusted off the old tie-dye backdrop and loaded it up with my canopy tent, and my wife and I went to take the portrait,” Lemke tells PetaPixel. “It was such a great experience connecting with people I never expected to see again, that we decided to start searching for the original Deadheads to see if there were any more we could re-photograph.”
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Lemke shot the original photos with the aforementioned tie-dye backdrop — the signature Deadhead pattern — and a 4×5 large format camera, which he has been using since 1977, primarily shooting landscapes.
“After seeing a Richard Avedon exhibit of portraits, I decided I wanted to document the Deadhead community members in formal portraits against a consistent tie-dye backdrop that was consistent with the music,” he explains. “The first portraits were taken at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin during the summer of 1985.”
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Lemke says he uses large format because it slows him down, allowing him to think more about composition and lighting. “And, at around $7 per sheet of film, I don’t just shoot in hopes of getting the image I want. I wait until I know it’s going to be right,” he adds, while also noting the supreme tonal quality and details compared to other formats.
The large format camera is set up on a tripod, and he has eight different lenses and two different bellows to choose from.
“I use a handheld light meter and take readings of the highlights and shadows to determine my exposure and development times,” Lemke says. “Everything about the camera is manual, which requires me to truly understand photography… not rely on taking lots of photos and hoping I can make one of them look good with Photoshop. I hand-process all of my own film and make silver gelatin prints in the darkroom.”
Lemke and his wife have tracked down 42 Deadheads and his photos are being compiled into a book titled ‘Aging Gratefully.’ Furthermore, the subjects spoke to writer David Gans to shed more light on their stories.
“I have never published a book before, and the idea of self-publishing and investing over $30,000 to print 1,000 books that I have no guarantee of selling is a daunting thought for me,” he says.
“So, my wife helped me develop the Kickstarter primarily as a way to pre-sell copies of the book as a reward for backing at certain levels.”
The Kickstarter hit its target and now with Dead & Company — the remaining members of the original band — completing a triumphant 60-year reunion concert last weekend in San Fransisco, interest in the Grateful Dead is trending.
“[It] is a unique subculture that can remind us all of what it means to care for and about one another, to find family among those with common interests, and to live life according to your values (whatever they are),” Lemke says.
“My ability to work with David Gans (author, photographer, musician, and oral historian for the Grateful Dead) to make this project come alive allows me to feel I am leaving a legacy behind of my work as a photographer and of a time when caring for each other was something that really mattered in our society.”
More of Lemke’s work can be found on his Instagram and website.
Image credits: Photographs by Bill Lemke.