John S. Kiewit Photography Collection

John S. Kiewit... Lottie Johl House (Bodie, CA., June 1974). From Ghost Town in the John S. Kiewit Photography Collection at the Donald C. Davidson Library ot the University of California Santa Barbara. "...John S. Kiewit was born on July 5, 1948 in Los Angeles, California and grew up on the beaches of Malibu, where his father was an avid surfer. During his childhood, Kiewit accompanied his parents, Ralph and Oralee Kiewit, on numerous trips to Europe and the South Pacific, which instilled in him a lifelong love of travel. He also developed an interest in photography, and at the age of 16 he began to document his forays into the less-traveled areas of the western United States.
In school, Kiewit found inspiration in the works of photographers such as Edward Weston and Walker Evans, and decided to major in photography at Santa Monica College. He then intended to enroll at the famous Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, but changed his mind when he encountered conservative attitudes at the school. Instead, he chose a program in 'visual anthropology' at San Francisco State, which led to a quarter-century of wandering the back roads of the American West with his camera."