About the photographer

 

I'm Bil Paul, the photographer and publisher of The Tri-X Chronicles.

The army/Viet Nam photos were taken in Ft. Lewis, Washington and in the vicinity of Qui Nhon, Viet Nam while I was serving in the U.S. Army. I also made a documentary film on the same subject titled The 527th Personnel Suck Company. After showing it around, I donated it to the National Archives' Viet Nam collection.

The be-in, hippy, campus demonstration and Peoples Park photos were shot mostly while freelancing for local underground newspapers (Berkeley Barb, Berkley Tribe and the San Francisco Good Times). When I got lucky I sold photos to Rolling Stone, daily newspapers, wire services or magazines.

Some of the more personal photos are of my acquaintences. If you see yourself in any of the book's photos I'd like to hear from you!

A simple 35mm camera with no built-in metering was used exclusively. I did the developing and printing, and designed and published the book, which was a great learning experience.

You can buy The Tri-X Chronicles book which contains the photos you see here. At $3.45, it's quite a bargain. Click here to order or learn more about the book.

The photos, which are copyrighted, may be used by others in electronic form or in hard-copy reproduction only by non-profits (with a credit to Bil Paul). When planning to use any of these digital photos commercially in a web site, magazine or book (or other use) contact Bil Paul for terms. What you see here is only the tip of the iceberg. I have voluminous files of 60s negatives -- contact me for photographic prints of the photos displayed here or of any 60s subjects -- for commercial use. I also have good black and whites of bicycle racing and of the rock band The Tubes.

The Tri-X Chronicles was my first book. Later, I wrote, designed, published and marketed the following books under the Alchemist/Light imprint: Mailmen's Dog Stories, Crossing the USA the Short Way: Bicycling a Mississippi River Route, and Bicycling California's Spine: Touring the Length of the Sierra Nevada. My last book, The Pacific Crest Bicycle Trail, was published by Bittersweet Press. Except for The Tri-X Chronicles, all are sold out.

This site was created using Claris Home Page on an old Mac. A Umax Astra 600s scanned the photos directly from the book. It's a somewhat low-res, elementary scanner which will have to do for the time being.

I live near San Francisco with my wife and three children. In addition to my day job, I do wedding photography and family pix. I can also be reached at PO Box 1275, Belmont, CA 94002.

I hope you enjoyed seeing the 60s by way of my camera.

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