Gary Stochl

Gary Stochl (born 1947) is a street photographer who lives in Stickney, Illinois, just outside the city of Chicago.

He spent 40 years of his life taking pictures of people on the streets of Chicago without showing them to anyone. In the Spring of 2004, he finally decided that it was time to show his pictures to the world, so he went to the Photography Department at Columbia College Chicago and met Bob Thall, the Chair of the Photography Department. Bob was told by his secretary that someone wanted to show him some pictures. Thall reluctantly agreed and tried to get the meeting over with as soon as possible, but after seeing 10-15 of Gary's pictures he realized that this was a photographer of unusual merit. Bob later helped Gary to publish his pictures in the book On City Streets: Chicago 1964-2004.

History

Gary saw the pictures of Henri Cartier-Bresson in the late 1960s and was inspired by them. He bought a Leica and started taking pictures, his only formal education in photography being a course in high school. Later he also saw the works of Robert Frank and was inspired by his works as well. He has used the same camera, a Leica M3 since 1968. He has been taking pictures since he was 17 years old.

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