E. D. Newcomer Photographs

Everett David Newcomer was born in Ashton, Illinois on December 27, 1896. His interest in aerial photography began early: as a child in Denver, Colorado, he rigged a camera to a box kite in order to take his first aerial images. He began his professional career as a photographer for the Forest Service and the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, leaving the Survey in 1917 to join the Army. During his training, he met pilot Ira Biffel, with whom he continued to work after he returned from service with the AEF in Europe. He perfected his aerial photography technique by trial and error and worked taking aerial pictures for oil and industrial developers in the Los Angeles area until he was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1920.

Newcomer greatly disliked the hospital he was sent to and left after several months, reasoning that if he died, at least he could die happy. He went to Yuma, Arizona, purchased a saddle horse and a pack animal, and traveled around the state until 1924, when he met barnstormer Billy Argo. Although Argo eventually left Arizona, Howard Rinehart and Benny Whelan established an airfield that allowed Newcomer to return to aerial photography. In 1927, he sold an idea for an aerial survey of Arizona to the Arizona Republican and was hired on as the state's first full-time press photographer in 1928. His work took him around the world and he photographed such prominent individuals as Gen. John Pershing, Winnie Ruth Judd, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Newcomer also continued to work on his own projects, including many trips to the Hopi Nation, of which he was particularly fond. Newcomer died on December 30, 1973.