--- description: A tribute to J.R. Eyerman's long career with a series of pictures that display the man's dizzying versatility, talent and technical prowess title: J.R. Eyerman: Photographer Spotlight image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt89afb7e429a80b6c/6986a6db361760a3d990e37f/141003-j-r-eyerman-04.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Photographer Spotlight: J.R. Eyerman by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2014 3:45 PM CUT  Howard Hughes inside his H-4 Hercules troop transport plane, the "Spruce Goose," 1947. Howard Hughes inside his H-4 Hercules troop transport plane, the "Spruce Goose," 1947.J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 7, 2014 3:45 PM CUT The notion of a celebrated, groundbreaking photographer being born in a photo studio owned and operated by his parents sounds like something out of an absurdist novel. But that’s exactly how and where LIFE’s J.R. Eyerman (“J” to friends and colleagues), who made some of the most recognizable and most frequently reproduced pictures of the 20th century, came into the world. In an informal biography that he sent to LIFE magazine in 1940, before he was made a staff photographer, Eyerman wrote revealingly and self-deprecatingly of himself: --- > “” --- In 1943, at the heigh of the Second World War, Eyerman was accredited to the Atlantic fleet. He covered naval operations during the North African and Sicilian campaigns — and, according to notes in LIFE’s archives, “had his watch, two cameras and foot broken during a near-miss during the landing at Gela.” A year later, he was in the Pacific for a long assignment during the Marianas campaign, and in 1944 covered the first aircraft carrier strike on Manila. That Eyerman had a gift for getting along with people, like his “swell” subjects in the American Northwest, is evident in another note in the LIFE archives: a 1945 office memorandum discussing his reputation among the sailors with whom he spent so much time. “Eyerman is a very wonderful person,” the memo reads, quoting an acquaintance who knew him in the Pacific. “People out forward, from the admirals on down, appear to have more real respect for J. than for almost any other correspondent, and I think TIME Inc. is fortunate to have him on our side.” Throughout his career, meanwhile, Eyerman’s engineering skills, and his passion for finding a way to take the “untakeable” picture, kept him busy not only behind the camera, but inside it, as well. In the 1957 book, LIFE Photographers: Their Careers and Favorite Pictures, author Stanley Rayfield notes that “Eyerman’s technical innovations have helped push back the frontiers of photography. He perfected an electric eye mechanism to trip the shutters of nine cameras to make pictures of an atomic blast; devised a special camera for taking pictures 3600 feet beneath the surface of the ocean; successfully ‘speeded up’ color film to make previously impossible color pictures of the shimmering, changing forms and patterns of the aurora borealis.” In other words, when a new device or technique was called for, Eyerman frequently came up with a solution using his own head and hands. Like so many of LIFE’s photographers, he was by nature a tinkerer: he liked figuring out how things worked and, if possible, making them work a little better. Here, LIFE.com pays tribute to Eyerman’s long career with pictures that, we hope, at least hint at the man’s dizzying versatility, talent and technical prowess. Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at [@LizabethRonk](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk "undefined").  Mountaineering students in training, 1942. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Scene during the invasion of Sicily, 1943. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A passenger-filled streetcar, Hiroshima, Japan, September 1945. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Howard Hughes inside his H-4 Hercules troop transport plane, the "Spruce Goose," 1947. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Elizabeth Taylor, 1947. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Marilyn Monroe in dance class, 1949. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kids shove popcorn into their mouths while keeping their eyes on the screen at the local movie house, Fresno, Calif., 1949. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Gloria Swanson on set of Sunset Boulevard, 1949. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Jackie Robinson during filming of The Jackie Robinson Story, 1950. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Underwater view of a torpedo being launched from a submarine, 1951. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Time exposure of pole vaulter Robert Richards in action, 1951. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The opening-night screening of Bwana Devil, the first full-length, color 3-D movie, Nov. 26, 1952, at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Newly built houses jammed side-by-side, divided by a street clogged with moving vans, California, 1952. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Civil defense officials watch an atomic bomb test, Yucca Flat, Nevada, 1951. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Northern lights, Canada, 1953. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Kim Novak, 21, lounging on satin bed, 1954. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Spencer Tracy during filming of Bad Day at Black Rock, 1955. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Nearly all of the U.S. Air Force's operational aircraft in a single formation, Florida, 1956. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Charlton Heston as Moses in "The Ten Commandments," drive-in theater, Utah, 1958. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Photographer J.R. Eyerman on assignment during the Allied invasion of Salerno, Italy, 1943. J.R Eyerman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3461437/photographer-spotlight-j-r-eyerman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3461437/photographer-spotlight-j-r-eyerman/"},"headline":"Photographer Spotlight: J.R. 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