{"id":608485,"date":"2026-05-28T12:55:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/608485\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:55:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:55:24","slug":"haight-ashbury-portraits-teenagers-in-the-summer-of-love-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/608485\/","title":{"rendered":"Haight-Ashbury Portraits: Teenagers in The Summer of Love, 1968"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cOkay, now I want you to take a breath. And when you exhale, I want to put your image onto a piece of film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Elaine Mayes, The Haight-Ashbury Portraits<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Haight-Ashbury<\/p>\n

Sweet Pam and Commune Group, Clayton Street, September 1, 1968<\/p>\n

Viewing Elaine Mayes\u2019 photographs of teens<\/a> in the late 1960s in Haight-Ashbury, we see the specifics of the era\u2019s youth culture and the Summer of Love.<\/p>\n

In The Haight-Ashbury Portraits, 1967-1968 during the end days of the Summer of Love<\/a>, Elaine Mayes took a set of portraits<\/a> of youth culture in her area.<\/p>\n

Mayes was a young photographer living in San Francisco<\/a> during the 1960s<\/a>. She had photographed the Monterey Pop Festival<\/a> in 1967 and, later that year the hippie movement had turned from euphoria to harder drugs<\/a>, and the Haight had become less of a haven for young people seeking a better way of life than a halfway house for runaway teens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Katrinka Haraden (Trinka), 19, Haight Street, 1968<\/p>\n

Mayes asked her subjects \u201cto pose or sit naturally, to look into the camera and project their image onto the film.\u201d It\u2019s not easy. As he photographer Vivian Cherry<\/a> noted: \u201cAs soon as people see a camera, they change, and what you see you lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adrienne Salinger<\/a> also wanted people to act natural for her camera. She asked American teenagers<\/a> not to tidy up their bedrooms before she came over to take their portraits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bill Yates<\/a> went to where teens hang out at the roller skating rink. And many of us<\/a> just took snapshots of our friends<\/a>\u00a0messing about at home<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(L-R) Shari Maynard 19, Red Pappas 18, Stefanie Wyatt 17, Michael 20, and Sean Herrick 18, gather on Haight Street front steps in August 1968. (Elaine Mayes)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these images were spontaneous,\u201d Mayes told AAP<\/a>. \u201cThey happened when I saw them and found them while walking around, wherever they were. They were often sitting on a stoop or I asked them where they wanted to be photographed. And I told them I was doing a book about the Haight and that I wanted to include their portrait. And they all pretty much said yes. So I had them pose the way they were. And I put my Hasselblad in front of them on a tripod because I had to make long exposures. And I had to stop the camera down all the way to F16 or higher in order to have enough depth of field because I wanted everything to be sharp. And then when they were sitting there, or standing, I said, Okay, now I want you to take a breath. And when you exhale, I want to put your image onto a piece of film.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n \"\"
\n\"Haight-Ashbury
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Dodger-and-Sparky Haight<\/p>\n

\"Haight-Ashbury<\/p>\n

Young Man Against Plywood, Haight Ashbury<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Katrinka Haraden (Trinka), 19, Haight Street, 1968<\/p>\n

\"Haight-Ashbury
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Frank French, 16, Panhandle, Haight-Ashbury, 1968<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Linda, Straight Theater, 1968<\/p>\n

\"Haight-Ashbury<\/p>\n

John C. Maynard (JC) in Front of Drugstore Wall, Ashbury Street, 1968<\/p>\n

\"Haight-Ashbury<\/p>\n

Couple with Child, Golden Gate Park, August 1968<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Shenandoah Jordan, Super Adaptoid, Lady Glorious, Matthew, and Steve Culligan in a Convertible, Haight Street, August 13, 1968<\/p>\n

\"Haight-Ashbury<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elaine Mayes Talks About Her Work<\/p>\n

In this video Elaine talks about her work and the time:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Via: Haight Ashbury Portraits 1967-1968 by Elaine Mayes<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cOkay, now I want you to take a breath. And when you exhale, I want to put your…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608486,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-608485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}