03/02/2015

Roger Steffens’ Countercultural Compendium

The Family Acid is an exciting new book, published by SUN and presented at this year’s LA Art Book Fair, that collects an extensive series of photographs taken by Roger Steffens throughout his life. Steffens started making photographs while serving in the Psychological Operations division in Vietnam, a time in which he began a journalistic record of his surroundings marked by an increasingly psychedelic lens. Spanning 40 years of Steffens’ life and culled from over 40,000 chrome photographs, The Family Acid presents his often transcendent vision and life as a psychedelic pioneer on the order of Timothy Leary and Hunter S. Thompson beginning with his work in Vietnam and moving through his ever revolving circle of friends and characters made up of rastas, beatniks, musicians, artists, gonzo journalists, his family, and himself. The portraits, scenes, and freewheeling experimentation with the medium of photography coalesce into a body of work that both parallels and defines the countercultural ethos of Steffens’ generation.

The Blogazine – Images courtesy of SUN