{"id":5354410,"date":"2019-10-14T16:35:19","date_gmt":"2019-10-14T16:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/?post_type=photographer&#038;p=5354410"},"modified":"2019-10-14T16:35:20","modified_gmt":"2019-10-14T16:35:20","slug":"william-j-sumits","status":"publish","type":"photographer","link":"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/william-j-sumits\/","title":{"rendered":"William J. Sumits"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote id=\"single-block_5da09a65b88b5\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5354736 desc=\"Asset ID: 1217942. \" caption=\"Portrait of William J. Sumits. (Photo by William J. Sumits\/The LIFE Images Collection).\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/14163149\/1217942-e1571070708601-830x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Portrait of William J. Sumits. (Photo by William J. Sumits\/The LIFE Images Collection).\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\"><\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Portrait of William J. Sumits. (Photo by William J. Sumits\/The LIFE Images Collection).<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">William J. Sumits (1914-2006) became interested in photography when he was hired as an errand boy for the Eastman Kodak store in Kansas City in 1930. Time spent in the darkroom there was encouraging, although there was a brief detour toward aeronautical engineering. The final direction became clear with the advent of LIFE in 1936; Sumits bought some developing equipment and turned to photography in earnest. After a decade of advertising and PR shoots, he received some assignments from LIFE that worked out, then he joined the staff. A few years later, in 1950, he became a technical researcher of new gear and processes. In 1953 he was named chief of LIFE\u2019s photo lab, and served in that all-important position with considerable distinction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2014<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adapted from <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Great-LIFE-Photographers-Editors\/dp\/0316097934\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1EH15RRHPZHFO&amp;keywords=the+great+life+photographers&amp;qid=1570115481&amp;s=gateway&amp;sprefix=the+great+life+photogr%2Caps%2C142&amp;sr=8-1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Great LIFE Photographers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n<blockquote id=\"single-block_5da09a74b88b7\" class=\"single-image \">\n    <section>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" data=\"block-image\" data-id=5354739 desc=\"Asset ID: 13051535. \" caption=\"Pair of nude women sitting along the river bank of the Thames river. (Photo by William J. Sumits\/The LIFE Picture Collection &copy; Meredith Corporation)\" title=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.life.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/14163327\/Sum_B_IRC2-e1571070807937-1008x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Pair of nude women sitting along the river bank of the Thames river. (Photo by William J. Sumits\/The LIFE Picture Collection &copy; Meredith Corporation)\" \/>\n                <div class=\"image-info\">\n            <p class=\"image-caption\"><\/p>\n            <p class=\"image-caption\">Pair of nude women sitting along the river bank of the Thames river. (Photo by William J. Sumits\/The LIFE Picture Collection \u00a9 Meredith Corporation)<\/p>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>William J. Sumits (1914-2006) became interested in photography when he was hired as an errand boy for the Eastman Kodak store in Kansas City in 1930. Time spent in the darkroom there was encouraging, although there was a brief detour toward aeronautical engineering. The final direction became clear with the advent of LIFE in 1936; &#8230; <a title=\"William J. Sumits\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.life.com\/photographer\/william-j-sumits\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5354740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5354410","photographer","type-photographer","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Photography of William J. Sumits | LIFE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn about William J. 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