Stan Wayman standing in a swamp with his camera. (Photo by Stan Wayman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
Growing up in the Everglades, Stan Wayman (1927-1973) and his brother would hunt raccoons with their dog, and sell the pelts to pay for photography supplies. The boys used an outhouse as a darkroom to develop their pictures of the swamp’s egrets and snakes. In his earlier years at LIFE, Wayman spent a lot of time on the beaches of Cape Canaveral waiting out rocket launches, then his skills took him around the world, covering war and politics. He ran three miles a day for months to train for an Arctic assignment on white wolves—and when he got there he wished he had run 10 miles. Not all his subjects were exotic: “Concentration Camp for Dogs” exposed emaciated and abused dogs that dealers sold to laboratories. The piece elicited a tremendous response from an outraged public. Animal groups gave Wayman the Albert Schweitzer Medal—and a great deal of credit for the passage of the 1966 Animal Welfare Act.
—Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers
Stan Wayman with his camera taking photos of a Walrus hut. (Photo by Stan Wayman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
Stan Wayman holding a sloth. (Photo by Stan Wayman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
Troika Races at Central Moscow Hippodrome. (Photo by Stan Wayman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)
