Danny Allen and Diana Wilber in a photograph by Eva Weiss on or around 1970.
Before anyone jumps all over me, Diana Wilber herself claimed to be a witch. This is not a value judgement or slur on our beloved hippie earth mother. That was how Diana defined herself.
My dear friend (and superb photographer) Eva Weiss came across these photos of Danny and Diana while shuffling through old negatives looking for a whole different set of images. Eva sent these to me this morning with an apology for not having discovered them prior to publication of the book. No apologies are necessary. We’re talking about people and incidents that took place four decades ago. And as I’ve maintained all along, artwork and images of Danny will continue to surface now that the book has been published.
The photo captures the way I recall Danny as looking from day to day. So often when Dan got in front of the camera he put something odd on his head–but this series of photographs captures both he and Diana as I remember them in my mind’s eye. Eva pointed out in her email, for me to me to take note of the adoring expression Diana has while glancing down and Danny. Like everyone else, Diana was smitten with our enigmatic Dan.
It’s an odd sensation to see old photos of loved ones who were our contemporaries and finding that they really do look like old photos. Some of that is Eva’s retro-esthetic in how she approaches photography–but some of it is the bleary eyed distance of time.
An contact strip of photos of Dan and Diana. Eva Weiss ca.1970. I hope to include these photos when I finally get around to digitizing the book.
An Early Work Late in Life 