(b. Erika Klopfer; Frankfurt, Germany; 1924)

Erika Stone began taking pictures at age ten in Munich, Germany, with a simple Brownie camera.   Her family emigrated to the United States in 1936, and soon after, her father gave her his Voigtlander Superb, a twin-lens reflex camera.   At sixteen, money for film and other photo supplies was necessary, so Erika started a small after-school business photographing neighborhood children and offering to sell the pictures to their parents.

Erika's parents needed her help financially, so she could not continue her studies after high school where she had majored in art.   Photographer Fritz Henle, a family friend, arranged a job for Erika at the professional lab, Leco.   Although she was originally hired as a "go-fer", she learned darkroom skills with the tutelage of her boss, Leo Cohn, also a German immigrant.   At Leco she was introduced to well known photographers of that period: Robert & Cornell Capa,   Chim,   Halsman and others.

After having her "training", she was ready to accept assignments   as a photojournalist.   The Riverdale Press hired her as a stringer and her early success soon demanded a darkroom beyond her temporary bathroom set-up.   Erika discovered the New York Photo League, located at that time on 21 st Street, and was drawn in by the talent and philosophy of some of its members such as Weegee, Paul Strand, Berenice Abbott, Sid Grossman and Walter Rosenblum.

The basis of the Photo League was their idea of using the camera as a medium to instigate social reform as well as a means of documenting life; and it soon became her goal as well. Though primarily self-taught, Erika studied at the New School of Social Research with Berenice Abbott and later with George Tice.

From 1947 until 1953, Erika worked for the European Picture Service and became a stringer for Time and Der Spiegel, both weekly news magazines. With summers off from her job, she traveled extensively. She has covered the Tanglewood Music Festival since 1947, capturing such greats as Leonard Bernstein, Pablo Casals, Aaron Copland, Isaac Stern, among others.

From 1953 until 1959, Erika and her partner Anita Beer managed their own picture agency: "Photo Representatives" which handled the work of a number of prominent photographers including Weegee and Horace Bristol. In 1954, Erika married William Stone, a writer and advertising executive. Shortly after her first son was born, Erika gave up the picture agency to focus on her family. With her second son on the way and the camera ever-ready, she captured family moment s, developed them into story ideas and sold them again and again to magazines around the world.

Erika became well known for her photographs of children and family situations and published several books both on and about children.

Erika's commercial success never deterred her from pursuing her personal photography. She continues to walk the streets of New York in search of new subjects. Erika lost part of one leg in a mugging incident in 1987, and although it is more difficult for her, she does not allow this handicap to stop her, nor her desire to express herself.

"Photography has indeed filled my life.It has filled it with endless visual excitement as well as the challenge and satisfaction of getting moments, which have tickled my vision on film.   Many subjects inspire me but none as much as capturing a special second in the life of man, woman or child.   People are my favorite subjects and I continue to marvel at the diversity and uniqueness   of each individual.   The, to me, give life its fullness, its richness. Their sorrows fill me with compassion and their joys move me deeply.   To me, people are what the world is all about. That is why my camera will always seek them out."-Erika Stone