About This Book
At a very early age, Walt began making photographs using his father’s $1 Box Camera. In the ‘30s and ‘40s he worked for the Peru Indiana Police and Fire Departments, always fascinated with the processes, equipment, and products of his work. Walt was one of the unsung heroes of the photo world. Walt Dice has lived his life as an American Individualist who boldly dared things others only dreamed — according to his own vision. Walt’s photographs presented here, nearly 250 black and white, early color, and oil painted and hundreds of stories in his own words – reflect the independence of his life and the U.S. spanning from 1906 through the 1990s and beyond. Additionally, some 150 historical period photos from across the country further illustrate time and place. Walt became a champion of common dreams; taking us along his adventures, and misadventures… around the small Midwestern town of Peru, Indiana, then across 1929 America – Route 66, and the backroads of the nation. Passing through the Golden Age of California, Walt found himself landing a radial-engine Travel Air plane on Main Street in Gilroy. Paving his way, later he hopped aboard a freighter from San Francisco to Bremerton, Washington, fishing off the fantail of a ship, providing fish for the thankful cook and crew as the rolling Pacific thundered below. When most people went one way, he broke new ground as an adventurist, exploring everyday personalities, places and things.
