Gelatin silver press print
Nashville, USA, 1956; printed later
Donald Cravens (1921-2013) – American photographer
Copyright stamp on verso ‘CREDIT TO READ: Don Cravens LIFE MAGAZINE © Time Inc. Set # 47827‘
Image size: 24.3 x 16.2 cm
Very good condition
Don Cravens was a chronicler of history, capturing some of the most significant events of the 20th century on film, including Elvis Presley’s first RCA recording session in Nashville, Tennessee

Don Cravens intimate snapshot depicts the young King of Rock ’n’ Roll, dressed casually in a short-sleeved shirt and only wearing socks, during his first RCA recording at the McGavock St. studio in Nashville in 1956, a session, which produced the legendary hits ‘I Gotta Woman’ and ‘Heartbreak Hotel’. Cravens had heard about the Memphis music sensation and persuaded Life to give him the assignment to shoot Elvis for a national magazine.



The gelatin silver print shows the copyright stamp ‘CREDIT TO READ: Don Cravens LIFE MAGAZINE © Time Inc. Set # 47827‘ on verso. There is a further stamp and a handwritten note. The print is in very good condition considering its age; the corners are a little dog-eared outside the depiction. The image size is 24.3 x 16.2 cm and the size of the sheet is 25.4 x 20.4 cm.



Donald Cravens (1921-2013)

At the age of 23, Donald Cravens was sent to Normandy to record the D-Day Invasion. After the war he received the assignment to cover the Nuremberg trials by the International News Service. Spending three years in Europe, he returned to the US and started working as a photojournalist. From 1955 he was working as a freelance photographer for LIFE, documenting The Montgomery Bus Boycott and subsequent civil rights activities in the South. He also accompanied Elvis Presley during his first RCA recording session and later when serving in the Army in Germany. Cravens retired in 1987 and became an active philanthropist. (tfa)

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