Life photographer Yale Joel standing in front of one of his photographs. (Photo by Gordon Parks/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Life photographer Yale Joel standing in front of one of his photographs. (Photo by Gordon Parks/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

After spending World War II in Italy as an Army combat photographer, Yale Joel (1919-2006) returned to the U.S., and in 1947 joined the staff at LIFE, where he spent the next quarter century working out of LIFE’S Washington, D.C., Paris, Boston and New York City news bureaus. He was known for his versatility, often traipsing along the East Coast capturing Americana. His forte was the tricky shot that required esoteric equipment or choreographed setups.

Adapted from The Great LIFE Photographers

Yale University. (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Yale University. (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Writer Gloria Steinem sitting cross-legged on floor w. sign We Shall Overcome re pop culture (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Writer Gloria Steinem sitting cross-legged on floor w. sign We Shall Overcome re pop culture (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Rock group The Doors performing at the Fillmore East. (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

The Doors performed at the Fillmore East, 1968.

Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation

Playing field and packed stands during Army-Navy game. (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

Playing field and packed stands during Army-Navy game. (Photo by Yale Joel/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation)

More Like This

Painter Henri Matisse using a bamboo pole tipped with charcoal to draw a half-scale figure of St. Dominic. (Photo by Robert Capa/The LIFE Images Collection) Photographer

Robert Capa

Watching a high ball during baseball game. (Photo by Mark Kauffman/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Mark Kauffman

The watermelon stripe baby Tapir stretching out beside the older family member at the Brookfield zoo.(Photo by Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Francis Miller

Yugoslavian infantrymen and an officer dancing the conga-like Kolo while singing. (Photo by John Phillips/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

John Philips

Vice President Richard Nixon sitting in the back seat of a dimly lit limousine after a day taking over duties for President Eisenhower, during his hospitalization from a stroke. (Photo by Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Hank Walker

An unidentified woman looks at the tag on one of many paintings in a storage room in the home of financier and art collector Chester Dale, New York, New York, 1938. (Photo by Rex Hardy/The LIFE Picture Collection © Meredith Corporation) Photographer

Rex Hardy